When most people think of reading Ayn Rand, they probably think of reading a 1000+ page book like Atlas Shrugged, but that is not always the case. Anthem is a nice introduction to her work at only 128 pages.
For those who are thinking about reading The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged, I would definitely read this book first to see if you like Rand’s writing style. Although it is concise, it covers a lot of ground and we learn a lot about Rand’s objectivist philosophy.
Summary
At the beginning of the book Equality 7-2521 introduces himself to us. Instead of talking about himself as “I,” he instead uses the term “we,” as it is a collectivist society.
Equality 7-2521 shouldn’t even be writing in his journal. If the Council found it, it would be bad news. After all, Equality isn’t a high-ranking person or anything. No, even though he did great in school and aspired to learn, he was assigned the job of a street sweeper.
Although Equality would have much preferred a better position, he tried to bear his position of sweeper with dignity and still be happy.
But it’s hard. He begins to doubt the way things are. A lot of people do not seem to be happy, such as Solidarity 9-6347, who screams during the night.
He also falls in love with a girl named Liberty 5-3000, even though that is not allowed. There is a yearly mating festival and no type of romance is allowed. Equality and Liberty love each other anyways.
As time goes on, Equality makes scientific discoveries in his own secret lab. Through a series of experiments, he learns about the power of electricity. Although he knows people won’t approve of his unauthorized experiments, he decides to go the Council anyways because it is such an important discovery.
The council, however, does not value Equality’s contribution at all. In fact, he is forced to flee to the woods with Liberty, where they discover an old house, old books, the way things used to be.
They once again discover individuality, and teach it to their child, and gather people to start a new city. A city where people are not enslaved in collectivism, but where their true greatness can be realized.
Review
This is a really good book. People who criticize Ayn Rand by saying that she doesn’t know how to express her ideas concisely are clearly wrong, as we can learn the basics of her philosophy just by reading this short book.
Anthem is also very effective in showing the evils of collectivism. Even if we don’t agree with all of her ideas, there is no doubt living in Equality’s world would be a nightmare.
This book is written in the first person (it is Equality’s journal), so we get to see his own progression as he frees himself from the world he finds himself in.
Overall, I think this book teaches a very good lesson in that we need to value ourselves. That is something I have tried very hard to do, and I think reading Rand’s books have helped me with that whereas I frequently see other people just agreeing with false ideas of themselves.
If you want an introduction to Rand’s work, this is the book to read. Then you can spend the next month of your life reading Atlas Shrugged 🙂
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