The World In Ayn Rand's Anthem

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The world in which Anthem takes place, written by Ayn Rand in 1937, is a very communistic-like world. Ayn Rand grew up in communist Russia, which is directly expressed in Anthem. The novel is used to describe a world in which everyone is appointed the same rights, and individualism is destroyed. The destruction of individualism and how one person would refer to oneself as “we” is a fantastic way to show how from the moment of birth, the people in this society are taught that anything that comes from an individual and not as a whole, is not pure. The stringent, non-negotiable rules and controls in Anthem exist mainly to prevent one from becoming individualistic, to have a society in which one group rules, and to be sure that everyone is given the same privileges and rights. …show more content…
It is not taught, but rather effort is made from the beginning of birth, to make sure it does not make its way into one’s life. Throughout the first chapter, there is a repetition of the phrase, “this is a sin”. This is used whenever Equality 7-2521 is describing the qualities of himself that are unlike his brothers because he should not think about how he is smarter, taller, built better and such things. They are told that they may not think about what work they would like to have before it has already been chosen. This shows how any individual thoughts, even though the teachers cannot realistically hear their thoughts, is drilled into their brain as a sin. So therefore, the rules and controls in Anthem, are used to prevent the expression of