History Literature / We

* FreeLoveFuture ''and'' NoSexAllowed: Yes, "every number belongs to every other number," but everyone is issued so many sex tickets based on their hormone levels, and sex without a ticket is outlawed. The worst of 2 opposite dystopian edicts!

* AccidentallyAccurate: [[spoiler: Like ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' it correctly guessed a future medical discovery. In this case that damaging a part of the human brain can destroy that person's emotions. Though it involves an icepick instead of X-Rays.]]

* AccidentallyAccurate: [[spoiler: Like BraveNewWorld it correctly guessed a future medical discovery. In this case that damaging a part of the human brain can destroy that person's emotions. Though it involves an icepick instead of X-Rays.]]

* [[spoiler: AccidentallyAccurate]]: [[spoiler: Like BraveNewWorld it correctly guessed a future medical discovery. In this case that damaging a part of the human brain can destroy that person's emotions. Though it involves an icepick instead of X-Rays.]]

!Provides examples of:

* YouAreNumberSix: All the citizens of the One State have a name consisting of a letter paired with a number. There may be some deeper significance to these names.

* [[spoiler: AccidentallyCorrect]]: [[spoiler: Like BraveNewWorld it correctly guessed a future medical discovery. In this case that damaging a part of the human brain can destroy that person's emotions. Though it involves an icepick instead of X-Rays.]]

Eight months after reading ''We'', Creator/GeorgeOrwell sat down and started writing ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' as a direct cultural translation of the story. Both Orwell and KurtVonnegut (who based ''PlayerPiano'' on ''We'') have accused AldousHuxley of stealing the plot of ''We'' for ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'', although Huxley always denied it. Creator/AynRand's ''{{Anthem}}'' is uncannily similar to ''We''. Last but not least, ''We'' '''heavily''' influenced ''{{Equilibrium}}'' in all its campy glory, so much that it could very well be considered an over-the-top ''We: TheMovie''.

The entire book is [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis a fictional diary]] written by the protagonist, D-503, a citizen of the totalitarian One State [[hottip:*:a more accurate translation from Russian would be "United State", "Unified State" or "Wholesome State"]] ruled by a Big Brother-like figure known as the Benefactor. People are called "numbers" and lead a highly math- and logic-centered (read: StrawVulcan) existence. Everything is arranged via rigid timetables, down to sex -- and because sex is brought down to a purely logical activity, EternalSexualFreedom is the norm. "Every number", the Benefactor states, "belongs to every other number", and monogamy and irrational love are strongly discouraged as a result.

* {{Dystopia}}: Possibly the UrExample.

* WasItAllALie: The Benefactor makes D-503 suspect that I-300 was just using him because the Mephi needed the Integral.

* MisBlamed: I-330 initially thinks D-503 was the one who revealed the plan to commandeer the Integral; he never gets the chance to tell her it wasn't him.

* FreeLoveFuture: Well, "free" is pushing it, but "every number belongs to every other number."

** Characters that are loyal to the One State have two-digit numbers (R-13, O-90). Characters that are rebellious have three-digit numbers (I-330, D-503).

* YouAreNumberSix
** There are only six characters named in the book (seven, if you include The Benefactor). Two of the names are partial and do not include the number, only the letter. Still, some patterns can be seen:
*** All the male characters' letters are consonants (D, R, S). All the females' letters are vowels (O, I, U).
*** All the males' numbers are odd (503, 13). All the females' numbers are even (330, 90).
**** 503 and 13 are also both prime numbers.
*** Characters that are loyal to the One State have two-digit numbers (R-13, O-90). Characters that are rebellious have three-digit numbers (I-330, D-503).
*** Given the sprinkling of Biblical symbolism (The Mephi, etc.), there may be a deeper numerological significance to the names.

* YouAreNumberSix

I-330 shows him the world outside the Green Wall encircling the city-state: beginning with "The Ancient House", a state museum, and eventually moving on to the lush wilderness outside the city dome. However, as the Mephi push towards the city and chaos erupts on the streets, [[spoiler:D-503 is caught and subjected to the recently discovered "Great Operation": removal of the imagination, causing him to revert to his original calculating self, as he calmly writes about I-330 being executed in front of his eyes.]] The ending is [[spoiler: ambiguous about the eventual fate of the One State itself: although D-503 and all of the State's citizens have been brainwashed irrevocably, the last of the Mephi and the feral humans outside the dome are still waiting for their chance to strike. And it is very firmly stated that no revolution is final.]]

* UnusualEuphemism: Not as much as in ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', but still plentiful.
** This troper's personal favorite: "By Pythagoras' pants!"
*** To explain the cultural context, "Pythagoras' pants" is part of a Russian mnemonic for memorizing his theorem. It is an image based on a visual representation of the theorem, a right triangle with squares constructed on its three sides, which indeed resembles shorts or briefs.

* {{Dystopia}}

Eight months after reading ''We'', Creator/GeorgeOrwell sat down and started writing ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' as a direct cultural translation of the story. Both Orwell and KurtVonnegut (who based ''PlayerPiano'' on ''We'') have accused AldousHuxley of stealing the plot of ''We'' for ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'', although Huxley always denied it. Creator/AynRand's ''{{Anthem}}'' is uncannily similar to ''We'', as is EliezerYudkowsky's online novel ''ThreeWorldsCollide'', which also touches on the question "is happiness more important than freedom?". Last but not least, ''We'' '''heavily''' influenced ''{{Equilibrium}}'' in all its campy glory, so much that it could very well be considered an over-the-top ''We: TheMovie''.

** One should also consider that the use of (-1)^0.5 is somewhat of a DidNotDoTheResearch when it comes to mathematics, though it will only be evident to (and matter for) people with at least a college education

One of the earliest known {{Dystopia}} novels, written by Yevgeny Zamyatin in 1921 and predating both ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' (1932) and ''NineteenEightyFour'' (1949), which it directly inspired. It's also notable for being the first work banned by [[MediaWatchdog Goskomizdat]], not published in the Soviet Union until 1988, and some parts of the description of the One State read as scaringly similar to Stalinism -- eight years before it began to take shape. (The Soviets especially didn't like the book's implication that theirs was not the ''final'', destined-for-success revolution.)

Eight months after reading ''We'', Creator/GeorgeOrwell sat down and started writing ''NineteenEightyFour'' as a direct cultural translation of the story. Both Orwell and KurtVonnegut (who based ''PlayerPiano'' on ''We'') have accused AldousHuxley of stealing the plot of ''We'' for ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'', although Huxley always denied it. Creator/AynRand's ''{{Anthem}}'' is uncannily similar to ''We'', as is EliezerYudkowsky's online novel ''ThreeWorldsCollide'', which also touches on the question "is happiness more important than freedom?". Last but not least, ''We'' '''heavily''' influenced ''{{Equilibrium}}'' in all its campy glory, so much that it could very well be considered an over-the-top ''We: TheMovie''.

* TropeMaker: As much as ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'', ''NineteenEightyFour'' and ''Film/{{Brazil}}'' have solidified the tropes, Zamyatin basically ''built'' the first novel-length totalitarian sci-fi society.
* UnusualEuphemism: Not as much as in ''NineteenEightyFour'', but still plentiful.

Eight months after reading ''We'', Creator/GeorgeOrwell sat down and started writing ''NineteenEightyFour'' as a direct cultural translation of the story. Both Orwell and KurtVonnegut (who based ''PlayerPiano'' on ''We'') have accused AldousHuxley of stealing the plot of ''We'' for ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'', although Huxley always denied it. AynRand's ''{{Anthem}}'' is uncannily similar to ''We'', as is EliezerYudkowsky's online novel ''ThreeWorldsCollide'', which also touches on the question "is happiness more important than freedom?". Last but not least, ''We'' '''heavily''' influenced ''{{Equilibrium}}'' in all its campy glory, so much that it could very well be considered an over-the-top ''We: TheMovie''.

* YouAreNumberSix

** To explain the cultural context, "Pythagoras' pants" is part of a Russian mnemonic for memorizing his theorem. It is an image based on a visual representation of the theorem, a right triangle with squares constructed on its three sides, which indeed resembles shorts or briefs.

D-503 regularly has sex with O-90, a very sweet woman who delights in his presence. He shares her with his best friend, the state poet R-13. One day, D-503 is approached by another woman: I-330, a member of LaResistance called the Mephi, whom he falls madly in love with. He starts to realize that his sexual and intellectual connection to O-90 is dwindling quickly. And when R-13 starts secretly meeting the mysterious I-330 as well, D-503 begins to feel something he's never experienced before: jealousy, emotional love, a desire for monogamy and privacy, and a yearning for the unknown.

Eight months after reading ''We'', GeorgeOrwell sat down and started writing ''NineteenEightyFour'' as a direct cultural translation of the story. Both Orwell and KurtVonnegut (who based ''PlayerPiano'' on ''We'') have accused AldousHuxley of stealing the plot of ''We'' for ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'', although Huxley always denied it. AynRand's ''{{Anthem}}'' is uncannily similar to ''We'', as is EliezerYudkowsky's online novel ''ThreeWorldsCollide'', which also touches on the question "is happiness more important than freedom?". Last but not least, ''We'' '''heavily''' influenced ''{{Equilibrium}}'' in all its campy glory, so much that it could very well be considered an over-the-top ''We: TheMovie''.

* ShoutOut: To ''Literature/CrimeAndPunishment'', once D goes into delirium and tries to murder U.

* TropeMaker: As much as ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'', ''NineteenEightyFour'' and ''Film/{{Brazil}}'' have solidified the tropes, Zamyatin basically ''built'' the first novel-length totalitarian sci-fi society.

<<|{{Literature}}|>>

* TropeMaker: As much as ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'', ''NineteenEightyFour'' and ''{{Brazil}}'' have solidified the tropes, Zamyatin basically ''built'' the first novel-length totalitarian sci-fi society.

The entire book is [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis a fictional diary]] written by the protagonist, D-503, a citizen of the totalitarian One State [[hottip:*:a more accurate translation from Russian would be "United State", "Unified State" or "Wholesome State"]] ruled by a Big Brother-like figure known as the Benefactor. People are called "numbers" and lead a highly math- and logic-centered (read: StrawVulcan) existence. Everything is arranged via rigid timetables, down to sex -- and because sex is brought down to a purely logical activity, EternalSexualFreedom is the norm. "Every number", the Benefactor states, "belongs to every other number" -- and monogamy and irrational love are strongly discouraged as a result.

Eight months after reading ''We'', GeorgeOrwell sat down and started writing ''NineteenEightyFour'' as a direct cultural translation of the story. Both Orwell and KurtVonnegut (who based ''PlayerPiano'' on ''We'') have accused AldousHuxley of stealing the plot of ''We'' for ''BraveNewWorld'', although Huxley always denied it. AynRand's ''{{Anthem}}'' is uncannily similar to ''We'', as is EliezerYudkowsky's online novel ''ThreeWorldsCollide'', which also touches on the question "is happiness more important than freedom?". Last but not least, ''We'' '''heavily''' influenced ''{{Equilibrium}}'' in all its campy glory, so much that it could very well be considered an over-the-top ''We: TheMovie''.

* TropeMaker: As much as ''BraveNewWorld'', ''NineteenEightyFour'' and ''{{Brazil}}'' have solidified the tropes, Zamyatin basically ''built'' the first novel-length totalitarian sci-fi society.

One of the earliest known {{Dystopia}} novels, written by Yevgeny Zamyatin in 1921 and predating both ''BraveNewWorld'' (1932) and ''NineteenEightyFour'' (1949), which it directly inspired. It's also notable for being the first work banned by [[MediaWatchdog Goskomizdat]], not published in the Soviet Union until 1988, and some parts of the description of the One State read as scaringly similar to Stalinism -- eight years before it began to take shape. (The Soviets especially didn't like the book's implication that theirs was not the ''final'', destined-for-success revolution.)