I definitely think that Gina and Gregers carry most of the blame for the craziness that occured in acts 3 and 4. Gregers took it upon himself to pry into things that really weren't any of his business. It may have been his "moral obligation" to do so, but I believe that the entire play could have been avoided if Gregers had just kept his head down and minded his own business. As for Gina, she could have made it apparent that Hedvig may not be Hjalmar's daughter a lot earlier in her marriage. Props to her for being able to lie for 15 years, that girl must have a very different set of morals, but if she told the truth at the beginning, Hedvig would have been young and oblivious enough to have not taken her father's freak-out so personally. Maybe then she may not have killed herself.
The number one person that should be blamed for Hedvig's death, however, is Old Werle. He's the one that created the lie surrounding the Ekdal family in the first place. It was him that got Gina pregnant, and according to the customs of the time he should have just married her anyway. Instead, he set up a web of lies for poor Hjalmar by setting Gina up with him. He even ensured that his lie would last long-term by getting Hjalmar a job and supporting the Ekdal family with Old Ekdal's paycheck and later the grant in Hedvig's letter. The truth getting out about Hedvig being illigitimate would surely hurt Old Werle's reputation, which is probably why he put on the whole charade.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Wild Duck #2
Sickness, illness, etc are used in The Wild Duck to show what happens to certain people if they choose not to reveal the truth. The first case of this "illness" can be seen at the end of act 3, right before Gregers gets the opportunity to get Hjalmar alone and perhaps tell him the truth about his child and marriage. Relling diagnoses him with "moralistic fever"(178). To me, this sounds like poor Gregers is ill because of a violation of his morals. It is within Gregers' moral standards to reveal the truth. Heck, it's his life mission. The conflict he faces between his morals and keeping his buddy happy are causing a battle within in own mind.
In Relling's mind, truth cas cause an illness if one is overexposed. This is why he deems Gregers, and later Hjalmar (and everyone else in the world), as ill. His cure for this illness is a life-lie, "the animating principle of life"(202). This kind of lie "keep[s] life going"(202). Relling believes that, sometimes, the truth can be too hard to bear. This is especially true with Hjalmar, who eventually snaps and indirectly kills his daughter. I think that Ibsen, through using illness and death as symbols, is trying to convey that knowing the truth is not always beneficial. Covering up the truth, much like Gina did for almost 15 years, kept Hjalmar sane because he was in the dark as far as the illegitimacy of his child is concerned.
In Relling's mind, truth cas cause an illness if one is overexposed. This is why he deems Gregers, and later Hjalmar (and everyone else in the world), as ill. His cure for this illness is a life-lie, "the animating principle of life"(202). This kind of lie "keep[s] life going"(202). Relling believes that, sometimes, the truth can be too hard to bear. This is especially true with Hjalmar, who eventually snaps and indirectly kills his daughter. I think that Ibsen, through using illness and death as symbols, is trying to convey that knowing the truth is not always beneficial. Covering up the truth, much like Gina did for almost 15 years, kept Hjalmar sane because he was in the dark as far as the illegitimacy of his child is concerned.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Wild Duck #1
Option 2:
Hjalmar Ekdal, one of the main characters in the play, is twisted up in a bed of lies created by other characters as well as himself. He percieves himself as hardworking, and yet he always makes an excuse as to why he can't complete his photography projects. He needs an afternoon nap, his father is being a crazy, or he has his invention to attend to. Overall, I would say that Hjalmar is like an IB student. He says he's hardworking, and he can get the job done when he wants to, but there is always an excuse as to why he can't get the job done. I also noticed that Hjalmar acts differently around a group of men (Relling, Molvik, and Gregers in act 3) than he does around his wife and child. In act two, he is very sweet with Hedvig and makes good conversation with his wife. However, when the boys are around, he turns to giving orders to Gina and Hedvig. This could also be the alcohol he was consuming clouding his judgement, but that's another thing to think about.
On the other side of the Ekdal family, we have Gina. One might call her the typical housewife of the time period. She is obedient towards her husband, keeps the house, and cares for her child. Gina also has a line of work, which may not have been uncharacteristic of a women of her status (I'm starting to think that the Ekdals are part of the lower middle class). I think it is very interesting that Gina re-touches photos while Hjalmar just takes them. I see this as Hjalmar seeing what is actually there (but maybe not the whole picture), and Gina skewing things just a little to make them look more presentable. We never know for a fact that Hedvig is an illegitimate child with Old Werle, but I think some of Gina's actions and attitudes point the readers in that direction. Her shock at Old Werle's entrance in act 3 and her displeasure with Gregers' arrival all point out that she knows what is really going on, she is just going to hide it like she hides the imperfections in pictures.
Hjalmar Ekdal, one of the main characters in the play, is twisted up in a bed of lies created by other characters as well as himself. He percieves himself as hardworking, and yet he always makes an excuse as to why he can't complete his photography projects. He needs an afternoon nap, his father is being a crazy, or he has his invention to attend to. Overall, I would say that Hjalmar is like an IB student. He says he's hardworking, and he can get the job done when he wants to, but there is always an excuse as to why he can't get the job done. I also noticed that Hjalmar acts differently around a group of men (Relling, Molvik, and Gregers in act 3) than he does around his wife and child. In act two, he is very sweet with Hedvig and makes good conversation with his wife. However, when the boys are around, he turns to giving orders to Gina and Hedvig. This could also be the alcohol he was consuming clouding his judgement, but that's another thing to think about.
On the other side of the Ekdal family, we have Gina. One might call her the typical housewife of the time period. She is obedient towards her husband, keeps the house, and cares for her child. Gina also has a line of work, which may not have been uncharacteristic of a women of her status (I'm starting to think that the Ekdals are part of the lower middle class). I think it is very interesting that Gina re-touches photos while Hjalmar just takes them. I see this as Hjalmar seeing what is actually there (but maybe not the whole picture), and Gina skewing things just a little to make them look more presentable. We never know for a fact that Hedvig is an illegitimate child with Old Werle, but I think some of Gina's actions and attitudes point the readers in that direction. Her shock at Old Werle's entrance in act 3 and her displeasure with Gregers' arrival all point out that she knows what is really going on, she is just going to hide it like she hides the imperfections in pictures.
Monday, April 9, 2012
We #3 (Oh my gosh it rhymes)
I finished the book and I just want to say, "wow, not what I expected. At all. What a bummer". So I just said that and now I'm going to do my journal.
As far as motifs go, nature is coming up a lot more than in the first third or half or so of the book. This clearly is part of D-503 falling deeper into his illness, because on the last two pages after D has been cured he mentions no nature to speak of. Although nature doesn't come up when D is well again, he still uses it to describe the more "ugly" things that take place in his life. While the One State is essentially burning to the ground, Zamyatin describes the frantic people with "open mouths, arms waving like branches. They must have been the source of all this howling, cawing, buzzing"(198). These people are lost, with no idea what to do. Their way of life is collapsing around them, so they are reverting to savagery. The animalistic language combined with the motif of nature here is bringing a sense of negativity (I could use a better word here, but I can't think of one) towards all these people's conditions. They, for the first time in their lives, are free! The problem is, however, that they think the way of the One State is the only way to live and that freedom brings savagery and unhappiness. This is where we get D's negative feelings towards them as expressed in the nature-ish words like branches, cawing, howling and buzzing.
Well, I kind of lumped motifs and language in with eachother on that one, so I'm going to do it again to be more thorough. There is a point in the book where nature actually, much to the people's dismay, finds its way in to the one state. The first time this happens is in D-503's 37th entry, when the brids come in from outside the green wall and it's electric cieling. Nature is, again, described by Zamyatin with harsh, almost ugly language. The birds produce "hoarse, gutteral drops of sound from above", and are described as "sharp, black, piercing, falling triangles"(191). The first part of the passage makes a lot of sense to me as far as language goes. Words like hoarse and gutteral are used to express the society's disgust with nature, as we have seen throughout basically the whole book. What I don't get is why the birds are also labeled as triangles. Something that comes from nature, something so free, unpredictable, and "ugly", should not be labeled as a geometric shape. Why? Because the One State loves math. I bet they even love geometry, even though a lot of people don't. Since geometry, and subsequently, such nice shapes as triangles, are part of the math that society is based on, then why label a "stupid", "ugly" bird with something so revered in society? This could be D's way of showing us he has a soul, and is blending the society he loves with the nature he knows belongs in his life and is coming to accept. Or it could be a translation issue. I don't know if there are any other Russian words for triangle, but I know that some other people in my group have other translations. It would be interesting to see what they have!
Setting is an entirely different ball game! The One State is pretty established as a setting, so there's not much to talk about there. I did find one of the little blurbs on the Integral kind of interesting, and it clued me in as to how the society works. The quote that I don't feel like properly integrating reads "everyone was already all assembled, everyone was in their places, all the honeycombs of the gigantic hive were filled. There were tiny, antlike people below, [...] standing at telegraphs, dynamos, transformers, altimeters, valves, arrows, motors, pumps, pipes"(172). It is shown here how complex the society is, and how everyone is working as part of a whole in order to achieve a greater purpose. The people are almost like robots, and Zamyatin makes it appear that way by saying that they're "assembled". Everyone is part of a machine, standing at their various parts and waiting to be activated. The Integral is part of a mission that will spead the views of the One State intergalactically, so it is natural that the thing doing so is made according to these values. The workers who run the integral are dehumanized, and deindividualized as they are lumped in as part of this greater being. I also found the comparison to the beehive to be interesting, although it seemed rather off as part of a paragraph about a machine. The people working the integral could also be a part of a beehive, all working towards a goal (or multiple goals, making honey, feeding the queen...), but here Zamyatin chooses to describe them using nature! Since the people are also described as antlike not two sentences before the bee reference, I think Zamyatin might be doing something by involving insects in his writing. Although insects are a part of nature, they aren't really that amazing or unpredictable or untamable. Ants can be squished under a boot, and bees follow a simple routine of, leave hive, get nectar, come back to hive, deposit nectar, repeat. Insects are mindless, predictable things that can easily be compared with the people of the One State who blindly follow the Benefactor and accept all the rules forced on to them because they don't know any better. Nature can be somewhat predictable, but only in its simplest form.
As far as motifs go, nature is coming up a lot more than in the first third or half or so of the book. This clearly is part of D-503 falling deeper into his illness, because on the last two pages after D has been cured he mentions no nature to speak of. Although nature doesn't come up when D is well again, he still uses it to describe the more "ugly" things that take place in his life. While the One State is essentially burning to the ground, Zamyatin describes the frantic people with "open mouths, arms waving like branches. They must have been the source of all this howling, cawing, buzzing"(198). These people are lost, with no idea what to do. Their way of life is collapsing around them, so they are reverting to savagery. The animalistic language combined with the motif of nature here is bringing a sense of negativity (I could use a better word here, but I can't think of one) towards all these people's conditions. They, for the first time in their lives, are free! The problem is, however, that they think the way of the One State is the only way to live and that freedom brings savagery and unhappiness. This is where we get D's negative feelings towards them as expressed in the nature-ish words like branches, cawing, howling and buzzing.
Well, I kind of lumped motifs and language in with eachother on that one, so I'm going to do it again to be more thorough. There is a point in the book where nature actually, much to the people's dismay, finds its way in to the one state. The first time this happens is in D-503's 37th entry, when the brids come in from outside the green wall and it's electric cieling. Nature is, again, described by Zamyatin with harsh, almost ugly language. The birds produce "hoarse, gutteral drops of sound from above", and are described as "sharp, black, piercing, falling triangles"(191). The first part of the passage makes a lot of sense to me as far as language goes. Words like hoarse and gutteral are used to express the society's disgust with nature, as we have seen throughout basically the whole book. What I don't get is why the birds are also labeled as triangles. Something that comes from nature, something so free, unpredictable, and "ugly", should not be labeled as a geometric shape. Why? Because the One State loves math. I bet they even love geometry, even though a lot of people don't. Since geometry, and subsequently, such nice shapes as triangles, are part of the math that society is based on, then why label a "stupid", "ugly" bird with something so revered in society? This could be D's way of showing us he has a soul, and is blending the society he loves with the nature he knows belongs in his life and is coming to accept. Or it could be a translation issue. I don't know if there are any other Russian words for triangle, but I know that some other people in my group have other translations. It would be interesting to see what they have!
Setting is an entirely different ball game! The One State is pretty established as a setting, so there's not much to talk about there. I did find one of the little blurbs on the Integral kind of interesting, and it clued me in as to how the society works. The quote that I don't feel like properly integrating reads "everyone was already all assembled, everyone was in their places, all the honeycombs of the gigantic hive were filled. There were tiny, antlike people below, [...] standing at telegraphs, dynamos, transformers, altimeters, valves, arrows, motors, pumps, pipes"(172). It is shown here how complex the society is, and how everyone is working as part of a whole in order to achieve a greater purpose. The people are almost like robots, and Zamyatin makes it appear that way by saying that they're "assembled". Everyone is part of a machine, standing at their various parts and waiting to be activated. The Integral is part of a mission that will spead the views of the One State intergalactically, so it is natural that the thing doing so is made according to these values. The workers who run the integral are dehumanized, and deindividualized as they are lumped in as part of this greater being. I also found the comparison to the beehive to be interesting, although it seemed rather off as part of a paragraph about a machine. The people working the integral could also be a part of a beehive, all working towards a goal (or multiple goals, making honey, feeding the queen...), but here Zamyatin chooses to describe them using nature! Since the people are also described as antlike not two sentences before the bee reference, I think Zamyatin might be doing something by involving insects in his writing. Although insects are a part of nature, they aren't really that amazing or unpredictable or untamable. Ants can be squished under a boot, and bees follow a simple routine of, leave hive, get nectar, come back to hive, deposit nectar, repeat. Insects are mindless, predictable things that can easily be compared with the people of the One State who blindly follow the Benefactor and accept all the rules forced on to them because they don't know any better. Nature can be somewhat predictable, but only in its simplest form.
Friday, April 6, 2012
We #2
Language:
"I saw the stupid muzzle of some kind of beast, his yellow eyes, obstinately repeating one and the same incomprehensible thought at me"(83).
The moment when D-503 comes literally face to face with nature is a very key moment within the second third of the book. When he faces the creature (I think it's one of the primitive people outside the wall, staring at him through the glass), the language Zamyatin uses reflects the views of society. Nature is this unpredictable, uncontainable entity that the mathematical values of the One State deem ugly. It is natural that D-503 would call the creature, well, its muzzle, stupid because the people residing within the glass wall find the freedom of nature to be a state ov savagery. I also keyed in to the word obstinate, which I'm pretty sure means stubborn. The idea of nature could be stubborn in a way because it evades the mathematical rules of the one state by remaining so unpredictable. Logic and math cannot sway it away from being what it is, so therefore nature is obstinate. This quote helps my understanding of the One State by revealing the society's views on nature and why people in the society find nature so ugly.
Setting:
"Up above the Wall: the sharp black triangles of some kind of bird were cawing and throwing their breasts at the solid barrier electrical of electrical waves and then being flung backward, only to try flying over the wall yet again"(105).
Well, this is a new development that I found rather iteresting. Not only is there a wall all the way around the One State, but there is an electrical field around the top to keep all the birds out! There is an upside in that, because nobody will have to worry about bird poop on their aeros in the morning. However, nothing says "I hate nature" like some good, hearty bird zapping! While I viewed the wall previously as a mechanism to keep people contained within the control of the government, I now see it an its zappy roof as something meant to keep the outside world away. As I previously stated, nature and math can't really coexist, unless you're balancing a Hardy-Weinburg equation. Nature is just so free (in other words, savage) and unpredictable that it would be poisonus to the society to have it introduced. The walls benefit society by keeping out all that nasty nature!
Motifs:
"My cozy walls had vanished. For a second, I felt as though I'd been thrown out there, outside, where a giant wind is rushing abot on wings and the slanting, dusky clouds are getting lower and lower"(108).
Hey, I thought I just said walls were meant to keep nature out! Not to keep D all cozy! I think it works both ways, the wall (or any walls within the book, as walls are a motif) keeps things against society out and keept society's supporters locked up tight. I think D feels so comfortable inside the wall beacause math and logic, the building blocks of his society, are all he knows. Having things we think as completely normal, such as an imagination and a soul, is something D-503 labels as a sickness. The predictablilty of his life, represented by his cozy wall, is disintegrating. The clouds that get lower are symbolizing the uncertainty D is facing. This quote makes me think that walls represent security, predictability, and also the oppression of the government.
"I saw the stupid muzzle of some kind of beast, his yellow eyes, obstinately repeating one and the same incomprehensible thought at me"(83).
The moment when D-503 comes literally face to face with nature is a very key moment within the second third of the book. When he faces the creature (I think it's one of the primitive people outside the wall, staring at him through the glass), the language Zamyatin uses reflects the views of society. Nature is this unpredictable, uncontainable entity that the mathematical values of the One State deem ugly. It is natural that D-503 would call the creature, well, its muzzle, stupid because the people residing within the glass wall find the freedom of nature to be a state ov savagery. I also keyed in to the word obstinate, which I'm pretty sure means stubborn. The idea of nature could be stubborn in a way because it evades the mathematical rules of the one state by remaining so unpredictable. Logic and math cannot sway it away from being what it is, so therefore nature is obstinate. This quote helps my understanding of the One State by revealing the society's views on nature and why people in the society find nature so ugly.
Setting:
"Up above the Wall: the sharp black triangles of some kind of bird were cawing and throwing their breasts at the solid barrier electrical of electrical waves and then being flung backward, only to try flying over the wall yet again"(105).
Well, this is a new development that I found rather iteresting. Not only is there a wall all the way around the One State, but there is an electrical field around the top to keep all the birds out! There is an upside in that, because nobody will have to worry about bird poop on their aeros in the morning. However, nothing says "I hate nature" like some good, hearty bird zapping! While I viewed the wall previously as a mechanism to keep people contained within the control of the government, I now see it an its zappy roof as something meant to keep the outside world away. As I previously stated, nature and math can't really coexist, unless you're balancing a Hardy-Weinburg equation. Nature is just so free (in other words, savage) and unpredictable that it would be poisonus to the society to have it introduced. The walls benefit society by keeping out all that nasty nature!
Motifs:
"My cozy walls had vanished. For a second, I felt as though I'd been thrown out there, outside, where a giant wind is rushing abot on wings and the slanting, dusky clouds are getting lower and lower"(108).
Hey, I thought I just said walls were meant to keep nature out! Not to keep D all cozy! I think it works both ways, the wall (or any walls within the book, as walls are a motif) keeps things against society out and keept society's supporters locked up tight. I think D feels so comfortable inside the wall beacause math and logic, the building blocks of his society, are all he knows. Having things we think as completely normal, such as an imagination and a soul, is something D-503 labels as a sickness. The predictablilty of his life, represented by his cozy wall, is disintegrating. The clouds that get lower are symbolizing the uncertainty D is facing. This quote makes me think that walls represent security, predictability, and also the oppression of the government.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
We #1
Motifs, setting, and language for the first 3rd. Here we go!
As far as motifs go, I'm seeing a lot of walls, lips, eyes, and glass. I'm going to address each one specifically.
Walls- It's pretty obvious, I think; the walls represent containment and control by the government. The One State is surrounded by a green wall that keeps out "ugly" and "stupid" nature. D-503 feels comforted by such walls, because he knows nothing other than his life in the One State. Walls represent the One State's idea that freedom is savage. D-503 shares this belief, because he was raised on the idea that the four functions of arithmatic are the only things worth paying attention to. Freedom of expression, like the "ancients" did with the piano, is frowned upon because it is not contained by numbers, equations, or the walls of the very mathematical society.
Lips- No matter who the character is, D-503 always takes the time to describe his or her lips. African lips, pink lips, scissor lips, lips tucked inside, it's all over the place. In a society where everyone is supposed to be the same (we wouldn't want anyone to be envious of each others' button noses, now would we?), the variety in people's lips struck me as a little odd. Perhaps Zamyatin is trying to maintain some individuality between the characters in a society where everyone needs to be the same. Speech and language, an important tool for expressing thought, also escapes through the lips. People in the novel have different opinions that are beginning to emerge, such as O's want for a baby, and maybe their lips reflect their thoughts and desires that they wish to express but can't because of the One State?
Eyes- I love the comparison of eyes to windows. It may be a bit overused, but who knows? This book is old, the whole window to the soul thing might have came from this very novel! D-503 sees both fire and darkness inside I-330's eyes, while in O's eyes he sees nothing. I most likely has a soul (what an unfortunate condition), based on her strange behavior or sneaking around and evading the laws of the One State. O wants a baby, which I can't tell if it's forbidden or not, but other than that none of her actions so far have really deviated from the wants of the One State. She isn't "ill", ergo, no soul, nothing in her eyes.
Glass- Glass is everywhere. Walls are glass, sidewalks are glass, even people's homes are made of glass. I think it's a government control thing. Everyone can see what you're doing all the time (except when you're having sex), so you had better not break the law or you'll get squished by the big glass (is it glass?) hand of the Benefactor!! Glass contains the people of the One State, but at the same time you can see through it. It almost gives the illusion of freedom, even though freedom is bad. The people of the One State can see outside their confinement, but they can never escape it.
Glass also ties in to the setting, which is the next thing I'll be typing about. The book takes place in the One State, a city that sounds like is made entirely out of glass. It's futuristic, I can tell because people take flying machines everywhere, and the government is extremely controling. There are auditoriums where people are required to go see lectures, and the only normal (well to me it's normal) place in the whole city is the ancient house! It's a museum of sorts, I believe, that is colorful and opaque. That contrasts greatly with the rest of the One State. I think the strict schedule, everything being made of glass, and the futuristic time frame the novel is set in all give the idea that the One State is very controling. It is also open with its citizens, though. No secrets here! I think that's where the glass comes in to play. Everyone seems to know the rules of the One State and what will happen to them if they break those rules.
Language. Zamyatin likes to use math speak in a lot of his writing. Words like "sinusoid", "parabola", and variables like X come up a lot. I think Zamyatin chooses these words not only because he was wa mathematician of some sort, but to emphasize the views of the society he created. Everything in the One State is planned out to a T, very exact in its operations. The same is true for math, as there is only one right answer to an equation. Unless there's a plus or minus sign in there, but that hasn't been mentioned yet. The mathematical language also emphasizes the One State's want for a lack of freedom and imagination. When doing a math problem, one isn't free to experiment, they have to stick to the formula.
As far as motifs go, I'm seeing a lot of walls, lips, eyes, and glass. I'm going to address each one specifically.
Walls- It's pretty obvious, I think; the walls represent containment and control by the government. The One State is surrounded by a green wall that keeps out "ugly" and "stupid" nature. D-503 feels comforted by such walls, because he knows nothing other than his life in the One State. Walls represent the One State's idea that freedom is savage. D-503 shares this belief, because he was raised on the idea that the four functions of arithmatic are the only things worth paying attention to. Freedom of expression, like the "ancients" did with the piano, is frowned upon because it is not contained by numbers, equations, or the walls of the very mathematical society.
Lips- No matter who the character is, D-503 always takes the time to describe his or her lips. African lips, pink lips, scissor lips, lips tucked inside, it's all over the place. In a society where everyone is supposed to be the same (we wouldn't want anyone to be envious of each others' button noses, now would we?), the variety in people's lips struck me as a little odd. Perhaps Zamyatin is trying to maintain some individuality between the characters in a society where everyone needs to be the same. Speech and language, an important tool for expressing thought, also escapes through the lips. People in the novel have different opinions that are beginning to emerge, such as O's want for a baby, and maybe their lips reflect their thoughts and desires that they wish to express but can't because of the One State?
Eyes- I love the comparison of eyes to windows. It may be a bit overused, but who knows? This book is old, the whole window to the soul thing might have came from this very novel! D-503 sees both fire and darkness inside I-330's eyes, while in O's eyes he sees nothing. I most likely has a soul (what an unfortunate condition), based on her strange behavior or sneaking around and evading the laws of the One State. O wants a baby, which I can't tell if it's forbidden or not, but other than that none of her actions so far have really deviated from the wants of the One State. She isn't "ill", ergo, no soul, nothing in her eyes.
Glass- Glass is everywhere. Walls are glass, sidewalks are glass, even people's homes are made of glass. I think it's a government control thing. Everyone can see what you're doing all the time (except when you're having sex), so you had better not break the law or you'll get squished by the big glass (is it glass?) hand of the Benefactor!! Glass contains the people of the One State, but at the same time you can see through it. It almost gives the illusion of freedom, even though freedom is bad. The people of the One State can see outside their confinement, but they can never escape it.
Glass also ties in to the setting, which is the next thing I'll be typing about. The book takes place in the One State, a city that sounds like is made entirely out of glass. It's futuristic, I can tell because people take flying machines everywhere, and the government is extremely controling. There are auditoriums where people are required to go see lectures, and the only normal (well to me it's normal) place in the whole city is the ancient house! It's a museum of sorts, I believe, that is colorful and opaque. That contrasts greatly with the rest of the One State. I think the strict schedule, everything being made of glass, and the futuristic time frame the novel is set in all give the idea that the One State is very controling. It is also open with its citizens, though. No secrets here! I think that's where the glass comes in to play. Everyone seems to know the rules of the One State and what will happen to them if they break those rules.
Language. Zamyatin likes to use math speak in a lot of his writing. Words like "sinusoid", "parabola", and variables like X come up a lot. I think Zamyatin chooses these words not only because he was wa mathematician of some sort, but to emphasize the views of the society he created. Everything in the One State is planned out to a T, very exact in its operations. The same is true for math, as there is only one right answer to an equation. Unless there's a plus or minus sign in there, but that hasn't been mentioned yet. The mathematical language also emphasizes the One State's want for a lack of freedom and imagination. When doing a math problem, one isn't free to experiment, they have to stick to the formula.
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