Inside the Green Wall, or the glass wall separating the city and the outside world, was the accepted, acceptably correct society. This could be seen as a “religiously correct” society. Outside of the Green Wall could be seen as a religious free realm. D-503 is a scientifically minded person, without as much religious influence as other people from the time. He trusted science more than religion. Thus he explained concepts and ideas with numbers and scientific concepts. We could be interpreted as a stand against organized religion.
I-330 is a temptress, much like Eve from the Garden of Eden. She is tempting the main character from the novel into breaking out of his comfort zone, breaking out of what is safe, and breaking out of what was considered (both in D-503’s mind and in society) morally correct.
Birds, animals from the outside world, symbolize outside ideas, ideas other than those pre-approved, religiously or socially accepted ideas. As the plot deepens, more birds come in through the crack in the Wall. These birds appear increasingly as D-503 comes to the realization that there is more that he does not know about, there are outside ideas, and the possibility of freedom does exist within the Wall.
Not only do the birds manage to find a way in, but D-503 manages to find a way out. He breaks free of the society; he breaks free from that “one organism” that the robotic lives of the people create. He does this by passing through the Wall: both the physical wall which contained a crack, but also the wall of closed-mindedness and lack of self-created thoughts, his only previous thoughts being dictated by society (just as many allow religion to dictate their beliefs).
Underhandedly, the novel makes implications that would suggest sacrilege and anti-religion themes.
S was “devil-like”. He was often associated with the devil. However, earlier in the novel, Zamyatin stated that “his face was the kind that inspires a sort of respect”. If both the novel and Zamyatin supported religion, the same character would not be used as a representation of the devil and someone to provoke respect.
Instead of using just one quote, I’m going to use two because each, not only feeds off of the other, but also adds to the other.
Page 14: “And then – isn’t it absurd that a government (it had the nerve to call itself a government) could let sexual life proceed without the slightest control? Who, when, however much you wanted… Completely unscientifically, like animals.”
Page 22: “The rest is a purely technical matter. They give you a careful going-over in the Sexual Bureau labs and determine the exact content of the sexual hormones in your blood and work out your correct Table of Sex Days.”
As a side note, I’d like to point out the nerve that D-503 had to imply that humans were above animals. I don’t feel that he is wrong; I agree that humans are above animals. However, in the world portrayed in We, where equality has reached a point of sameness, the fact that he still finds superiority to both another species and other generations is quite ironic. This implied superiority is a subtle way for Zamyatin to draw focus to the inability to reach an entirely equal society.
Regardless, that is beyond the point. I pulled these quotes because they show the extent of these “individuals’” lack of choice, power, and control of their own lives. Sexuality is one of the few aspects of life that a person can control and have choice over, completely. When a young woman is sexually abused or raped, she loses something: she loses power and control that she should, without any limitations, posses entirely. Though it is not generally assumed that lack of control, choice, and power are the reasons that rape victims struggle mentally with the traumatic event, the lack of control, choice, and power is a major contributor to their struggles. To further exemplify my point, think about a prostitute after a rape incident. To them, sex is not something that should be restricted or withheld for set person/people. Innocence is not something that can be stolen. Yet the incident still affects them. They lost control. They were not given the right to say no. They were not given control or choice. These two passages accurately represent the We society in its entirety. No one has control, power, or choice.
