Pink Tickets

In the novel, We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin, translated by Kirsten Lodge, there is a distinct closeness between the One State and our current government. One particularly striking example of this is the pink ticket which is analogous to the modern promiscuity coupled with its mechanized accomplice, dating/sex apps. Pink tickets and the sexual liberation both commodify, regulate, and devalue intercourse on a massive scale, leading to discontent and miscommunication despite their intent to do the opposite.

The regulation and commodification are best illustrated with the description of how One State supposedly has done away with the desire for love, through Lex sexualis, which is sexual abundance in our society. The main character, D-503 explains that several years ago, “Lex sexualis was proclaimed…[meaning that]…: ‘Each number has the right to any other number as a sexual commodity.’ …[This is done by]…submit[ing] a declaration that you would like to use such-and-such a number (or numbers), and…[then]…you receive the official ticket book (pink)…[which you use to ‘cash in’ for sex with the person you chose]” (35). In our world this is seen with the advent of things like Tinder, OnlyFans, and other sites/apps, where you swipe right or left on people like they are goods at a grocery store, usually “cashing in” your dollars as “tickets” for the experience, and all of it is observed and systematically controlled by those allowing the transaction to take place.

Despite the moral implications, One State and our society claim that this abundance makes their populous content and united, while instead the opposite holds true. For example, O-90, D-503’s regular partner, feels some level of unease when rejecting D-503’s invitation to spend time together. In the scene she glanced at her other partner “R, then she looked clearly and roundly at…[D-503]. Her cheeks flushed slightly with the tender, thrilling color of…[the pink]…tickets. ‘But today I…today I have—a ticket to be with him’—she nodded at R, ‘and he’s busy in the evening…so…’” (49). The hesitance in her speech not only shows conflict in her mind but also implies that she is finding it difficult to convey her thoughts. This discord of thought and conflict of morals is not just a singular instance either. When D-503 gets, “…an official notice that number I-330 had registered herself to…[him]…and that…[he]…had to present…[himself]…to her this evening at nine…” (57), he too gets riddled with indecision. He laments that, “…O wanted to come to…[his]…place this evening…[which leads him to contemplate whether to]…show her…[the]…notice about I-330…[but he knows that]…she won’t believe…that…[he]…had nothing to do with it…” (58). In the end he decides to send her a copy of the notice, just as O-90 decided to tell him about her sexual indulgences, but this decision and the consequences resulting from it fester inside of him, leading him to indulge in acts of rebellion.

Along the edges of society, in the “Ancient House” D-503 finally cracks, showing how the accumulation of discontent can bubble up in even the most ardent supporters of these governing bodies. At the behest of I-330 he has sex off the books and outside the law. This act shows how much the pink tickets devalue intimacy as he writes that in the heat of the moment, “There was no pink ticket, there was no calculation, there was no One State, there was no me” (75). Never before had he written that this occurs in intimacy, which he had experienced likely countless times underneath the systematic control of the One State. For the first time in his life the experience was not just a transaction and was solely from passion and desire. While this led to contentment in the moment, the discontent of returning to his normal life will be painful, even agonizing, which will compound upon the innate dissatisfaction already present.

In short, Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We puts up a carnival mirror to our own society, one that, while distorted, shows the consequences of having “the pink ticket.” In hopes to mechanically solve for love, the populous is objectified as they perform debasing intercourse, and the unwanted byproducts of dissatisfaction and discordance are pumped into the minds and bodies of those that participate, like fumes from a massive engine, making them eager to burn once a spark is lit.