Specific Reponse Questions
Specific Questions for Zamyatin’s We:
- Analyze the development of a particular kind of imagery (eyes, mirrors, blinds, nakedness). Analyze the color symbolism (yellow, pink, blue).
- Discuss the technique of speaking directly to the reader. How does this work and does it interrupt or enhance the narrative?
- Explain the function of the ellipses and other interruptions. How do they reinforce reader participation?
- Discuss the significance of the characters' numbers. How do they correspond to their attributes?
- How are women treated in this novel (both by the characters and by the author—in other words, what function do the women serve and is this a fair representation)?
- Discuss the references to innocence and childhood. What connections can you make regarding D-503 and the pattern of adolescent development?
- Discuss the 'irrational' as a motif? What does the novel say about its workings and how it should be dealt with? Do you agree; why or why not? Does D-503 ever evade the irrational? Can one evade it? Should we evade it; why or why not?
- Discuss synesthesia (the description of one kind of sense perception using words that describe another kind of sense perception) in the novel.
- Discuss the role of writing in the novel. You may reference the idea of self-discovery in a journal format, the manuscript as a character in-itself, etc.
- Discuss the satire of rationality and technology. For example, explain the negative impact technology or the absurdities of over-arching rationality.
- Discuss the fate and uses of the irrational, illogical, or non-linear thinking in the contemporary U.S. perhaps focusing on art and literature.
- What are your thoughts on the revolution in We.
- Discuss your thought about poetry and poets in OneState focusing on D-503 and R-13 as poets (including their execution).
- Discuss the theme of romantic love and/or mental illness (and possibly their connection).
- Discuss the theme of technophilia (love of technology) and the negative impact of technology on contemporary human life.
- What shows that, though D-503 denies human feeling at the beginning of the novel, the irrational, the flights of art, and imagination are still powerfully present in him?
- In "Records 6-12", give some concrete examples of the processes (psychological) or events through which feeling (or the irrational that lurks in us all) overturns D-503's rational ideals.
- In "Record 10", what is comic and unexpected in this seduction scene (cf. the emphasis on taste and hearing versus seeing and touch)? In what ways are traditional male/female roles reversed in this scene? What is the overall effect and meaning of the contrast between humor and erotic tension in this episode?
- Discuss the story as a religious allegory. What criticisms and/or endorsements of religion are made and why?
- Discuss the novel in terms of a criticism of the Russian Revolution. How does the story reflect concerns we have today?
