Throughout the story of We, D-503 questions himself in search of “I” which alludes to a lack of self-identity. Especially in the context of their mathematically functioning country called OneState, whenever D-503 has some erratic thoughts or motions that he cannot understand, he ponders the existence of his identity like when he exclaims, “I see myself as some ‘him’!” (50). Especially in the first half of his records, he struggles with what he wants to do and what he has to do. What I want to discuss is the actual meaning of “I” from my own perspective in relation to the story of We.

From people’s point of view in the story (or more precisely, in Numbers’ point of view), happiness is brought by the orderly plans that the Benefactor controls through the OneSate schedule for each of the Numbers. Any attempt of gaining freedom is mistaken; any idea of breaking the schedule is sickness. The whole country operates based on mathematics, function, formula, law, etc. D-503, the primary engineer of a spacecraft called Integral that will be used to spread their idea of happiness, was one of the staunchest believers of this conception. One sentence said by him impresses me, “And we shall come to you, my unknown readers on another planet, we shall come to you to make your life as godlike, as rational, and as correct as our own ...” (57). D-503 and OneSate defined this mathematically logical society as the correct life. But in my opinion, happiness can be caused by anything around us: buying new cloth, having dinner with family and friends, getting a good grade. In addition, every single person’s life is different. Each one’s life can be various, colorful, and can also be plain but warm. However, in the society constructed by OneState, the Benefactor deduces a function for calculating ones’ happiness even if the result cannot let one be delighted. O- or O-90 is one of the pitiful victims of this ridiculous equation. O-90’s eagerness to have a child is obstructed by this cruel way of define people’s happiness. This flawed formula creates a cruel precedence in society: to let people do the things that make them anguished in order to earn mathematical happiness. Therefore, is this genuinely their happiness?

Nevertheless, when we look at what the world looks like in the 21st century, we can still find similar problems. For example, parents in China want their children to be major in economics, accounting, or to be teachers and political officers just because the salary of these professions is higher or more stable. They don’t consider whether their children enjoy it or not. I understand that even if we study the majors that we like and make the careers that we want, we may be burdened by financial troubles or struggle to find stable work. But at least we are working on what makes us happy, instead of calculating how much salary we can get. Furthermore, people experience conflicts every day, a natural conclusion since human beings are full of contradictions. D-503 struggles with his mind many times in the novel; he thinks he is sick and can’t accept this truth. However, as people today, we allow the notions inside our brains to clash with each other instead of questioning whether we believe internally that we are sick.

Human beings are complicated, and this is the reason why we are not called Numbers. People and all the creatures cannot be manipulated by any function, law or equation, because we’re alive. If some concept can simply define us, then what’s the difference between something like Ohm’s law and our living creatures?