***NOTE*** I’m not really sure what to classify this as: a historical analysis or a literary analysis (or some horrible cross between the two).
It has elements of both although I doubt I developed them fully… Anyway, there will be a revision to this. (But seriously, what can you expect for a 1,500 word essay done at three in the morning?)
Words: 1,517+ work cited
International Baccalaureate English 11 Period 1
26 March 2007
The meaning of Ayn Rand’s literary work Anthem is the importance of the individual, how the individual could be lost, and to serve as a warning to protect the individual from collectivist ideas (Gladstein).
Anthem was written in 1937 and the surrounding years saw the rise of collectivism and the short breakdown of American capitalism (Gordon).
These historical events influenced the meaning in the novels by affecting the setting and the language used (Berliner, Gordon).
The plot of Anthem is centered around a young man, Equality 7-2521, the “exceptionally able and individualistic protagonist [who] battles the forces of collectivism and mediocrity which … [have] destroyed [his] world (Gladstein).” Through the discovery of elements from the old world, he slowly realizes his society is fatally flawed and disassociates himself from it.
Many Americans such as Rand began to fear the spread of collectivism because they saw the weak points in its fundamental ideas. In the simplest of terms collectivism is an economy owned collectively by a centralized government based on the principle, “Production for use and not for profit (Rand, xv).” Rand was able to present collectivism as the worst-possible society through the use of setting. The setting of Anthem is in the future, after the collapse of the social order because of the common acceptance of collectivist values. This affects the meaning because at the time Anthem was written, there was no world or nation where collectivism had been in practice for a substantial amount of time that would create such a scenario. For this reason, the setting cannot be proved or disproved because there was no society to be compared with Rand’s. Due to this, Rand was able to present collectivism as “the worst-possible society” by setting it in such a way that made the statement true (Berliner).
The Essay on Ayn Rand And Anthem
In order to fully understand Ayn Rand's philosophy it is necessary to place her in a historical perspective. Ayn Rand was born on February 2, 1905 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Her father was a successful pharmacist while her mother was involved in the theater. They would be considered members of the intellectual class. In 1917, the Russian Revolution broke out and her father's business was seized by ...
Much like other books written at this time, the setting of Anthem is some unspecified time in the future where collectivism had become the major form of government which led to the downfall of humanity.
The setting for Anthem is not the same as other “anti-utopian” novels written during this time, for example 1984, by George Orwell, or Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley (Berliner).
In comparison, the differences between the standard setting and the setting of Anthem become known. Rand depicts the collectivist society to be primitive as opposed to the highly technological economies portrayed in other books. The meaning of the text is affected because it further illustrates the negative effects collectivism has on humanity. It accomplishes this by illustrating that economic progress depends on freedom, “the uncoerced mind is the source of technology, prosperity, and progress (Berliner).” Also affecting the meaning as well as the setting is Rand’s use of imagery.
As with any story, imagery plays an important role in describing the setting and feeling of places described. Throughout the novel, Rand consistently uses color to distinguish between the oppressive collectivism and freedom. On page 20, when describing the sleeping arrangements, she writes:
“The sleeping halls there were white and clean
and bare of all things save one hundred beds.”
Here, Rand describes the sleeping halls as white, the absence of color. Without color, nothing is unique, nothing is different; it’s all the same, equal. To reiterate the bland sameness of she repeats the phrase again on page 21. The white color use appears again on page 26, “their hair was white”, “the whiteness of their togas”, and a total of forty-five times in the text. The color white is associated with anything that has to do with the state or equality. This idea of equality is repeated over and over in Anthem for the purpose of showing when being ‘equal’ goes too far (Rand, xv).
The Essay on Describe ”people” of the 7P’s in a report using your chosen company
Introduction: For this assignment I am going to explain one of the 7P’s. In this case I am going to describe people for my chosen company, DELL. A board of directors of nine people runs the company. Michael Dell, the founder of the company, serves as chairman of the board and chief executive officer. Other board members include Don Carty, William Gray, Judy Lewent, Klaus Luft, Alex Mandl, ...
In this sense, when total equality is achieved anything that can single out or identify a person or object from a group, such as color, is eliminated entirely. The individual is lost in the whole.
The importance of the individual can only be expressed if there are words to describe the concept. In Anthem, Rand only allows the characters to speak in the first person plural. This means the word I has vanished from the human language; there are “no [singular] pronouns: a man refers to himself as we and to another man as they (Gordon.)” To combat the absolute lack of individuality, the character must disassociate himself from the collective, the whole.
Rand’s manipulation of language further supports her opposition towards collectivism. The changing of language to control people is not a unique concept in literature of this time, for example, 1984. Orwell creates a new language called ‘New Speak’ that has certain words excluded to prevent ideas from being thought. This same concept applies in Anthem; however, instead of eliminating words to control the population, the government uses the entire language to control the population. Page 19 of Anthem describes what would happen when someone does not want to be part of the whole or “is tempted away”. They must recite the following affirmation:
“We are one in all and all in one.
There are no men but only the great WE,
One, indivisible and forever.”
Here Rand makes it become clear the intense value language has by illustrating the potential it has to control. The people are taught that phrase over and over from birth until they believe there is nothing good can come from anything that is not agreed upon by everyone. Another way Rand demonstrates the use of language is through the names of people in the novel.
The Term Paper on Language And Communication Social People Talk
SYNOPSIS: Human language is a unique communication system which is different from that of other species. It is so complex and perfect that people couldn! t help wondering where it comes from. It is believed that language is part of our essential human nature and is therefore neither invented nor handed down as a gift. All humans are innately or genetically equipped with a unique language learning ...
The names used in the text are Equality, Union, Liberty, and International followed by an identification number, for example the main character, Equality 7-2125. The effect the names have on the meaning of the text is they illustrate that being told something over and over brainwashes the people into believing it. This is accomplished by reciting the main principles of the collective society in Anthem, equality, union, and liberty, by making it a prefix to a name. Everyone has a different name because the prefix is followed by a personal identification number to distinguish one Equality x-xxxx from another, but still making everyone equal. This equality is accomplished because while each name is different, it has the same format making it less unique than not. The effect this has is to show how the people are just people and nothing more; their purpose is to work for the whole and the single is insignificant. This concept becomes more evident when looking at the titles given to government institutions.
Each institution in Anthem is capitalized; for example, the World Council, the City Halls for the Social Meetings, and the Homes of the Different Trades (Rand 26-27, 48, 49).
The effect this creates is to make these seem more important. This is significant because, as Gordon states, “[capitalization in written language] deems something to be of greater importance.” Other uses of language include the Hymn of Brotherhood, the Hymn of Equality, and the Hymn of the Collective Spirit. The hymns are significant because the language used in the titles alone is there to reinforce that collectivism is good and that it is the right way.
During the time Anthem was written, America was coming out of the Great Depression. This time period saw the temporary collapse of capitalism in America and the founding of more collective style government policies on how to bring the nation out. Collective farming, a topic brushed upon in Anthem, was suggested.
The Essay on Anthem by Amy Rand
The book Anthem by Amy Rand is the first person story of Equality 7-2521, a man raised in a community where all men are equal and everyone is brother to their fellow man. But Equality 7-2521 was not the typical person, for he was very intelligent, and always felt that there was more to life to be discovered. He wanted to be a scholar so he could learn about his world, but instead he was assigned ...
The effect setting and language has on the text in Anthem is to create a scenario that demonstrates total collectivism with all of its ultimate consequences. Examples of these consequences include the stop in human progression because there is no industry or be it the loss of anything that separates from a group, such as color and language. While the plot for Anthem progressively becomes more optimistic as Equality 7-2125 leaves the collectivist society to be on his own, the story it self is still a chilling vision of what could happen should collectivism take over. The meaning of Anthem is to serve as a warning of how to prevent this dark future from happening. The rise of socialism at the time the book was written influenced the meaning because, at the time, socialism could have been taken out early as to prevent what Anthem was about.
Works Cited
Branden, Nathaniel, in his Who Is Ayn Rand? An Analysis of the Novels of Ayn Rand, Random
`House, 1962, 239 p. DISCovering Authors. Online Edition. Gale, 2003. Discovering
Collection. Thomson Gale. 21 March 2007 <http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/DC>
Gladstein, Mimi Reisel, in her The Ayn Rand Companion, Greenwood Press, 1984, 130 p.
DIScovering Authors. Online Edition. Gale, 2003. Discovering Collection.
Thompson Gale. 17 March 2007 <http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/DC>
Gordon, Philip, “The Extroflective Hero: A Look at Ayn Rand,” in Journal of Popular Culture,
Vol. X, No. 4, Spring, 1977, pp. 701-10. DISCovering Authors. Online Edition. Gale,
2003. Discovering Collection. Thomson Gale. 16 March 2007 <http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/DC>
Rand, Ayn. Anthem- Centennial Edition. New York: Penguin Group, 2005.
