Journal 3: Blame

In the Wild Duck, I'd have to say that the most obvious character at fault is Gregers. Although Gregers believes he is doing the right thing (his heart is in the "right place"), he is the catalyst that springs the whole show into action. If it hadn't been for his intervention, none of the horrible things would have happened. It must be said, though, that he is not the only character at fault. In fact, almost every character plays a role in the sad events that unfold. Werle, who pressured Gina into a romantic affair and then set her up with Hjalmar. Hjalmar, who tells his daughter he can't stand to be around her and tells his wife that he is moving out from their house of deception. Relling, who insisted that everyone be kept in the dark and believing in their "life lies" to keep them happy. Gina, who chose not to tell Hjalmar of her past. Old Ekdal, who was the one convicted of a crime many years before that thrust his family into long-lasting dishonor, should not have committed the crime. And even Hedvig is to blame, because she is the one who is at fault for her own death; it was a suicide after all. And finally, if Sørby had waited perhaps one more day to give Hedvig the letter, Hjalmar might not have had the reaction that he did after having time to cool down, and none of this would have turned out so horribly. Of the truly main characters, there is no one completely free of blame, whether their actions were intentional or accidental.
The characters who actually accept their fault and realize it are Gina and Hjalmar. Gina apologizes to Hjalmar right away when he confronts her and she admits to her mistake. Hjalmar, after finding his daughter dead, takes responsibility and believes it is his fault completely. Gregers, on the other hand, refuses to accept the possibility that his actions were wrong, and Relling shifts the blame entirely to Gregers, and doesn't even give thought to his own actions.

Journal 2: Sickness

Ibsen uses the motif of sickness and disease throughout the play. Often, characters are described as being "sick" when they're not literally sick. For instance, Dr. Relling says that Gregers has "an acute case of moralistic fever" (Ibsen 178) which is almost a joke, poking some fun at Gregers. It's another way of saying that Gregers is pretentious and believes he is morally better than others, and has a desire (almost an obsession) to bring everyone else up to his level of supreme morality. 
Gregers, in turn, considers Hjalmar sick. He says to Hjalmar that "you've got an insidious disease in your system" (Ibsen 170). He means that Hjalmar is being kept in the dark, and is infected by his own unawareness. Hjalmar has no idea that Hedvig is not his daughter, nor that Gina had an affair with Werle, nor that Werle fixed them up to cover Gina's pregnancy. Gregers thinks that if Hjalmar knew the truth, Hjalmar would be enlightened and cured of his sickness. 
Ibsen uses the motif of disease to show that humans have an inherent "sickness" that is necessary for their survival. Relling calls it a life-lie, the thing that guides people through life and allows them to keep living. This same sickness, though, can create destruction and havoc, as it did in Greger's case. His "sickness" caused the destruction of Hjalmar's family and the death of Hedvig.

Journal 1: Characters

Option 2:
   Gregers Werle, arguably the main character of the entire show, has quite the false conception of himself. He believes it is his duty to reveal the truth and help people become better, morally. In doing so, he is the catalyst for the entire conflict in the show between Hjalmar and his family. He also thinks that people want him to "help" them becoming morally "better". Relling points out Gregers' fault many times, calling it "moral fever" and an obsession with his "summons to ideals". Gregers dismisses this, thinking that to change his belief in morality would make life not worth living. He does not try to change himself, nor does he think he should, and simply decides to ignore it.
   Hjalmar's misconceptions were mostly of others. He failed to realize that Gina had had a relationship with Werle and had become pregnant before marrying Hjalmar, something that would seem obvious to most married couples. And then after he found out, he gained the misconception that his daughter Hedvig was manipulating him and did not actually love him. This contradicts everything we've seen from Hedvig so far, and even after Gregers tries to persuade him otherwise, Hjalmar believes that Hedvig is simply waiting until Werle and Sørby come to collect her. In fact, he is very cruel about it all. When Hedvig dies, Hjalmar is forced to confront his irrationality, and realizes he was wrong.

Journal 3: We

   I've decided that my motif of the descriptions of people is better suited for the language section, so I'm going to address that later. As for windows, the last third of the novel didn't much expand upon that motif. The most prominent appearances of windows or glass in the end was when I-330 was placed under the Gas Bell Jar, behind a window through which the Benefactor and D-503 watched. This provides a parallel between that and the citizens of the One-State watching the "barbarians" through the glass of the Green Wall.

   I'd like to turn my focus to the motif of colors, more than just pink or yellow or blue this time. Throughout the novel Zamyatin used bright colors to describe everything; Pink, Yellow, Blue, Blood Red, Green, and more. But he never (as far as I can remember) uses black and white to describe anything. Even when he is describing race and skin color, he says "african lips" or "bronze skin" to describe people, instead of saying "black" or "white". Now, there is a quote that absolutely explained why Zamyatin did this, and it comes when O-90 is desperate to find a way out of the operation, and D-503 is in conflict about whether or not to help her. He says, "Preposterous, because white cannot at the same time be black, duty and crime cannot coincide. Or is there no black or white in life, and the color depends only on the initial logical premise? And if the premise was that I unlawfully gave her a child..." And this, THIS caused such an epiphany moment for me. Zamyatin is proposing that there is no black and white, that there is no right or wrong, that there is no one way or the other. And the color, the color is based on the original premise. So all the colors, and their connotations to D-503, is based on his original premise– his original feelings and subconscious thoughts about those colors. So of course he associates everything intimate with pink- it's based on something from his past, the original premise. Etc. Jeezum Crow I wish I had done my IOP on this.   Setting! After doing research on Zamyatin's life and the cultural setting, I know more about the parallels. For instance, Zamyatin lived through the February and October Revolutions in Russia. At first Zamyatin supported the Bolsheviks, but after they gained power, he feared their communist and totalitarian ideals. After the October Revolution, there were many years of civil war within Russia, which likely influenced Zamyatin's ideas about how there is never a "final revolution," which he states in his novel. The establishment of the Soviet Union, rising from the civil wars and revolutions, parallels the One-State, which rose after the Two-Hundred-Year-War.After the Soviet Union was established, and began to spread communist ideals, Zamyatin feared the eventual forced spread of communism to the entire world. This can be seen in his novel, with the symbol of the Integral, which will send the ideas of the One-State to other planets in the universe. And if the populations of other planets don't agree, the principles of the One-State will be forced upon them. This is much like the imperialism that was popular through out the world (including Russia) during Zamyatin's lifetime. All of this seemed very pertinent to my understanding of the setting of the novel. 

   Now, language. The end became more clear to me, whereas the middle was more confusing. There was less flip-flopping, because D-503 was more accustomed to the idea of revolt, revolution, or change in the One-State. I think this was caused by the Day of the One Vote, when people actually raised their hands to vote "No." This caused a turning point in D-503, as he realized that perhaps he was not the only one who had a "disease", or a soul, though he never mentions it in his diary. But the change can be seen in his writing, which becomes clearer and more purposeful as he describes the events that took place. Of course, the epitome of the clear and purposeful narration comes at the end, when his imagination has been eliminated. His language and style is monotone and blank, and illustrates his lack of imagination wonderfully. Even in the end, though, he still noticed that I-330 was beautiful. Perhaps this presents the idea that beauty is always knowable, and is not connected to the soul... Perhaps. 

Journal 2: We

   So last time, for motifs, I analyzed Zimyatin's use of lips. I've realized now that it's not just women whose lips are noticed (the old doctor has 'scissor-lips'). Moreover, it's not just lips that are described in depth and personified. I think that his description of people in general has become a huge part of the novel, although, I'm not sure if it falls under the category of motif anymore. It might fall more under language, since it's more like imagery. The way he describes people is no longer limited to lips, as it was in the beginning; he also describes their cheeks, their eyes, their ears, their body type, using all sorts of metaphors and similes. The old woman who works in his building has gill-cheeks, the guardian who is twice-bent like an 'S' has wing-ears, etc. His descriptions have become a way of illustrating the differences in each person, and I believe D-503 is describing them harshly, with a negative tone, because he has been trained to dislike anything that differs from societal norms. The society in the novel believes that being different, or not uniform, is ugly, which is why in the beginning D-503 spoke of wanting different noses.
   I also analyzed the use of windows as motifs in my last entry. While there's been a continued mention of windows, there hasn't been much symbolism beyond what I mentioned last time. There has, however, been more description of how many windows actually exist. Every characters' walls are windows, and they can see each other. This gets rid of the value of privacy in the One-State, which is just another dystopian characteristic.
   In my last, I discussed the color pink. But now I've noticed the prominence of the color yellow. It seems to me that everything from the past, everything "ancient" or "primitive" or natural, is described as being yellow. The yellow Buddha in the Ancient House, for instance, haunted D-503 in his dreams for some time. The yellow eyes of the beast outside the Green Wall were brought back later in I-330's "yellow eyes". Yellow is a contrast of blue, and in the beginning, D describes the things he loves about the One-State as perfect, unaffected blue (O's eyes, the sky, etc.) showing that there is a direct contrast between the One-State and nature. As the color yellow becomes more prominent, so does D's connection to (or at least his notice of ) the primitive/natural world.

   For setting, I didn't come up with much last time, except that they live in the future. It's become more apparent now just how different they are in their culture. They look back on the "Ancients", or people like us presently, pityingly. In their new society, there's no nature inside the "Green Wall" that surrounds the settlement. It appears, from descriptions, to be a glass wall with an electrified dome that stretches overhead keeping the nature and wilderness out. D-503 sees an animal on the outside, and describes overgrown forests and trees and an abundance of nature on the other side. This contrasts the new civilization, which has no nature. It also shows how disconnected the One-State is from true human nature and possibly develops a theme of how society should not strive to disconnect with their primitive past. That could also be proved through the Ancient House museum, which is used as a base for a rebellion against the government– the rebels connect with their past, with their predecessors, with their "primitive" background. Depending on how this works out in the end, this may be depicted as a good thing or a bad thing.

   Last time I analyzed the use of first person narrative, and how it could be confusing sometimes. Well let me tell you, it is even more confusing now! This narrator is so unreliable I don't even know what to do with myself. It's become impossible to tell if he's dreaming or living in the reality, and he himself says he can't tell. Half the time he's against the society, and thinking about having a soul, and then the other half he's back to normal and hates himself for having a "sickness", or soul. So I'm confused half the time, and it's killing me. Metaphorically of course. It's become really hard to tell exactly what's going on, because of the terms he uses, and his occasional habit of not explaining who or what he's talking about if he switches topics, and sometimes he just stops midsentence! I suppose Zimyatin does this to illustrate how D-503 is going kind of crazy, because all of the sudden he's beginning to question this society and culture he's considered perfect his whole life. And he doesn't know how to handle it, because he thinks what he's doing is wrong, but then he's forced to question whether or not it actually is wrong, and maybe everything else he knows is wrong... It's confusing, but that sure is an effective way to illustrate someone's stress and confusion in that kind of situation.

Journal 1: We

Motifs:
There are several motifs that have appeared so far, including the sky, metals, music, and the image of going "down". But the ones that stood out most to me so far are lips and windows. First, lips are used often to characterize women. Never men, I've noticed, but always women. For instance, O has round pink lips that make her seem innocent, while I-330 has blood red, sharp lips to show that she is more dangerous. The old woman at the Ancient House has no lips, because they are so wrinkled and sucked inside. Then windows have appeared very often, since it seems that all the buildings are made from glass. The act of "closing your blinds" is only done when you're going to have sex. It symbolizes hiding something. Similarly, eyes are compared to windows, and often D-503 talks about how I-330 closes the blinds to her eyes. This proves that she is hiding something; it makes her a mystery, and therefore, the center point of the plot.
   Another prominent motif is the color pink: There are pink slips, and D-503 describes O as being pink, and he talks about the pink bodies of women. From all of this, I think pink stands for intimacy. It illustrates D's feelings towards sex, intimacy, and the like. So I get the feeling that whenever he describes something as being pink, it must have some sort of intimate meaning to him.

Setting:
This novel takes place somewhere in the very distant future. It's after the Two Hundred Year War, so it's safe to assume that it's at least two hundred years after this novel was written. Maybe the twenty-second century. Unfortunately the overall setting isn't much described by the main character, except for his immediate surroundings. The city he lives in, part of The One State, is described as being beautiful because it is so uniform and perfect and mathematical. The descriptions of the uniformity of the society serves to show us how different the setting of the novel is from our society, and how they consider beauty the opposite of what we do.

Language:
The novel is written in journal style, so it's first person, and the main character is making entries. This can make things a lot more confusing, but also gives interesting insight to the character. Sometimes it is hard to understand the chronology of events, because he jumps back and forth between present and past tenses. He doesn't describe all of his terms or the phrases he uses, because to him, they are normal and shouldn't need definition. The reader is left to infer that the instructors are robots or that the "Benefactor" is the leader of their society.  But because it is in first person, you get to very clearly see the changes the main character goes through and all the internal conflict that occurs because he is torn between wanting freedom and "happiness" in the One State. The language he uses to describe things is very vivid and often confusing, but perhaps that's just my translation of the book. That's something that must be taken into account; it's a translation from another language, which means the wording might not be exactly the same as the original, as we learned from the Stranger.