Anthem

This was my first boon from Ayn and now I want to read them all. It is a great look at how the world very well could end up being if we let governments have total control over what we read, watch, and even with what we get to choose for work or education for ourselves.

In this dystopian society, one man stands alone. He believes in a better world. One where it is not a crime to love a woman. One where stating your idea is not a death sentence. In the dark world he lives in he is looking for a way to make it light again. The short novella, Anthem by Ayn Rand was published in 1938. Ayn submitted it two an American and an English publishing firm, but in the end the publishing firm Cassell located in England published the book. This book contains 52 pages. This book follows the life of Equality 7-2521 as he tries to survive in the dystopian society he was born into. Equality 7-2521 is the main character of the book. He has two friends, Union 5-3992 and International 4-8818. They found an entrance to an old tunnel in their assigned work area. Equality 7-2521 is a street sweeper. He is a very intelligent man, however he learned things too quickly and asked too many questions. As a result, the Council of Vocations assigned him the job of street cleaner as a punishment for his intelligence. With this newly discovered tunnel, he started preforming scientific experiments. He stole some paper and started writing his findings in a journal. While cleaning the streets Equality 7-2521 meets a woman with the name, Liberty 5-3000. The two discover that they love each other, however in their society you do not love each other, man and woman cannot even talk to each other. In his experiments Equality 7-2521 rediscovers electricity. He decides to take his finding to the World Council of Scholars, in the hope they will be impressed and amazed by his discovery. However, this is not the case. They sentence him to death. Before they could catch him, he runs into the Uncharted Forest, where he is joined by Liberty 5-3000. They live their lives together in the forest and discover what they can about life before their dystopian society. Throughout most of the people refer to themselves as “we” instead of “I.” In this society they removed the words “I,” and “You.” They believed that individuality was a sign of ego. The fact that the society, thought referring to yourself with “I” would get rid of a person’s individuality is absurd. A person’ individuality comes from the way a person acts. For example in the book, Equality 7-2521 expressed his individuality through his scientific experiments. Yes, he could not state that he, himself accomplished his experiments. But he still did it himself. It was not a group of people doing these experiments. Therefore, he was still expressing his individuality. The society did not successfully take away a person’s individuality, just by removing the words, “I” and “You.” Equality 7-2521 still found a way to express himself in his own way. This book was an enjoyable read. I liked the dystopian society. I would recommend this book to young adults. I liked that this dystopian society took a way the words “I” and “You.” While they thought that this would take away a person’s individuality it did not. I liked that the viewpoints switched from First Person to Third Person throughout the story. It provided a unique perspective. Also, I liked that the focused of the story stayed on Equality 7-2521. Yes, he feel in love with a woman, but it did not become a love story. The book stayed focused on the dystopian society and the issues that Equality 7-2521 found wrong in the society.

95% of the book denotes the lack of experience of Ayn Rand as a narrator. The plot and idea are superb, is that the exposition of the life and deeds of the protagonist, Equality 7-2521, is somewhat forced. He narrates everything as if he were addressing people not familiarized with their own dystopian society, people like us... But is better to read a great idea with a mild execution than a weak idea with flawless execution. And Ayn Rand's idea is powerful. Civilization has stopped, apparently the reason was war, but the more you read the more you understand it was because mankind ssacrificed its soul in exchange of safe mediocrity, and lastly in the slavery of will and heart. A prison so perfect that it doesn't require walls. Sadly the awakening of the other character, the Golden One, is so easy and simple that breaks the idea of a powerful prison preying in the collective mind. Equality 7-2521 instead awakes because he is an anomaly, he's a monster, bigger and stronger than the rest of his brethren (a dilapidated human race), and more intelligent too. The story builds its intensity till almost the end where you read it magnificent as an anthem for free thought. To then end in a discourse a bit dreamy. I suspect there are not many diferences between our times and Ayn Rand's times; we are living in self-imposed cages, and she was right in thinking that future is not a guaranty of a more mature society. I am glad to have read this book as an introduction to her works. The AmazonClassics edition of this book is a pleasure to read, thanks to a modern typography, a comfortable and professional formatting and the option of X-Ray, although Anthem is quite accessible I didn't need to consult it. The lack of introductions, prologues and analysis by intellectuals is a relief as you can discover Anthem as if it had been published yesterday : ) In good taste it only has a short biography at the end.

In 1962 I wrote a paper for a social science class at the University of California, Berkeley, in which I quoted from "Anthem". The teaching assistant gave me an "F' on the paper and a "B" in the class. She explained that (although I should normally get an "A") she could not reward a student who would dare to quote from Ayn Rand. Of course, the TA was a Communist, who proudly explained that she was the third generation of her family to bear that honorable distinction. I was conservative even then, but Anthem was like a bright light showing me the way out of the dark shadows of socialism that blighted Berkeley. Of course, it led me to read "Atlas Shrugged" and other works by Ayn Rand, but it is always "Anthem" that I remember as a turning point in my thinking life. This is a short book that concisely expresses the ideal of the individual. I feel sorry for all those humanists and socialists who think of themselves as mere cells in a larger organism. As I have matured and grown older, I realize more than ever that it is the individual, exercising his free will, that moves and improves society. The secret is to have a collection of individualists that form a unit without subordinating that individuality to the desires of the unit. Ayn Rand was an Utopian, and never (to my satisfaction) explained how her highly individualistic vision could be implimented without anarchy. In fact, her ideas remind me of the concept of a well-regulated organization of anarchists, each willing to give up his freedom to act in the sacred cause of anarchy. I know that saying this will offend the true believers. But even with these reservations, I consider "Anthem" to be my own personal lodestone, by which I judge and expect to be judged. It is an ideal, perhaps unrealistic, but a great ideal at that.

read it, understand it, live it

You live in a world where the word individualism is a curse. You have never seen the face of your parents and have no idea of where you were born or how. You are sent to the Home of Infants and stay there until you are five years of age and by then you are sent to the Home of the Students where you study until your fifteenth year. Before going to sleep you repeat with your right arm raised: "We are nothing. Mankind is all. By the grace of our brothers are we allowed our lives. We exist through, by and for our brothers who are the State. Amen." Although I am stating with the words: 'you' and 'your'-you do not know of those words. You exist as a 'we' for you must not betray 'our' brothers. The years have gone well into the future from where we stand right now and yet instead of our dreams of conquering the world and improving the technical industries worldwide, something has happened to demolish all our efforts. We are at loss of all sciences and civilization. There is no electricity, only candles and even this is respected with a high air of responsiblity. The main character we meet in this story is Equality 7-2521 whom decides to conquer these one way thoughts. After finishing his years in the Home of the Students he wish secretly to go to the Home of the Scholars. But as he enters the center of the great hall on the first day of spring they look into the cold eyes of the elders belonging to The Council of Vocations utters the words: 'street sweeper'. But Equality 7-2521's curiosity gets the better of him and he searches for things that spark his imagination and mind. He plays with Science and experiments with wires and he discovers an underground tunnel which he uses as a type of lab. In the tunnel he finds the evidence of a world that existed well before the time of when he was born and had so much more than they had now. He sets out to tell the leaders but they call him a traitor for disobeying his brothers. He escapes to a large forrest where he meets with Liberty 5-3000, The Golden One who he had met before whilst carrying on with his work as a sweeper. And the two start to discover the truth of the human race and it's means. They learn the holy word diminished for so long... 'I'. The book is strange. And it's rather short. It consists of just over 100 pages of large text writing and then the rest is the originally published copy of Anthem with Ms. Rand's own hand written corrections. It starts full of enthusiasm and adventure but ends with a cliffhanger that seems not to be very uplifting at all. The book isn't a book not worth reading. It seems to be a very easy context of Ms. Rand's philosophy on Objectivism and is highly entertaining for the most part. I liked her ideas a great deal and wish she'd made more of a story out of it for she made it more into a modest article or drafted frame than a novel or story...something towards a very short fantasy tale at the closest. I recommend this book to all ages over eleven or so. Not much of it is too difficult and it makes you realise that it's not all that bad that you use the word "I" a little too often in your sentences :D

A classic "novella" by a unique author. It (and her other books) is intended for those with a college-level reading ability. This one perhaps you could still be at a high-school level; but not really. It is written (save the final few pages) in the 3rd person... by that I mean that instead of saying: "I am writing my review of this book." Ayn Rand would write "We are writing our review of this book.". There is NO individualism. Well, until the very end when the first and second person pronouns are introduced to the characters and thus to the book. This makes the reading a bit difficult for very many for the vast majority of this short book. Great message socio-politically of course!! Hey! This is Ayn Rand we're talking about!! I gave this book to my "nephew" (transgender - has female body parts) as "he" gets really annoyed with people using the "incorrect pronouns" and is still referred to as she/her/etc. Well, "he" has stated a preference towards 3rd person pronouns in many situations. Well, here you go "nephew"!! Let's see how this 3rd-person thing gets confusing and how the use of pronouns we're simply NOT USED TO USING is difficult to incorporate to say the least. Such was not Ayn Rand's intention obviously. It is mine though with "him". Sorry to my "nephew" for the use of the quotes on everything masculine in nature. I just don't wish to confuse anyone reading this review. I just want "him" to better understand what I can help "him" to understand and appreciate. Now if only "he'd" put down the video games for a few hours at most to read this little but significant book! Ugh. Sure as heck don't expect "him" to get the socio-political message and more entailed within its pages.

Great book. Half of the book is the authors hand written notes to the editorial, so if you buy this, don’t expect to read the whole thing (unless you’re into that). I ordered my book new, and yet some of the pages were folded and scuffed. I’m not sure how this happened; the book is in good shape otherwise.

Enredo envolvente e conceito Extremamente valioso. Simples e fácil de assimilar, então mesmo quem não tem o costume de ler, pode se aventurar nesse livro. Otima obra.

Have a sit and enjoy this awesome page turner!!

Un clásico más entre las distopías

Es corto, súper corto. Eso lo hace condensado, es una maravilla de leer. Te deja con una sensación y no solo pensando.

Une histoire courte mais puissante. L'usage des pronoms est vraiment intelligent et rappelle de façon sinistre le délire LGBT sur les pronoms qu'on voit de nos jours... A lire.