We

By Yevgeny Zamyatin

Symbolic Skies in We

          I love Zamyatin’s use of the sky to portray which factors are in control of D-503’s life. At the start of the novel, D-503 makes a point to admire the clarity of the sky, calling it “sterile and immaculate” (Zamyatin, 5). He likens this sky to the conformity of his fellow Numbers, describing their appearance as “[uniforms the color of the] blessed blue sky, little baby suns on each badge, faces undimmed by anything so crazy as thought” (7). The clarity of the sky echoes D-503’s clarity of thought. He is positive that the OneState is right in all matters, especially in that reason, logic, and mathematics are the only truth. The sky directly after he makes the choice to go along with I-330, though, is flawed by a single cloud, representing the complication of his decision. He is no longer controlled completely by his faith in the system and sense of duty, this woman has complicated his reasoning and has a hold on him. The pattern holds that whenever D-503’s faith and blind compliance with the ideals and policy of the OneState is questioned or ignored, there’s mist or fog present. Whenever D-503 falls under the spell of I-330, whether by idea or by action, the sky gains color. At the end of the book, though, when the OneState restores D-503 to his “factory settings”, the atmosphere is described as: “It is day. Clear.” (224). How D-503 is passed from one controller to another, as illustrated by this recurring symbol, very much reminds me of C.S. Lewis’s “conditioners” (Lewis, 71). The leaders of the OneState and I-330 both act as conditioners since they have determined the role people should play in their society and what they should value. The leaders of the OneState are a clear example of this, considering they have conditioned people to value the logical processes and efficient work of machines over previous humanist values, such as creativity and religion. I-330 also acts as a conditioner, though, to a certain extent. She has pulled the strings all along, getting D-503 involved for the sake of his position as builder of the INTEGRAL and re-shaping his values so that his devotion to her and the beliefs that she ingrained in him led him to play the role she had designed for him.