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Anthem By Ayn Rand

A standard rule of writing states that one should refrain from using the word ``I'' in one's writing. Somehow this rule seems singularly inappropriate when writing about the book Anthem. I wish to talk about my thoughts on this work. I will not abstract my ideas so that I can refer to them without referring to myself; they are my ideas, my thoughts, and my impressions.

Many years ago, I read my first book by Ayn Rand, Anthem. When I decided to write an essay on Anthem, I needed to re-read it to refresh my memory. As it is a short book, I expected this to be an easy task, but I was very wrong.

When I first read Anthem, it was an easy task. I completed the book in about four hours. At the time, I was not mature enough to fully appreciate Anthem's powerful symbolism. My attitude as I read the beginning of the book was one of indifference and confusion, maturing only later into concern and vigorous interest. This experience began a new phase in my intellectual development that soon led me to read Atlas Shrugged. I then started on Ayn Rand's non-fictional works.

My understanding of Rand's philosophical system, however, came piece by piece. There was no one instant of recognition, no single ``aha.'' Until recently, I was not fully aware that I had been affected so deeply. My progress was step-by-step and I had never looked all the way back.

As I began to read Anthem for a second time, I found myself in acute pain, even at the first paragraph. I continued to read it feeling much as a person would when touring a concentration camp, for, in effect, that was exactly what I was doing. There was not one hint of levity in my mood; I do not even recall breathing. I was truly looking all the way back.

At the end of chapter nine, when Equality 7-2521 is alone, in the most profound sense of the word, with his Golden One, she says slowly, ``We are one ... alone ... and only ... and we love you who are one ......

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