Saturday, January 21, 2012

What is the effect of the ending in We?

The ending to Zamyatin's work is one where there is
difficulty in finding hope.  D-503 has become a being where there is no hope for
change.  The idea of "reason must prevail" is one whereby the individual's voice for
freedom and change has become subjugated by the totalizing force of political society. 
"We" has won, and the result is that D-503 is gone.  At the same time, O-90 has escaped
in order to have her child in primitive world of freedom.  The construction of reality
is one whereby freedom is something elusive, requiring individuals to risk everything in
order to have it.  O-90 has to escape in order to be a human being and raise her child
as one.  While there might be hope here, I think that Zamyatin is smart enough to avoid
such a expected hope.  The fact that O-90 has lived her life without freedom for so long
begs the question as to how easily she will be able to transform her life now that it is
with her.  The lessons that must be taught to the child must first be taught to her in
this new condition, one that is vastly different from the life she has led.  In this
ending, there is a shroud of mystery as to how things will progress and whether there
will be redemption for human beings.

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