Anthem By Ayn Rand: A Literary Analysis

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Anthem takes place in a dystopian future where independent thinking is punishable by death. In this future everyone must work as one, and they even went as far as getting rid of the word “I,” from their dictionary as it symbolizes individualism. This all for one community has made it impossible for people to think independently and ultimately has slowed down science and technological advancement.In her 1938 novel, Anthem, Ayn Rand presents a tyrannical world far in the future, where enforced equality among humans reigns and the former technological achievements of humankind have been long forgotten. The word "I" has been disregarded and forbidden, and has been replaced by the collective "We." The modern conveniences that we now take for granted, …show more content…
At birth, children are given impersonal words as names, such as "Collective" or "Similarity," followed by a number. Children are taken from their parents before any child-parent bond can develop. This is supposedly to prevent any "Transgression of Preference," since all denizens of the city must love one another equally. Once they have been separated from their mothers, the children are first taken to the Home of the Infants, and then, at age five, they are transferred to the Home of the Students where they must complete ten years of state-sanctioned study. When the youths reach the age of fifteen, they go before the Council of Vocations, where they are told what occupation is to fill the rest of their lives. Equality 7-2521, whose intelligence reaches beyond that of the other students, loves to learn new things but finds the lessons taught him during his ten years of schooling to be too simple. He thirsts for more knowledge, and wishes to be awarded the position of Scholar by the Council of Vocations, so that he may continue his studies of science. The position given to him by the Council was instead that of a street sweeper. This is clearly a waste of a brilliant mind, and reflects how the state rejects any possible move forward that could threaten its
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