Friday, November 11, 2011
We- The Square root of -1
Throughout We by Yevgeny Zamyatin the main character D-503 struggles to define the square root of negative one. This problem symbolizes his inability to define love. I-330 has brought love into his life yet he cannot place it. The square root of negative one is not perfect. It doesn't not simply breakdown, just as love does not simply fit into the categories of black or white. Love instead is the shade of gray in the middle. D-503 struggles with the discovery of where love fits into his life, which is perfectly organized. He has an equation for everything, except for love. This symbol is perfect to describe the suffering of D-503.
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Thats a very interesting way to take the sqaure root of one passages, I took it differently. I looked at those passages using the mathematical definition. In math imaginary numbers are the numbers obtained by taking the square root of a negative number. I think that the reason D-503 struggled with the square root of negative one was because of the concept of imagination which he did not like.
ReplyDeleteI agree that √-1 symbolizes the love that D-503 cannot explain, but also all of the inexplicable phenomena in the world, such as creativity and consciousness. The √-1 cannot be defined by any math equation, as a person cannot be defined by a math equation.
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