Point Of View In Ayn Rand's Anthem

Upon beginning Ayn Rand’s novel Anthem, the reader will immediately notice one thing: the point of view. Anthem is written in first person point of view, which sets it apart from Rand’s other novels such as The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged, both written in third person. Furthermore, it is written in first person plural, a point of view that is unusual considering that the narrator, the protagonist called Equality 7-2521, is referring to himself. This use of first person plural pronouns while referring to oneself directs the reader to the overbearing collectivist society that has exists in the place of our own. As a collectivist society, men and women exist primarily for the “benefit” of the society as a while. Their role in society is determined …show more content…
The shift from first person plural point of view to first person singular point of view is a potent external show of change. When he learns first person singular pronouns, he employs them immediately. At first, this shift is startling because it is so sudden, but then the reader realizes that “I” is what the novel was missing until this point. Because the reader is so close to Equality 7-2521 by now, the use of “I” is a reprieve from the “monster of ‘We,’ the word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery, falsehood and shame” (Rand, Anthem). First person point of view usually affects readers more than third person point of view does because, by nature, readers are closer to characters who speak with “I.” Although “we” does not become “I” until the last two sections of Anthem, the reader knows that “I” is exactly what he was searching for. In addition to using first person singular pronouns, he also renames himself Prometheus after the god who gave men fire (Rand, Anthem). With the shift from first person plural to first person singular, the discovery of “I,” and the renaming of himself, Prometheus, and the reader, fully embraces