Anthem
by Ayn Rand
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ayn RandEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Published)
Published: 2008-09-17
ISBN: 1440422753
Number of pages: 70
Publisher: CreateSpace
Book Reviews of Anthem
Book Review: Prometheus Rising...from the Swamp of Collectivism
Summary: 4 Stars
I read this book long ago and remember liking it. I recently read it again and its impact on me was far greater than the previous reading. Ayn Rand's Anthem is a masterpiece as well as a pleasurable read.
I don't think anyone could read or review this book without comparing it to George Orwell's "1984," but it was written before Orwell's classic work. I dare say it is a better read with greater insight into the reality of totalitarian psychology and the threat it ultimately poses to humanity's...humanity. Anthem is clearly less bleak than "1984"'s world. The goodness of the novel's hero surpasses that of a mere cog in a government wheel who simply seeks escape. "Equality 7-2521" (the main character's "name") is a more likable character than Orwell's. He has the innocence of a child learning to play in a world where no one is allowed such "selfish" pleasure. He is not a subversive merely seeking to extricate himself from a cult-state with compulsory membership.
The dystopia painted in Anthem is a more insightful appraisal of dystopia's and their prisoners than the genre usually offers. Orwell's ("1984"'s) government makes no pretense to being good. It's a caricature of evil (how many brutal dictatorship really know they're evil, particularly in view of the numerous academics and "thinkers" in the West who refuse to acknowledge the obvious). Orwell's prison-state loves war and cruelty and seems to savor the gloom it has produced. Rand's dystopia is like the one we are likely to get if such horror is to really triumph, a philosophy and system that tells us to love our "brothers," "sisters," and society at the total expense of even acknowledging our own existence or those whom we know and care for. The individual has no value in Anthem's bureau-state. So much so that the very word "I" has been banished from the vocabulary.
Initially the reader may find themselves confused or annoyed at the linguistic realities of this collectivist inspired world where one must speak even of themselves as "we" and other individuals as "they," but the awkwardness is absolutely necessary to drawing the reader into the absurdity of such a system.
Those who don't like Rand's weightier works will find that Anthem contains no long lectures embedded in the plot or deep philosophical ideals being continually laid out (things profound to followers of Rand and perhaps tedious to those who hate her and her philosophy). References to capitalism's virtues barely come up at all aside from subtle inference (not that this trademark in Rand's other novels is a bad thing).
Rand's individualist belief system can be found in Anthem in its most basic form, a beautiful expression of the Prometheus myth and the nobility of an individual who wakes from the sleep imposed by collectivism (a lesson that may become -- is becoming -- all too timely).
Anthem is no direct sales pitch for the values of a free market. The novel expresses a more basic philosophical premise; the pure and simple quest for and valuation of individuality amongst the perennially imposing horde, the horror brought upon innocence by those who would seek to mold us all into a mediocre -- or dystopian -- slumber of subservience. The world depicted by Rand in Anthem is a world where the very utterance of the personal pronoun "I" is a crime and the thought of applying an individual's affections to another individual is held in equal contempt by the bland authorities that have successfully imposed a collectivist prison even upon themselves. I can't help but be struck by the prophetic accuracy in which Rand has depicted modern day North Korea; a nation of mere cult members , some of who may be barely aware they are even in a prison.
The socialist mindset will never truly be happy until the entire world has been forced into membership in their cult of "we."
This lessor known writing of Ayn Rand contains some rather beautiful prose throughout, largely due to the simple purity in which the main character expresses himself. A childlike naivete' is conveyed by a character who is clearly wise yet constrained by the heavy guidelines imposed upon his psyche by his society -- rules of speech only being one constraint among many. One will be moved by depictions of Promethean greatness in curiosity, individual striving, and even love before a sterile and unbending society of mindless boot-lickers.
What makes the story even more believable is Equality 7-2521's slow awakening. Through much of the novel we follow his genuine belief in the order of things as they are. An inculcated guilt haunts his innermost thoughts. He is constantly at odds with himself over his curiosity about forbidden things, even the individual attraction and love he feels for another who, with equal awkwardness, reciprocates his feelings.
Equality 7-2521 will never "love big brother" (though Anthem does not actually have such a single ominous personality). Rand's symbolic villain manifests as a more abstract but highly believable order of "councils." The "council of scholars" (clearly Rand's jab at intellectuals), are total fools who have maintained a system that produces nothing but allegiance to blind and concocted altruism. There is no "dear leader" but a dear everyone but ourself. It is a socialists dream come true - a world where everyone is a prisoner of everyone else.
Some would no doubt be offended for me to compare Anthem to George Orwell's widely known and respected novel, 1984 but I'd recommend actually reading Anthem before taking such offense - it's better (!)
In this early work of Ayn Rand, accurate depictions of a communal distopia are mere vehicles for describing something even more thought provoking, the creative human spirit seeking to break its chains and say "I" with neither remorse nor guilt.
Summary of Anthem
"Anthem" is a dystopian, fiction novella by Ayn Rand, first published in 1938. It takes place at some unspecified future date when mankind has entered another dark age as a result of the evils of irrationality and collectivism and the weaknesses of socialistic thinking and economics. Technological advancement is now carefully planned (when it is allowed to occur at all) and the concept of individuality has been eliminated (for example, the word "I" has disappeared from the language). As is common in her work, Rand draws a clear distinction between the "socialist/communal" values of equality and brotherhood and the "productive/capitalist" values of achievement and individuality. Many of the novella's core themes, such as the struggle between individualism and collectivism, are echoed in Rand's later books, such as "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged".Philosophy Books
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