We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

I finished reading We a couple of days ago. Even after mulling it over a few days I still don't know what to make of it. It was a good book, a bit jumpy and confusing in parts, but still interesting. The world of OneState wasn't described at intricately as Oceania in 1984, but the world created was still intriguing.

I am one who believes reason should indeed come before emotion. OneState takes this idea to the extreme, seeking to eradicate emotion from all aspects of life, except of course for pride and eagerness to serve the state. The ideal of the civilization is to live life as nearly as possible to a well-oiled machine. Each minute of every day is assigned and accounted for. It is supposed to be a society void of idleness. Below are some of the passages I found most interesting.

"Liberation?" Astonishing how the criminal instincts do survive in the human species. Freedom and criminality are just as indissoluble linked as ... well, as the movement of an aero and its velocity. When the velocity of an aero is reduced to 0, it is not in motion; when a man's freedom is reduced to zero, he commits no crimes. That's clear. The only means to rid a man of crime is to rid him of his freedom.

D-503's freedom was taken away and yet somehow he too was able to commit crime. If taking away freedom actually eliminates crime then eventually wouldn't the need for the Guardians of OneState and the Thought Police of Oceania also be eliminated?

Those two in Paradise, they were offered a choice: happiness without freedom, or freedom without happiness, nothing else. Those idiots chose freedom. And then what? Then for centuries they were homesick for the chains. That's why the world was so miserable, see?

The society believed ending all desire would put an end to all unhappiness. But without ever experiencing unhappiness, can one even recognize that they are happy. I suppose that never experiencing anything else and being told they were happy, people might believe indeed they are, but they wouldn't know it for themselves.

So, take some scales and put on one side "I" and on the other side "We," OneState. It's clear, isn't it? - to assert that "I" has certain rights with respect to the state is exactly the same as asserting that a gram weighs the same as a ton. That explains the way things are divided up. To the ton go the rights, to the gram the duties.

This concept also doesn't quite follow because every "I" is not the same number of grams. What about the ruler of OneState, the Benefactor? He should only be one gram but somehow he has more rights than others ...

And finally

But you are not to blame. You are sick. The name of your illness is:
IMAGINATION.
This is the worm that eats out black wrinkles on the brow. This is the fever that drives you farther and farther, even though that "farther" began in the place where happiness ends. This is the last barrier on the path to happiness.

I'm just going to stick to saying that I like imagination.