Anthem

Anthem
by Ayn Rand

is a novel of epic proportions. Much is said in a very little space, the book being only 112 pages long. The comparisons and alliterations used are clear and concise; no space is wasted on frivolous or redundant interaction, and the focus is on the main character's experience and interaction with the world and, perhaps more importantly, with himself. The ideas portrayed are influential, controversial, and very important ones, and she gives them in a dramatized setting that make them completely understandable and just. She speaks from a position of personal experience, and her conclusions are on a very moral and realistic level. Rand presents convincingly that man's ego; his personal self, is the fountainhead of his achievement.

The book is very striking in its approach. One might conceivably be confused in the opening paragraph, as the main character has no conception of individualism. He speaks using "we" instead of "I", and every other personal pronoun is replaced with collective thinking. This is a good example of Rand's dramatic extremism; the character was born into a society that had forsaken individualism to the extent of possibility, and had replaced it with complete collectivism, even down to the speech they used. The main character was taught that he was evil, because he did not look or think like his "brothers", and he believed himself evil until his great revelation.

In that example Rand expresses the folly of communally minded-thinking. The absence of individualism precludes any sort of progress or development, and individualism is the driving force of her philosophy. She appeals to man's inherent sense of pride in his own accomplishments, and to our sense of injustice at the crimes of the communal community the character is born into. She promotes pride as the sole source of man's accomplishments, as reason and independence are the only truly lasting achievements man can aspire to, holding firmly to the idea that there is no such thing as a "Collective Mind". Humanity is not the Borg. Our essential essence and spirit fundamentally rejects dogma and assumption, and that man who does not question the world is dead to it.

Her technique is brilliantly blunt and direct, reaching to the core of the issue. The main character is named Equality 7-2521, which is fittingly ironic. All the other characters have similar names, like Fraternity, Union, Liberty, all followed by a number. It is ironic because the names express high ideals, high aspirations, then the numbers level them all down to the same uni-sexed and equally unimportant level. Equality 7-2521 knew that he was different, and from his teachings he thus believed himself to be evil. Despite this self-degrading stigma ha continued in "evil" actions, learning things about the world for himself, and discovering things that were unknown to man. He grows continually in independence and learning, even though he has been arbitrarily assigned to the life-duty of Street Sweeper, alongside a mentally handicapped boy, ironically. This is another good example: the best and most able mind in the community was assigned to mindless labor on the same level as one who was not aware of his own existence. A severe blow to the idea of "those who are able should do the jobs they are fit for" which has been so successful in America, and in every admirable developed place in the world.

In the course of the story Equality 7-2521 finds a place to hide, a tunnel from the lost age of technology. In it are various pieces of equipment with which he experiments, and eventually discovers how to rudimentarily generate electricity, and thus light. He first thinks of his brethren, being trained to think collectively, and plans to present it to the World Council, so that all men might have light. This is also a fitting allusion; he wishes to shed light on the dark masses of humanity with his discovery, his innovation, his personal triumph. He is afraid to present it to the council, because it is "evil" to be alone, and anything which one man alone creates is "evil" since the only good in the world is living for ones brothers, and only that which many people collaborate on is good. A striking example of the utter stupidity of this idea is shown when it comes about that approval of the upgrade from the torches of their past to the candles they currently burned took fifty years, and was worked on by twenty men. Again, this is a vast extremity, but Rand thusly tells the point clearly: individuals, not councils, accomplish things.

Equality 7-2125 presents his gift to the council and, as expected, they call him evil and denounce his work. They sentence him to a humiliating death, to make an example of him. He escapes, and runs away into the forest where no one will follow, as they are told from childhood that separation from their fellows means death, and the "uncharted forest" kills all those who enter. He enters believing this, knowing no different, accepting his fate on his own rather than being used for machinations in the community. Waking the next day up very much alive, he very quickly discovers the joy of freedom: he is not bound to any schedule, to any other will but his own. He discovers the satisfaction in eating food prepared by one's own hands. With this exodus Rand sets up the character for his profound revelation. He realized that he does not need to live for his brothers, and needs no one to live for him.

He is joined by a woman who had fallen in love with him and he her, while she was working in the fields and he sweeping. Their meeting is so wonderfully brilliant and amazing, it sticks in one's head as an epitome of emotion and real human feeling. They travel together in the woods, and discover that sex, in such conditions as theirs, is a wonderful action. This is a revelation to them, whom had been conceived in mass orgies in "palaces of mating". They realize their affection to each other, but are at a loss as to name it. This is chillingly and heart-breakingly show when "The Golden One" (Equality 7-2521's name for her; she calls him "The unconquered") tries to express her feeling for him, in the passage shown below:

Today the Golden one stopped suddenly and said
"We love you." But then they frowned and shook their head and looked at us helplessly.
"No," they whispered "that is not what we wished to say" They were silent, then they spoke slowly, and haltingly, like the words of a child learning to speak for the first time:

"We are one… alone… and only… and we love you who are one… alone… and only." We looked into eachother's eyes and we knew that the breath of a miracle had touched us, and fled, and left us groping vainly. And we felt torn, torn for some word we could not find. (86)

This maddening example of their speech pervades throughout most of the book, and the message is clear. They, who never knew the use of personal pronouns, were unable to effectively express their thoughts. They had the idea, but lacked the sounds to make a word, or the very concept of such a words existence. Later in the finale of the book, the "Anthem" to man's spirit, as it were, they stumble across an old house, built with the highest technology, a remnant of the "unmentionable times". It is intact, and inside there is a library of books from the past. From these books Equality 7-2521 discovers the idea of individualism. The discovery is so moving, so fitting, so masterfully done one might be moved to tears, even in thinking about it later. To this person who had never know the idea of having a "self", the discovery of words like I, Me, My, and Mine are a sacred revelation, the most fundamental of human rights. The Right to have a "self". This "self" is what Rand glorifies, the self which is independent of the will of others, which forms its own opinions of the world based on reason and observation, the self which questions the truths it is told and makes personal judgement. She uses a word to define this idea, a word much tarnished by collectivist stigma and egalitarian ideas. That word is Ego. Mans Ego is the only thing which he really possesses, it is his soul, his very being, and to sacrifice it to another, especially a group of similarly sacrificing collectivists, is the most unholy thing an individual can do. The most holy thing a man can do is to dredge himself up from the collective quagmire and set his own mind apart from all the rest.

These ideas are very contrary to what we learn in our society, but by reasoning and logical thought, one can discern that they are indeed just. In the prelude to the book, it says, "one correspondent warned Mrs. Rand that there were some people for whom the word ego is "too strong-even, immoral" She replied "Why, of course there are. Against whom do you suppose the book was written?""(vi). Very clearly then she identifies herself as a radical, a heretic in the eyes of the common public, the "Great We".

The experience she has to qualify her reasoning is her upbringing in Russia. Her family fled during one of the revolutions in the early 20th century, and came to New York. She was a young adult at the time, and was mystified by the new freedoms she was granted in the US. Finding expression in writing, she soon mastered the English language and began to formulate her unique philosophy: objectivism. Looking at the evils of collectivism from personal experience, she gives valid testimony though novels.

Her use of novel form for philosophy is important. It is an well-accepted fact that there are some things that cannot be taught. Her ideas are one of them, as they involve personal pain, indignity, and reasoning that is rare to find in the masses of humanity. She then makes an attempt at teaching these unteachable ideals, not though lecture and example, but by providing several unique life experiences. Each of her books tell the story of an individual who struggles and fights against the common grain of mindless humanity; the "second handers" who bog down the brilliant, in an attempt to have an identity as an individual. She gives us their life experiences, and the formative conflicts they have, allowing us to feel emotion and experience situations we never would in life. Though this method, she is able to present a believable philosophy based solely on reason and experience, which she calls objectivism.

Though it may be hard to swallow for a non-Objectivist minded person, Objectivism would be very good for our society. If everyone supported themselves, lived for their own good, and made smart decisions, then there would be no one to take care of. There would be no need for charity. Everyone would be free.