Zamyatin We 20th Century Russian Literature

¶ … paradox of the perfect selfless citizen O-90

On one hand, the soft, unified and always feminine presence of O-90 in Yevgeny Zamyatin's novel We stands as an idealized example of unquestioned obedience to the authority of a unified and totalitarian state. The future dystopia of We in the form of One State in We has entirely erased the concept of human individuality and independent thought. It has produced a citizen body that is entirely permeated by its beliefs, of which the spherical O-90 is perhaps the most obvious physical and psychological example. However, O-90's existence in a state of emptiness and her willingness to become a psychic void lacking a sense of self also means she is paradoxically capable of embodying the ideal of unconditional love, more than anyone else in the novel.

Of course, unconditional love is something hardly tolerated as a product of a unified state ideology. Love is not a value that successfully propagates the notions that enable the totalitarian institutions of One State to flourish. But because of the mindlessness and unity encouraged by the state, O-90's is capable of utterly unconditional love for the object of her affection. She has no self and no sense of self-protection, thus she is incapable of reporting her lover's transgressions to the Bureau of Guardians, even when her lover betrays her sexually.

This selflessness is a consequence of a state that denies the right of a selfish individuality to exist and also does not give citizens the ability to choose, when presented with a conflict between divided loyalties. While O-90 understands that her discretion would be considered an act of treason she willingly sacrifices her loyalty and duty to the Benefactor to protect her lover because she has not been schooled in how to make a priority-based choice.

Choice, One State assumed, would be unnecessary to instruct its citizens in, as One State was created to amass a workforce of citizens incapable of any concealed motives or thoughts, not simply to the Benefactor but to any fellow creature. One State has attempted to do away with privacy and private passions, one of the reason that most objects are made of a clear material similar to glass -- but this absence of concealment also means O-90 cannot conceal anything to the man she loves, either, such as any willingness to turn him in. The unity of purpose of all beings in One State also facilitates the oneness of love in the heart of O-90. In One State, all people do the same things at once, so the sameness of purpose and motion of love comes natural to the perfect ideal of One State, O-90.

One State denies the existence of poetry as superfluous. Yet the initial praise of One State by the narrator D-503, that One State is wonderful, because everyoneand Iare a single We " is also similar to a declaration of love -- an unintended but real consequence manifested in the behavior of O-90. Of course, D-503's decision to keep a journal celebrating the 'we' of One State, even though he does not recognize it as such, is an admission of a need for privacy and reflection outside of the oneness of the state, even though his words may praise 'we.' His journalistic record keeping stands in contrast to the selflessness of one of his lovers.

O-90 is initially described as appearing to look like her name, a round and O-shaped creature. She is an adult woman who still has baby fat on her, resembling a child in her manner and submissive intellectual attitudes -- and even her name recalls that of female pleasure for the male in the form of an orgasm. Her roundness also symbolizes unity, and like a zero her sense of self is a void. At first she shares her sexual favors equally with D-503 and his best friend R-13, true to communal state ideals.