We

“I am not a number, I am a person.”

No.6 in The Prisoner

Let me start by saying Spoiler Alert, a big fat spoiler alert is hereby rubber stamped onto this post. Now to business...


I have recently reread Brave New World and 1984 as well as having my first reading of their elder sibling, We. The first two left me with a tremendous emptiness (not feeling nothing, but instead a deep feeling of nothingness) which was somewhat reduced for the latter. I don't know whether my reduced response to We is a result of my age, the fact I read the others in adolescence, a sign of the story's quality (I certainly found the characters less believable - unlike the other two, I really can't see humans acting that way) or just a sign that it was originally written in Russian.
That is not to say We is without qualities, simply the fact that it was written by an author within Stalin's Russia makes it illuminating and important; the mathematical ideas and representations of concepts was amusing to say the least, and probably plays a large part in social engineering; and whilst everything being literally made of glass feels like a crude metaphor, it certainly makes it's point. The first-person, diary style is really what makes it; the rushed and emotional nature of one entry contrasting with the relaxed and power nature of the next.


I am also left wondering if it possible to create a story so poignant in this genre without having a bleak ending, without leaving the reader with a picture of the future involving a boot stomping on a human face — for the foreseeable future. I suppose it's easy to see any of these books becoming vulgar Hollywood-ised dross if there was a revolution and a fight back, that certainly happened in both the screen and animated versions of Animal Farm.
Maybe all we get is O-33 being beyond the Green Wall with her child, we have that spark of hope. Maybe that's the point - the revolution is not easy, we need to make it happen; and even if we try, there are simply no guarantees.