The Benefactor controlled every thought of every citizen.
Day 3 · 목표 ⭐
The Benefactor's absolute power rested not on brute force alone but on the genuine belief among citizens that freedom itself was a burden and that unlimited choice produced unnecessary suffering.
2Reading· 오늘의 본문
We · Yevgeny Zamyatin · 1924
D-503 awoke to the precise chime of the Personal Hour. His life within the glass city was a perfect, predictable curve. He recorded his daily log, consumed his prescribed petroleum food, and marched in unison with the other Numbers to work. Through the transparent walls, he saw identical figures moving along identical lines, a symphony of regulated motion. The Benefactor’s order was absolute, etched into the very architecture. For D-503, this was not oppression but harmony. The burden of choice, the chaos of unlimited freedom, was a distant, terrifying myth. Here, in the crystalline order, every thought and action had its preordained place, and that was the source of true peace.
B2 · 128 wordsavg 25.6 w/s
Zamyatin’s portrayal of D-503’s daily existence within the One State is a masterful dissection of psychological conditioning under totalitarianism. The protagonist’s routine—meticulously timed and publicly visible through the glass city—serves as a potent symbol of the Benefactor’s absolute power. This power rests not on coercion alone but on a deeply internalized ideology. D-503 does not chafe against the schedule; he derives existential comfort from it. The narrative illustrates how the State has successfully equated freedom with anxiety and disorder, thereby rendering its citizens complicit in their own subjugation. The glass walls, while ensuring transparency and control, also reflect the citizens' own acceptance, creating a panopticon where the watcher and the watched are psychologically aligned. D-503’s contentment is the ultimate triumph of the system. What makes We endure as a work of literature is precisely this refusal to offer easy consolation — it demands that readers sit with the discomfort of a world that does not resolve neatly, and find their own position within it.
C1 · 170 wordsavg 34.0 w/s
3Vocabulary· 핵심 어휘 & 연습
absolute
절대적인
The Benefactor's power was absolute and unchallenged.
genuine
진정한, 진실된
The citizens held a genuine belief in the State's benevolence.
burden
부담, 짐
Freedom was considered a psychological burden.
unlimited
무제한의
The concept of unlimited choice was alien to them.
suffering
고통
They believed freedom produced unnecessary suffering.
Activity 1 · 빈칸 채우기5 questions
1. Every hour of D-503's life was carefully ____ by the Table of Hours.
2. The ____ of privacy did not exist in the One State.
3. Individual names were ____ and replaced with numbers.
4. The glass walls guaranteed there was no ____ for citizens.
5. The State was ____ declared to represent perfect happiness.