Brodsky’s attitude towards language throughout “Less than One” conveys the powerful sentiments of the dehumanization and lack of individuality that many Russians fell victim to. First, he describes his attitude towards his Judaism: “I remember that I always felt a lot easier with a Russian equivalent of “kike”: it was clearly offensive and thereby meaningless, not loaded with allusions. A one-syllable word can’t do much in Russian” (8). He is frustrated with the less offensive word for Jew because it is “loaded with allusions”, while he embraces the far more offensive word because of its clarity. The word “kike” does offer a role for a Jew in society, though it is not a particularly flattering role whereas the more benign word for Jew is so complicated and multifaceted that it fails to offer any clarity. He describes the Russian language as inadequate when it comes to offering language that enables humanity and individualism. He continues to describe a lack of power: “verbs and nouns change places as freely as one dares to have them do so” (9). He recognizes words as a form of censorship—it seems as if the words drive the content of the conversation, rather than the content determining the words used.

He offers another example of this notion at the end of the piece, “I merely regret the fact that such an advanced notion of Evil as happens to be in the possession of Russians has been denied entry into consciousness on the grounds have having convoluted syntax” (31). He argues that the sentiment behind the word “Evil” is not one that is properly expressed in the Russian language; while Russians, of course, have the capacity for evil, they don’t have the language necessary to talk about it. Brodsky laments the intricacies of the Russian language for indirectly contributing to the battle against freedom of speech.