How We by E. I. Zamjatin influenced G. Orwell's 1984 (Part 2)

The protagonist of the story in We, who's called D-503, is a skilled engineer and mathematician, but someone with a weak personality, or as in Orwell's words upon review, “a poor conventional creature” who works for the Single State. His story is told in the form of the diary. In contrast, 1984 is narrated in the third person, but a whole part of the novel is occupied by the diary of Winston Smith, an ordinary man who works for Minitru, the Ministry of Truth of Oceania. Both D-503 and Winston Smith may be seen as conventional, normal people who try to “stay human” by keeping their individualities in a world which hates both humanity and individuality; and in both novels, their respective diaries are a symbol of this aim.

Within both Zamjatin's and Orwell's view of the future, love and normal relationships between men and women are strictly forbidden, while sex is only allowed for reproduction. The protagonists of both 1984 and We both break this law and start a forbidden love relationship with a woman which can be seen as another symbol of the will of the protagonists to maintain a trace of humanity and individuality in a world where all personal thoughts and desire are suppressed and controlled.  But in a world where love is persecuted, both Winston and D-503 soon fall under the heavy arm of the law: Winston is arrested as a “thoughtcriminal” when his relationship with Julia is discovered, and he suffers the “Thought Police's” tortures and is brainwashed. D-503, in contrast, after having discovered that there's the possibility to “cure that illness called imagination which causes disorder and insubordination,” undergoes that operation and as a consequence of that, betrays his love, I-330, who is tortured and sent to her death.

Hi Guilio. Good job! Whatever changes I made were just to allow your sentences to read better, as well as to correct minor errors. You are doing a “compare and contrast” yet you use Orwell’s words (“a poor conventional creature”) to describe the other novel, which is a bit confusing. Also, a summation and/or your opinion at the end would be nice rather than just ending as it does with the narrative of the plot of We. Regardless, for me,  it was a very interesting and informative read, so thanks for posting! I hope that this helps you. J.