"We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin Trivia Quiz

Answer: It was seen as a satirical attack on the new regime

Zamyatin's "We" is about a future society where citizens live under the watchful eye of an all-powerful state led by the Benefactor. Individuality can almost be viewed as a criminal offense, privacy is a historical curiosity at best, and you're expected to behave rationally pretty much all the time. There's constant surveillance to maintain order, and the individual is not considered particularly important.

That hit a little too close to home for the Soviet Union under Lenin. Its portrayal of a totalitarian world of little walking cogs was pretty obviously directed (and not kindly) at the budding political system of the new USSR. You'll often hear it described as the first major work banned by Soviet censorship, although it wouldn't be the last.

Answer: The One State

"We" takes place in the One State, a totalitarian society where individuality is treated as a defect and citizens are identified by numbers instead of names. The main character, D-503, is a mathematician and engineer who, at the start of the novel, believes the system has achieved the ultimate form of human happiness through logic, reason, mathematics, and strict social order.

The city is built largely from glass, making privacy about as easy to find as a nice, quiet spot in a mosh pit.

Answer: The Integral

D-503 is the chief engineer and builder of the Integral, a spacecraft designed to carry the One State's ideology to other worlds. It's an unusual subplot for a book written decades before the first manned flight to outer space.

The Integral's mission, as you might expect, is not really cultural exchange. The One State intends to bring its perfect system of rationality and happiness to extraterrestrial civilizations, by force if necessary. Nothing says "it's a pleasure to meet you" like a lecture on why your freedom and individuality need to be taken away.

And of course, our protagonist is quite enthusiastic about the project. It's his baby, and he's devoted years to it. What could go wrong?

Answer: The Ancient House

The Ancient House is an interesting location in Zamyatin's novel. Predictably, it's an ancient house, preserved from an earlier era, and it definitely stands out in the One State. Unlike the glass buildings where citizens live, the Ancient House offers something rare in the One State: actual opaque walls and a measure of privacy. It's full of artifacts from the past, including furnishings and artwork that we might recognize. (There may also be some super-secret passageways there that a rebellion is using, but it's not good to write about such things.)

The scandalous I-330 brings D-503 here and introduces him to a world that begins to unsettle him almost as much as she does. If this all sounds a bit like Winston and Julia in the antique shop in "1984", then you might guess that this story isn't all sunshine and rainbows when the dust settles.

Answer: United States

Yevgeny Zamyatin's "We" first saw print in 1924. It was published by E. P. Dutton in New York with a translation by Gregory Zilboorg. So, the book's publication history was strange from the start. A Russian novel about a tightly controlled society, published in English in the U.S. before it could be published in its author's own country.

It would not be introduced to the Soviet Union until 1988, during the time of glasnost and three years before the country's collapse.

Answer: He has developed a soul

It's a memorable diagnosis, and a very biting bit of satire. When D-503 visits the Medical Bureau, the doctor explains that he has apparently developed a soul, an incurable condition. He has begun having new experiences and emotions, allowing them to change him from within.

His attraction to I-330, his jealousy, his insomnia, and his wild dreams are all symptoms of his terrible affliction. D-503 is alarmed, naturally. The doctor recommends long walks.

Answer: False

The Green Wall in Yevgeny Zamyatin's novel separates the One State's city from the wilderness beyond it. Life definitely exists outside the Wall, including wild animals, forests, and human beings who have lived for many years beyond the state's territory (and, curiously, have grown rather furry). D-503 initially believes the official version of reality, which portrays the outside world as primitive and undesirable.

His first experiences beyond the Wall reveal a whole new world of nature that his sterile, glass-enclosed society has tried to shut out.

It only adds to D-503's terrible affliction of emotion.

Answer: She's pregnant

O-90 has wanted a child for a long time, but the One State has a bit of a rigid approach to family planning, as you can probably guess. Women must meet a minimum height requirement to qualify as a mom-to-be. As it is, O-90 is 10 centimeters too short, making her physically unsuitable for bearing children in the One State's all-seeing eyes. Despite knowing that it can't end well, O-90 eventually begs D-503 to impregnate her. He agrees, because he's a man, and we can't say no to things like that.

She becomes pregnant, and this puts her at grave risk. (Those secret passageways in the Ancient House might come in handy in this situation, but you didn't hear it from me.)

Answer: Removes the imagination

The One State's "Great Operation" is a newly developed procedure to destroy the brain's power of imagination. Imagination leads to a soul, and all the other messy human stuff that the government regards as a disease threatening its perfect society. The operation becomes compulsory after growing unrest and rebellion threaten the state.

SPOILER: D-503 eventually undergoes the procedure, losing his capacity for emotional conflict and betraying I-330 to the authorities. He can't imagine what could ever have caused his emotional conflicts in the first place.

Answer: 1984

Orwell was largely a fan of the ideas behind "We", if not necessarily its execution. His novel "1984" certainly shares a number of features with Zamyatin's work. We've got the all-powerful ruling authority, constant surveillance, and a protagonist who begins questioning the world in which he lives. Both Winston Smith and D-503 keep diaries, become involved with rebellious women, and eventually begin to see the horrors lurking beneath the government's claim of perfection. Orwell read "We" in a French translation and reviewed it in 1946. That was shortly before writing "1984".

The similarities are many. However, Orwell's novel definitely drew from other sources, and for what it's worth, I find "1984" the more chilling and memorable of the two.