Topic A: "But our Table of Hours! Why, it transforms each one of us into a figure of steel, a six-wheeled hero of a mighty epic poem. Every morning, with six-wheeled precision, at the same hour and the same moment, we-millions of us- get up as one. At the same hour, in million-headed unison, we start work; and in million-headed unison we end it. And, fused into a single million-handed body, at the same second, designated by the Table, we lift our spoons to our mouths. At the same second, we come out for our walk, go to the auditorium, go to the hall for Taylor excercises, fall asleep..." (Zamyatin, 12).
This passage shows that the people of the society in We have a very structured society. Everyone has to do the same thing every minute of every day. The character's description of the table of hours makes it sound like the best thing the world has ever known, which shows a certain level of conditioning. The theory behind this society is all of human nature must be controlled in order to destroy personal wants and feelings. If people were like computers, they would just do what they were told without question, which is what D-503 is doing. Not only does he follow the table of hours, but he praises it, saying it's for the good of One State, which is all he thinks about. The passage also gives an idea about some of the day to day things that are done in the society, such as work and walks. This shows that everyone has a job that they have to do for free, they're required to get excercise and sleep to be physically fit, and do Taylor excercises, which are named after the one who started the idea for the society. The book has not said exactly what they are, but they must be some sort of propoganda used to brainwash the people into trusting the ways of society. Although nothing is really happening while the character is writing this passage, it shows good insight on the ways of society and the people's views on it.
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ReplyDeleteInteresting. I was looking up passages from this novel for my term paper and came across this blog post.
ReplyDeleteConcerning "Taylor" and the exercises named after him. From what I have heard from my professor and according to translator's notes in my copy of the book, "Taylor" is a reference to this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Winslow_Taylor
He was an American engineer who wanted to improve efficiency in factories under industrial capitalism. He did a lot of study on organization, management, division of labor, etc., and he was considered the forerunner of "scientific management". If I had to venture a guess, I would say that the Taylor exercises are not brainwashing techniques, but rather refers to physical exercises that allow people to be healthy and fit so that they can work as efficiently as possible. Your guess is as good as mine, of course, but I think that it is more likely to mean literally physical exercise because Taylor actually did studies on human motion in factories (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Winslow_Taylor#Management_theory and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_and_motion_study).
I don't know if you even check this blog anymore or if you'll read my comment or not, but your post made it seem like you were a bit unsure who Taylor was and why he was important to the novel, so I thought I'd put in my two cents. I hope you don't mind, and sorry about the super-long comment.