Protagonist

Character Role Analysis

D-503

As is typical for first-person stories, the guy doing the writing is the center of the whole thing. We is essentially his story, though he's not always a prime mover and shaker and indeed is sometimes reduced to just watching what happens rather than taking any action himself. That's kind of the point. D-503 is very conflicted by his emerging humanity:

I struggle against her, I don't want ... But why is it that within me 'I don't want to' and 'I want to' stand side by side? (24.3)

A great deal of his struggle is internal. First-person narration helps us share that struggle, as well as seeing how it is reflected in the larger State that surrounds him.