Literary Analysis - Ivanna Hidalgo

Ivanna Hidalgo
Anthem by Ayn Rand
Literary Analysis
Question

      To start of with, Anthem is a book where there is no such thing as individualism - independence, and where there is only a "we". As in for the character, Equality 7-2521 is a person who has watched how people in his world has been severely punished for saying the word "I". Something to see about Anthem is that people think of it in different perspectives. For example, some people think that this book is really something that can help society work like one. However, some people think that not having a say for yourself influences the way you live with others. Therefore, this all influences the ways of how people live overall. 

     As a first point, something that really adds up to the books main theme is the way the author decided to live life. For instance, Ayn Rand's cultural background influences the book in some parts. Ayn Rand had lived in a few countries, yet I would think that all of her initial culture came from the place she was born in, Saint Petersburg, Russia. In Russia, their culture was more based on power and leadership. As known from the Russian Revolution, Russia became a country with cravings of wars towards power. In my opinion, this reflects a big part of Anthem's theme and main idea. In fact, the idea of power and fighting made a change in Ayn Rand into a point where power was so important that people didn't care about each other. As from where I see Anthem's main idea, Ayn Rand is explaining how individualism is bad and unknown in Anthem's society. Anthem is all about making sacrifices between men and fight together and not against each other. Additionally, the idea of "we" gives a sense that we will all have equal power and knowledge. Further, I came to this conclusion because I would have thought how Ayn Rand's childhood was more of political wars towards getting the most power, and not of sharing ideas and working as a team. 
     As a second point, some of Ayn's educational background influenced her book, Anthem, but not as much as the culture itself. As a matter of fact, Rand's education wasn't much until she had the ability to write books of her own. Now, in 1911, Ayn Rand taught herself how to read for the reason that schools weren't as available as today in Russia. Otherwise, she would have gone to school, just as she did graduate in collage. During the Russian Revolution, the government's main aim was knowledge and competence, not education. As a result, Ayn didn't have a chance to learn as much, but literature which was the the subject she learned by herself. Not to mention, the way she learned influenced the book more, than the things she actually learned in her past. From Anthem, it doesn't show any knowledge from Russia, or its revolution. On the other hand, it does how Equality 7-2521 tries to show the amount of expertise he has hidden in his brain. For example, he managed to discover the "light" with some other people. In the whole time his world existence, not one person managed to discover such thing but him. I can connect this to Ayn Rand because she was also an exemplar kid, which knew much to teach herself something that no other child has in mind. Consequently, she wanted to show how Equality 7-2521 had the abilities to do that as well, and show his comprehension towards the unknown.

      Fourthly, there are many themes in Anthem caused to it controversial community; however, I noticed that in the last two chapters, there has been beauty of simplicity and companionship of salvation kinds of themes. Firstly, what I mean by beauty of simplicity is how the book shows how beautiful something/someone can be by doing the right thing. The character I want to connect this to is the Golden One. In the book, it explains how this woman is independent herself, apart from being really resolute. The Golden One is always sure of her decisions, making her a great part of beauty and intelligence. From the image I take from the Golden One, she seems simple, yet really strong. Furthermore, this seems like a great theme to me because I've noticed that this is a common idea in almost every book. To connect with, Uglies by Scott Westerfeld is a great example of beauty of simplicity. Accordingly, this book centers on the idea of how being perfect doesn't make you beautiful. In other words, Tally, the main character, would always want to be pretty and perfect, so boys would like her. By way of contrast, she ended up knowing that boys can like her without having a perfect face or body. For this reason, it shows how something too simple can turn into complete beauty. 
     Lastly, I thought companionship of salvation was also a great theme to add into this book because it explains how having someone with you can aid with some problems. As many people say, two brains are better than one. Conversely, two individuals are better than one in terms of companionship and problem solving. To me, this theme is based on Equality 7-2521 and the Golden One. From what I preserve in these two individuals, they help each other in a way that not only two friends could have between each other. In detail, Equality 7-2521 somehow felt more confident and loved when the Golden One appeared in the woods. Although, I wouldn't call this romance because they're still in the stage when one another is just really in between friends and something else. In fact, it's more of the feeling that having somebody that loves you made Equality 7-2521 turn more into a person of trust. In conclusion, Ayn Rand overall background gives a shape to Anthem and its ideas of individualism.

"Culture." Ayn Rand Lexicon.  Web. 09 Nov. 2014. <http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/culture.html>.

"The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z." Ayn Rand Lexicon. Web. 09 Nov. 2014. <http://aynrandlexicon.com/>.

Image #1:
"Robot Check." Robot Check. Web. 09 Nov. 2014. <http://www.amazon.com/Anthem-Ayn-Rand/dp/1434440893>.

Image #2:
"Ayn Rand Anthem by Shane-01 on DeviantART." Ayn Rand Anthem by Shane-01 on DeviantART. 09 Nov. 2014. <http://shane-01.deviantart.com/art/Ayn-Rand-Anthem-300888582>.