Overview: Ayn Rand came of age during the ascendancy of collectivism across the globe — not only in communist Russia, from which she escaped in 1926, but also in fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and to an alarming degree in her adopted homeland, America. Rand identified collectivism — the idea that individuals should be subjugated to the group and sacrificed for the common good — not only as a moral evil but as the essential cause of the political evils then engulfing the civilized world.
In the summer of 1937, Rand took a break from working on The Fountainhead to write the novelette called Anthem, a short, highly stylized tale of a future dystopia so saturated in collectivism that the word “I” has disappeared from the language.
First published in England in 1938, Anthem was rejected by collectivist-dominated American publishers in the 1930s — an American edition (slightly revised by Rand) did not appear until 1946.
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Due Friday, June 14th - All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Mr. Pellerin's Freshmen English
Overview : Go back to our first blog, and walk through the 2018-2019 school year. Revisit the books we read and our class responses. Look...
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Overview : Go back to our first blog, and walk through the 2018-2019 school year. Revisit the books we read and our class responses. Look... -
Overview : We have been reading a novel about a man named Equality-2527 . If Ayn Rand's novel, Anthem is a cautionary tale about the ...
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Directions : In this space, post your working thesis statement or concept and list of 10-12 Quotations you plan to use in your essay, list...
Rene Roustand
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying the book so far. However, is this book related to the Allegory of the Cave?
The book is reminding me of the giver. Especially the part about where they go for each age. Also in the sense of everyone has to be the same and it's bad that he and other people are ahead in class.
ReplyDeleteJulia Campbell
DeleteYes I think so too, Anthem is especially like the Giver when the main character feels like there something more to life that he is missing.
Sean Wilen
ReplyDeleteI looks like a good book but when I was reading it all I could think about was the giver. When it said that when they were five they moved into a different house i thought about the year of 9 when they got their bike. Also, how they are controlled and so strict lime that you have to be 6ft tall and that your name is numbers it was so similar to the giver
Gannon
ReplyDeleteI am kind of surprised at how little restrictions they have even though they are living at the rules of the "council". Even though they aren't allowed to go out and do things, they are still able to go to school and receive an education. not to mention that they also have the company of there brothers and don't have to worry about being different, but having to worry about being superior.
Lucas Kaufman
DeleteIt is true that the people of this society are able to receive an education, but it is clearly an education filled with false knowledge, since Equality 7-2521 mentioned learning that the Earth is flat and the center of the universe, the names of the winds, and that bleeding can cure anything. Since humanity did once believe all these things at one point or another, it shows how humanity truly has just walked back into the cave.
Davis Blanch
ReplyDeleteMy first impressions on the novelette are, it sounds like it harsh society, everything is picked for you, you have no personal choices and you can't talk about yourself without talking about everybody as a collective person.
Sophia Lakos
ReplyDeleteSo far the book seems like "The Giver" in a way. No one really stands out or is independent. They use the work "we" instead of "I" and are recognized by the name of their group. We have not yet learned the speakers name but he said he is called Equality 7-2512 but there are more people called that. I am curious as to what their secret that they can not speak of is, we were told that if it is spoken about they will go into correction detention.
Lucas Kaufman
DeleteI think it is certainly possible that there are or have been more people in this society named Equality 7-2521, but his constant mentioning of "we" instead of "I" could just be the result of the latter word's eradication from language and replacement with its plural form.
Peyton Levental
ReplyDeleteOverall so far I find this book really interesting. It reminds me of the Giver in a sort of way because both books relate to the theme, everyone is the same/ equal. I noticed that they do not say "I" but only "we" which I think is because they think that "I" is to individual but "we" means everyone so that you can never specifically only talk about yourself.
Drew Wachtel
ReplyDeleteSo far in the book "Anthem" by Ayn Rand reminds me of The Giver because the main character's of both books are in a socity that is diffrent to ours. Both Main character's of both books got their jobs picked for them by the leaders for their state. The one diffrence between the books is the main character in the Giver got a job with a high honer and the main character in the Anthem got a sort of a bad job.
this book i reminding me about the giver in the way how the where they go to a separate part for a stage in life and how every one had to be the same
ReplyDeleteLucas Kaufman
DeleteI am noticing a lot of comparisons to Lois Lowry's "The Giver". I definitely see the similarities, with both dystopias having assigned jobs, designated ages for all sorts of lie milestones, and a complete lack of individual thought or questioning by the inhabitants of the two worlds of the world around them. Both Jonas and Equality 7-2521 seem to be standouts in their communities, the only people with individual personalities and the curiosity to question anything and everything.
Lucas Kaufman
ReplyDeleteFrom what I have seen of the world described in Ayn Rand's "Anthem", individuality has been completely eradicated. Names are just codes, jobs are assigned and unquestioned, in so many ways humanity has walked right back into the cave. There is no skill or talent in this world, no ambition, not even any individual thought. As I read, I began to wonder, "What is the purpose of existence in such a world?"
Ben Worthley
ReplyDelete9-26-19
I think the book is a lot like the Giver. The book has a council that makes all the decisions. Like the World council. Over all the boom is boring. I have not made any connections to the main character.
Julia Campbell
DeleteI feel the same way about this book as you do. I'm totally in the dark and i don't think that I can predict an ending based on what we know now.
Lucas Kaufman
DeleteI also am not quite sure what will happen next, but I do not find the book boring at all and am excited to continue reading.
Julia Campbell
ReplyDeleteI am skeptical of this book because I think it’s quite cryptic. ‘M not really sure how I feel about this book because I have many questions about this society. Is it a cult? Is it the same type of dystopian society as the giver? Why does the main character refer to himself as we? What time does this book take place in? I don’t completely know how I feel about this book but I am intrigued and I think I would like to learn more about it.
Evan Brenner
ReplyDeleteI am surprised about how strict the community is in the book. For example, in the book all of the people names are numbers. Also you had to live in a place called "Home of the Infants" until you were 5 years old. They also were also sent to the "Home of the Students" when they were five years old.
Lucas Kaufman
DeleteIn this society, you're basically living in a "Home of the Something" your entire life. I find it interesting how reaching forty years old gets you sent to the Home of the Useless and the title of Old One, even though forty (and even forty-five, which gets you the title of Ancient One) are considered middle-aged in our society. It shows how far backward humanity has gone not just knowledge-wise, but medically as well.
When I read the first couple of pages this book was more like the giver because of the crimes, sins and the correct wording you have to use in the book. The book talked more about what the men are experiencing than what the women are experiencing.
ReplyDeletethis was abhi
DeleteLucas Kaufman
DeleteThat shows yet another way humanity is getting worse in this book. The society is clearly patriarchal, as it seems only boys get educations. Equality 7-2521 did say that two of the five Council members were women, so there is clearly more information to come about gender equality in this society.
When I read the first couple of pages this book was like the giver because of everything that was happening. The book talked more about what the men are experiencing than what the women are experiencing.
ReplyDelete