Motifs: There is a surplus of motifs in We. An often mentioned motif is religion and God. God plays a big part in this society, not because the people believe in a god and have religion, but because there is an absence of God and religion. This helps to define the society because many times D-503 talks about how the people are on the same level as gods, and therefore are one and the same. This lack of religion shows how the people of the society believe that they have found the answers to almost everything through their mathematical ways. It helps to show that this society is based on mathematics, science, and logic.
Setting: The setting of the novel is very futuristic for when it was written (1920-1921). D-503's descriptions of the ancients in the 20th century are very accurate depictions of what actually came about during that time period. The setting of this novel is in a futuristic glass city that has almost entirely boxed out nature except for a botanical garden somewhere in the city. The fact that there is no wild nature allowed in the city walls shows how the society, and people in that society, are far more advanced scientifically and mathematically than the primitive life of the "savage", being us, the reader.
Language: The language of the novel is quite advanced. There is a good amount of higher level words, which plays into the fact that the people of this society see themselves as more intelligent than the old society. Also, poets are very important in this society and they play a big part in putting what happens in this mathematically dominated society into words. The poets are all required to write down things about their perfect mathematical society, and this makes words very important in a society that is dominated by math.
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