Analysis Of Yevgeny Zamyatin s The Motif Of Imagination

Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We depicts a dystopian world ruled by the One State through the eyes and conscience of mathematician and protagonist D-503. We was written in 1921, after Russia saw the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917, led by the Marxist Bolshevik leader, Vladimir Lenin. (Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d.) Zamyatin’s constructed ideals of the One State parallels that of his own country, under the totalitarian regime imposed by the communist government, in order to convey his satirical political opinions of its worsening and limiting effect. In We, Zamyatin demonstrates the importance of imagination and free thought, developing the audience’s understanding of the limits of happiness under the rule of a totalitarian society seen through the eyes of D-503. The motif of imagination is seen within the novel through Zamyatin’s manipulation of D-503’s perception of his world, specifically his auditory perception and his description through mathema tical diction, critiquing the oppressive totalitarian society. Throughout the novel, Zamyatin establishes the limits of the coexistence between true happiness and true freedom through the lack of imagination and creativity perceived by the auditory perception of D-503. The One State promotes â€Å"mathematical [music] compositions,† (Zamyatin, 23) as a form of entertainment through which Zamyatin illustrates the impact of One State’s restriction of musical expression, ironically contradictory to the nature of music. One