Anthem
Ayn Rand
Parts 11, 12
What is the cultural and educational background of the author and how did this background influence the book? In what ways do the events in the books reveal evidence of the author’s world view?
Anthem is a Science fiction novel written by Ayn Rand 1937. However, it was only published in 1948 in England. This book takes place in the future when mankind has entered a new dark age. This book has an important concept of individuality. Unfortunately, this important concept is not explored at all by the community. In fact, this concept has been eliminated from their society (Wikipedia). The author of this book Ayn Rand was a famous and controversial person who became a best-selling author. Her ideas were also carried to universities classrooms, Hollywood, and even to the Congress. Her books have sold millions of copies and now is subject of an Oscar-nominated documentary. Since her death in 1982 her philosophy became more well-known. She was from a middle class Russian family. They lived in Russia during a time where Communism came to power in 1917. Their situation started to become really difficult when her father lost his business to the government (Ayn Rand). This had an immense influence in the way she wrote the book because the government of their community is also Communist. Also, the dystopian future in which this book happens contains many concepts of a Communist government. For example, everyone has to use ''we'' instead of ''I'' even when referring to themselves. The reader can clearly see how big of an impact Communism had on her life just by reading a few pages of the novel.
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