Record 9 - The Benefactor

"A white...and yet not - not white, but colourless - a glass face, glass lips. He was all eyes - black, absorbing, swallowing holes - with that terrible world but several minutes away. His golden badge and digits were already removed. His hands were bound with a purple ribbon (an old-fashioned custom: the explanation, apprarently, is that in ancient times, when all this was not carried out in the name of One State, the convicted, understandably, felt it within their rights to resist, and so their hands were usually fettered with chains."

This cipher, who is about to be executed is described to have a "glass face, glass lips." Glass becomes a symbol of no privacy, in the world of One State the most delicate of situations is made public. Earlier D-503 explains a metaphor of our face and how it is like apartments. You can only see into the person through their eyes, the windows to your soul. However this cipher "was all eyes - black absorbing, swallowing holes..." In his case where he is about to be executed in public, his eyes reveal the defeat, the emptiness inside him. He does not even fell that it is "within [his] rights to resist" that as an individual he has no power to make a change.
This shows how in a society where privacy does not exist and everyone is forced to confine, individuals are unable to express their individual opinions.

Frederick Winslow Taylor - We

F W Taylor is a scientific management theorist. His industrial theories were centralized around these four main points:

1. Replace rule-of-thumb work methods with methods based on a scientific study of the tasks.
2. Scientifically select, train, and develop each employee rather than passively leaving them to train themselves.
3. Provide "Detailed instruction and supervision of each worker in the performance of that worker's discrete task" (Montgomery 1997: 250).
4. Divide work nearly equally between managers and workers, so that the managers apply scientific management principles to planning the work and the workers actually perform the tasks.

Taylor saw workers as assets, not as humans. He did not take into consideration of workers emotions, esteem or motivation, therefore dehumanizing his workers.

This makes him highly admired by the ciphers in We where the One State runs by the basis of Taylor's management theories. Strict timetables are enforced using the "table of hours", ciphers are constantly under "detailed supervision" and all tasks have been broken down, analyzed, the un-necessary discarded to produce the most scientifically efficient way of doing jobs. An example of this is how in the world of One State "... by simply turning [a] handle, any of [them] could produce three sonatas an hour. What a struggle this was for our ancestors. They could create only if they drove themselves into fits of 'inspiration,' a strange form of epilepsy." One State has managed to take something as free as music, broken down each process mathematically, disposed of the parts not needed and cut it down into a simple mathematical process. This strips away the creativity and spirit found in music, furthermore dehumanizing the ciphers.

Femme Fatale

A femme fatale is : "An alluring and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype or stock character of literature and art. Her ability to entrance and hypnotize her male victim was in the earliest stories seen as being literally supernatural, hence the most prosaic femme fatale today is still described as having a power akin to an enchantress, vampire, female monster or demon." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Femme_fatale)

I-330 is the femme fatale of We. D-503 finds the "fire" in I-330 strangely attractive. He senses the danger and is "frightened" he wants to "quarrel with her, to scream at her..." however still goes with her to the Ancient house, D-503 is still unable to "restrain [himself]" from her. D-503 keeps using the metaphor of humans being like apartments, you can't see through the walls, except through the windows which are the eyes. In One State privacy no longer exists, the walls are entirely constructed out of glass. Which makes I-330's "two terrifyingly dark windows, and within them the very unknown" more appealing and seductive to D-503. She uses this allure to draw D-503 out of his comfort zone and into the unknown.

The Loom

As the children of the family grow up and leave home, the household becomes torn apart, this is explored in R L Sasaki’s The Loom where the mother falls into depression since her children no longer need her. She becomes lost for a purpose in life and starts weaving as a “fortress” to cope with her emotions. The writer uses an extended metaphor of the loom to symbolize the lives of the family and the mother uses greys and browns these “shades of her life” to express her depression. Each tread symbolizes each individual family member and the mother’s job is to weave their lives back together again into a single piece and she does so with “painstaking attention”, “tirelessly, endlessly winding, threading, tying.” It becomes her duty as a mother now to weave her family back together and it seems to be working. Shown through the dialogue of her daughters, all Jo, Sharon and Linda ever talk about is their mother. The muffler woven by their mother even leads to Jo and Sharon “sharing a rare moment together before their lives diverged again.” This extended metaphor helps the reader understand the importance of family and how as one we are quite insignificant. However, as a family we can support and make each other stronger just like how when each strand is woven together the fabric becomes much stronger and significant.

We - Modern vs Ancients

The Green wall symbolizes the distinct separation between the city and the wild, separation of values and lifestyles.

Inside the green wall is the city, life in the city is organised and controlled. All the buildings are made out of glass and ciphers walk in fours to eliminate privacy, each individual’s schedule is organised in the "table of hours" which merges each individual into a "million-handed body" turning the "I" to "we". The ciphers inside the city become brainwashed by the Benefactor in believing that order and logic are superior to freedom and individuality.

While on the other hand the revolutionary group outside the green wall have opposite beliefs and share similar values to us. They believe in freedom, privacy and individuality.

These are two contrasting values expressed in We. D-503 is taken through a journey which opens his eyes to both sides of the green wall, creating a alluring plot for readers due to the reader having strong values similar of those outside the green wall.

Reflection on Zamyatin's We (record two)

Although we have been introduced into a strictly mathematical culture of One State, in record two, D-503 writes very poetically “sweet dust parches on your lips”. Here we are exposed to the internal conflict emerging in D-503. He sees the beauty of the world outside the green wall and unconsciously starts to admire it. However his faithful dedication to the One State soon kicks in to remind him that “this somewhat interferes with logical reasoning.” This makes it evident that this attraction to nature, to spring is a part of being human. Another example of human nature is how when D-503 writes, he naturally says “I love” then corrects himself and says “we love” It becomes instinctively clear that it is natural that when we personal thoughts we use “I” and “my”. The Benefactor has dehumanized all the ciphers by forcefully robbing them of their individuality and freedom. This links to the nature verses nurture debate and proves that when forced into unnatural conditions, the nature of human behaviour will always rebel. This is a highly significant concept that will be the basis of the events throughout this book.

Reflection on Zamyatin's We (record one)

The first impression of the book is given in the first chapter. The chapter begins by repeating word for word an article in the state paper. This allows us to gain perspective of the culture in One State. The reader begins to pick up on the totalitarian culture of One State through the irony of the tezt. "the savage state of freedom" is a stand-out phrase in this chapter because it revels that the views of the One State differ dramatically from our views. We believe that freedom is beautiful, never savaged. The use of irony allows us to make other informed assumptions of the text. There is a mathematical idiom used and we can therefore conclude that One State is a state run by mathematics and logic, where freedom and creativity is not valued. The concept of One State striked to me similar to a cult. Ciphers are brainwashed by the propaganda and are convinced that the governments views are the only right ones.

The used of first narrration will help gain a richer understanding of the text. Because the culture of One State and our culture is so different, by seeing the world in their eyes it provides a more emotional, personal attachment to the D-503 and his journey throughout the novel.