Ayn Rand's Anthem
Uploaded by littleindian on Mar 27, 2007
***NOTE*** I'm not really sure what to classify this as: a historical analysis or a literary analysis (or some horrible cross between the two). It has elements of both although I doubt I developed them fully... Anyway, there will be a revision to this. (But seriously, what can you expect for a 1,500 word essay done at three in the morning?)
Words: 1,517+ work cited
International Baccalaureate English 11 Period 1
26 March 2007
The meaning of Ayn Rand’s literary work Anthem is the importance of the individual, how the individual could be lost, and to serve as a warning to protect the individual from collectivist ideas (Gladstein). Anthem was written in 1937 and the surrounding years saw the rise of collectivism and the short breakdown of American capitalism (Gordon). These historical events influenced the meaning in the novels by affecting the setting and the language used (Berliner, Gordon). The plot of Anthem is centered around a young man, Equality 7-2521, the “exceptionally able and individualistic protagonist [who] battles the forces of collectivism and mediocrity which ... [have] destroyed [his] world (Gladstein).” Through the discovery of elements from the old world, he slowly realizes his society is fatally flawed and disassociates himself from it.
Many Americans such as Rand began to fear the spread of collectivism because they saw the weak points in its fundamental ideas. In the simplest of terms collectivism is an economy owned collectively by a centralized government based on the principle, “Production for use and not for profit (Rand, xv).” Rand was able to present collectivism as the worst-possible society through the use of setting. The setting of Anthem is in the future, after the collapse of the social order because of the common acceptance of collectivist values. This affects the meaning because at the time Anthem was written, there was no world or nation where collectivism had been in practice for a substantial amount of time that would create such a scenario. For this reason, the setting cannot be proved or disproved because there was no society to be compared with Rand's. Due to this, Rand was able to present collectivism as “the worst-possible society” by setting it in such a way that made the statement true (Berliner). Much like other books written at this time, the setting of Anthem is some unspecified time in the future...