We

"She was sitting in a low armchair... But she went on calmly smoking and calmly glancing at me... and knocked off some ashes on my pink ticket." (Zamyatin, 54)



"Yes, epilepsy is a mental illness–pain . . . A slow, sweet pain–it is a bite–let it bite deeper, harder. And then, slowly, the sun. Not this one, not ours, shining all sky-blue crystal regularity through glass brick–no: a savage, rushing, burning sun–flinging everything away from itself–everything in little pieces." (18)

The line is his thoughts, a transformation and poetry. He describes his enjoyment of the music and of I-330 as a mental illness. D-503 uses epilepsy because it is an illness of unpredictable attacks on the mind and body. To him that is I-330. She shows up often when he least expects her to in a way that takes complete control over him. She is, like epilepsy, “Pain… A slow, sweet pain––it is a bite––let it bite deeper, harder.” He uses the ellipsis because these are his thoughts, his words, and he cannot describe her. D-503 is unsure of how to even complete a thought about I-330. He has never felt the feelings he feels for I-330 before. Then as his thought continues he personifies the sun to symbolize his emotions. He knows these are not emotions his society intends for him to feel. They are “Not ours, shining all sky blue crystal regularity through the glass brick––no.” This signifies the the beginning of his changing mentality and his fall to the ways of I-330. He knows she is dangerous and his description of the sun, this other sun, foreshadows what I-330’s role in society is in his eyes. “A savage, rushing, burning sun––flinging everything away from itself––everything in little pieces.” 

This was my favorite passage in the novel due to its representation of the total emotional struggle suffered by D-503. The imagery, as it should, touches the senses with power. He writes about everything being flung away from itself it little pieces, providing the emotions that run alongside confusion and chaos. His syntax and diction are stunning. Particularly in this passage, his alliteration creates a poetic rhythm for what should be unorganized and sporadic thoughts. They embody the beauty of the mind this novel allows us to enter.