Journalism

How does Zamyatin’s We function as a journal? What are some of the expectations for journal writing? How does the novel satisfy or frustrate those expectations?

A journal functions as a source for enhancing reflection, facilitating critical thought, expressing feelings and writing focused arguments on paper. In Zamyatin’s We, the main character D-503 takes on a task of recording his day to day activities much like a journal. The journal format is a necessary writing format because living in a one state totalitarian government an individual is not able to have freedom of thoughts or speech. Being able to write his thoughts down, D-503 is able to express his emotions each day.

We, being a predominant satire novel, is almost looked at as a love story. Emotional expression is presented all through the text also; there is a clear relationship of some sort between D-503 and O-90. Also there is an apparent developing emotion of love in D-503. The constant love triangles are very soap opera-esque, and by D-503 writing down what happened each day makes the reader feel more engaged while reading the novel. D-503 reflects on his past throughout the novel. The journal shows that there is an ongoing internal struggle within himself that prevents D-503 from doing exactly what is expected of him. A reader should see a change in D-503’s actions and attitude throughout his writings, and he seems to become more independent by the end of the novel through writing down his thoughts. Although this novel does not take the format of a traditional journal, it encompasses each expectation called for by a journal.