In Dostoevsky's Brother's Karamazov, the "Grand Inquisitor" is a mythic figurehead who leads the Spanish inquisition against all Christians. During a meeting with a messenger from Christ, the Inquisitor explains the roles that three themes, the ideas of miracles, bread, and authority, have played in the society that he is developing. There, miracles provide fundamental evidence for the people that the teachings of Christ are backed by some divine entity and will bring eventual salvation. The Grand Inquisitor uses bread in a paradoxical role to control the population, taking the bread that the masses produce and redistributing it among them. People follow a leader who provides for the population, regardless of if what he provides comes from within the society. These same people hold onto a faith in Christ that stems from the ancient miracles, but follow a human leader who, in the name of Christ, provides bread for all followers. The Grand Inquisitor establishes authority throughout his society by establishing rules in the name of Christ, using force. Ultimate authority is still vested in Christ, but only the Grand Inquisitor knows that his earthly authority has no divine basis. The control that he holds over the masses is providing a structure for the people, giving everyone bread and keeping the followers happy, leaving the truth only to the Grand Inquisitor. Within the distopia of Zamyatin's "We", the leader has created a false society based around rules and mathematic formulas, but where thought is eliminated. People have been forced into a patterned existence where freedom and privacy been outlawed for a mass movement to better the society as a whole, without individual distinctions between people other than number and gender. The only member of society who understands the lack of happiness that the ignorant masses are undergoing is the leader, a distant figure who the people follow without question in fear of punishment. Individua...
