What Is One Reason For The Title Of Anthem, By Ayn Rand

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The short dystopian text titled Anthem, by Ayn Rand, is a spectacular demonstration of dystopian fiction. The book is a very intriguing book as the story is set in an unspecified future date where the world has entered another dark age. Society is much different now as everyone's life is decided for them by the government. No man is allowed to think of themselves as above anyone else in their life. They are also not allowed to amount to anything more than their brothers. The main character in the book is named Equality 7-2521. In the book Equality and some other men discover electricity while experimenting in a train tunnel they had found. They then show their discovery to the Home of the Scholars. However, the scholars are not happy about …show more content…

After reading these books, Equality discovers many new words and many new ways to express himself and his feelings. The most important word he discovers however is the word I. The word I is banished from being spoken in his society so he does not yet know that the word I exists. This relates to the title because an Anthem is a song identified with a specific and particular group of people. Near the end of chapter 11, Equality states, “I am done with the monster of “we,” the word of serfdom…of falsehood and shame.”(Rand) This is one reason why the word anthem relates to the …show more content…

This is a reason that Rand chose the title Anthem because Rand believed that the word “individual”, is a sacred word and must be defended against all collectivism. Rand was raised in Russia during a time of strong collectivism and this is why she feels very strongly about individualism. The book states, “We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE. One, indivisible and forever.”(Rand) This quote is an example of the collectivism within the society that Equality is living in before he runs away into the Uncharted Forest. Rand expressed her strong feelings towards collectivism through her book and this is a reason that she tilted her book

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