Anthem

Anthem
Ayn Rand
Copyright 1953

Whoa, crazy liberal girl reading Ayn Rand?  Just what has this world come to? I don't really have an answer for you other than to say: this isn't my first Rand, nor will it be my last.  I like Rand.  Her writing styles suit me and I love her characters.  We may not see eye to eye on all things, but I think she has a good message: People should not be punished for their hard work.  Okay, that was my take on Rand in general, now to get down to brass tacks and discuss Anthem.

This is not a book, Rand did not intend for it to be.  I has no climax or real plot.  I see Anthem as Rand's well written treatise.  It introduces readers to her philosophy without requiring them to read Atlas Shrugged.  As Anthem opens, we are introduced to a numbered character striving for more in a dystopian society that has eliminated the individual ego.  Intelligent, handsome, and resourceful, he is forced to wither away as a mere street sweeper because his role had been ordained so by society.  When he tries to improve his station, society shuts him down and he is forced to flee.

I thought Anthem to be a wonderful teaser for her philosophy, but ultimately it failed to move me as her other books had.  Maybe it's because it isn't 8,000 pages long, but mostly because it doesn't offer her full philosophy and so I had nothing to argue with.  Duh, it sucks when man's path is predestined and he is not allowed to stray from it.   She did not explain her dystopian society's structure at all. When you are crafting an argument against a community centered society, as she was, understanding that society's motives and structure help cement your viewpoint.  As such, I am left feeling bad for the characters, but left with only half a story.  I especially would like to know how the world got to that point, because clearly "we" had existed prior to Anthem's society.

****Next up: John F. Kennedy, A Life by the Editors of New Word City****