Friday, February 1, 2008

Using Your Imagination

Firstly, did anyone else find it odd that the One State is putting so much energy into the Integral yet, for some reason or another, they have not extended their society outside the Wall? To continue with our discussion about “seeds of destruction” left in the One State, I believe that the existence of these furry humans is perhaps the most dangerous. As we see at the end of the book, they indeed breach the Wall and even attempt to infiltrate the crew of the Integral.

Also, based on the information provided by the introduction, I feel as though Zamyatin, by portraying the One State as a suppressor of imagination and “soul,” is reflecting his own experience with the Soviet government. If this is so, then we can be sure that he has a negative outlook on this dystopia. “He mercilessly attacked and ridiculed the merging totalitarianism, its fawning mediocrities, its reign of brutality, its violation and destruction of the free and creative human spirit…He also foresaw the subjection of the arts.” (xiv)

Zamyatin refused to play by the rules of the Soviet regime, and he was granted, by Stalin, the permission to leave permanently. He died in Paris. During his lifetime he was criticized mercilessly, especially in response to We. In this case, it seems extremely important to recognize the cultural context and to understand the tribulations of the author’s life in order to draw conclusions about what he intended to portray. I think he would be happy to know that our gut reaction to the One State is one of horror and disbelief. While many may argue that our society has much of the same evil found in the One State, we still have our imagination. Luckily, it is imagination and not experience that we use to envision a society like the one found in We.

5 comments:

Sterbenz said...

The One State focusing on going out and preaching in other worlds instead of helping the furry people is not that unusual. just think about all what is talked about on TV. There area always commercials asking people for just a few dollars a month in order to help all those children in poor countries. but very few commercials talk about the poor children here in America. it is just how people work. Most people tend to focus on the problems of others that look at their own.

Ana said...

A dollar a day does help the children away... but I think that what Lucia was trying to say is that it is a bad move on the society's part to not "help" those that are nearest to them since they are the ones most likely to infiltrate the society and mess everything up. Besides, I think that a little suppression is not such a bad thing... if not how could we stay on top?

Miguel said...

I think it's also a matter of interest. The people of the One State claim that they know what is beyond the Green Wall and what evil lies out there. It is a world similar to that of the ancient's and that is known to be inferior to the One State. It is unknown what kind of life awaits the Integral in outer space and that intrigues them, though without an imagination I am sure they have no idea what to expect. Thus the reason they assume life in outer space is like the ancients and feel that the One State is superior to all society. I think it's similar to our fascination with outer space as compared to the oceans on our own planet that we know so little about, yet they are much more accessible.

Chris K. said...

I got the impression that OneState had essentially given up on converting the rest of Earth to their ways. Nothing says failure quite like retreating inside a walled off citadel; walls inevitably fall. I think they hoped to validate themselves by converting other races on other planets, which they perhaps thought would be easier than venturing back outside the Green Wall.

Lucia said...

Sweet. It is interesting reading everyone's perspectives. I didn't really have a theory of my own, but I am really glad that this opened up discussion.