Commentary On Anthem By Ayn Rand

Anthem by Ayn rand was written in 1937 and published in 1938. She had escaped communist Russia and was living in the United States as she wrote. After experiencing fascist Italy, Nazi Germany as well as communist Russia she came to see collectivism as the cause of all political evils overwhelming the world. The novella is about Equality 7-2521 who lives in a society where they have abolished individualism. There is no “I” only a “we” and every aspect their lives is controlled by the Main Council. However this dystopia’s citizens are willing to do anything and everything their government asks them to because of the way they have been manipulated. The Council has stripped them of original thought, even gone so far as to prohibit them from it, and removed any instinct to doubt, question or be critical of the Assembly’s decisions. Dictators have eliminated the pursuit of knowledge and individual thought to.
The most critical way in which the government restricts its populace is by outlawing perceiving yourself as a solitary human being. “But when they speak …show more content…
Instead of the church manipulating information it is a vague version of government that does not allow free knowledge. “The Council of Scholars has said that we all know the things which exist and therefore the things which are not known by all do not exist”(Rand 71). They do not have the technology or understanding of the world that we do today even though it is set in the future. The Council of Scholars who are supposed to be the most educated people are scared of light bulbs. This is because acquiring knowledge is a very tedious process, which most are not even allowed to go through. It is a particularly effective tactic to enslave minds because it eliminates the possibility of the student surpassing the master. The master makes is hardly even teaching the student but has convinced them that they are the people with the highest