In this respect some of his imagery is mathematical as well. The One State is a line. The universe is a curve. However, his imagery is also very human. His diary is "a tiny, unseen, mini-being" within the womb of a woman. Already we see the split sides of D-503: one sees the universe in equations and integrals, the other sees the universe from an aspect we humans can relate to easier. These become the two personalities of D-503 that struggle against each other throughout the book. This conflict between his rational and human self may explain the chaotic mix of short and long sentences. D-503's rational side wants sentences that are short, explain the facts and are true to the point. "Integrating the grand equation of the universe: yes. Taming a wild zigzag along a tangent, toward the asymptote, into a straight line: yes." His human side goes for explanations that do not require this kind of structure, such as describing how "it [the journal, the baby] will feed for many months on my sap, my blood, and then, in anguish, it will be ripped from my self and placed at the foot of the One State." He doesn't need colons to describe how the growth to the journal equates itself to its sacrifice to the State.
Sometimes D-503 would use parallelism to carry out phrases he believes are significant. He defines himself with parallelism. "I am D-503. I am the Builder of the Integral. I am only one of the mathematicians of the One State." These are D-503's defining qualities. In his eyes these words that define him are the most important words, the words that sum up all of his character. He must stay within these boundaries.
Often he repeats words that have importance. Lines, for example. For D-503, it is all about lines. The universe is "a wild zigzag", something which must be conquered, which must be tamed "toward the asymptote, into a straight line". He repeats the notion of the line to make sure the reader understands the importance of the line. The One State "is a straight line....the wisest of lines." By repeating the concept of the line he makes the reader understand the importance he places in the line, and how it turns concepts of real life into mathematical models.
Another word he repeats is "we". "Yes, that's right: we. And let that also be the title of these records: We." D-503's use of colons return with the word "we". Just as he equates statement to fact using a colon, he must equate these statements to one word, "we". "We" is a fact, an answer, which he uses colons to connect to. He believes that "what we think" is a more exact phrase then "what I think".
If he places so much importance into the word "we" it might seem unusual then that he only uses the word in two lines of the journal. He uses the pronoun "I" everywhere else. This might be because the concept of We, however mighty, is made up of thousands of I's and it is the nature of these I's that give the We strength. What do these I's have to act like? For one thing, all the I's have to act like one another. To D-503 it is important that "I [he] am only one of the mathematicians of the One State" and that "I am [he is] willing, just as every one ... of us." The I's also have to work for the sake of We. This is why it is important that D-503's journal "will be ripped from my self [his self] and placed at the foot of the One State". In doing so D-503 acknowledges that he must make We strong in order to make I work for it.
(It is interesting to note that the name of D-503's revolutionary romantic companion is also called I, and so is i, the root of minus one which D-503 seems to equate with wild unknowness.)
