Anthem

Summary

Anthem is Ayn Rand’s nightmarish story of a dystopian future world in which individuality does not exist. Every human being is identified by a number, not a name, with the personal pronoun “I” strictly prohibited. The “great WE” serve the collective of mankind from birth to death with no rights or personal freedom. Each life is managed, directed, and policed by a society that dictates how each person is raised, educated, and employed. No one is allowed to be alone and personal expression of thoughts, ideas, and desires is forbidden. Any resistance to authority or rule-breaking is punishable, with the worst offenders subject to horrific public execution.

Within this world lives one young man, Equality 7-2521, who longs for a different world. His vague knowledge of the “Unmentionable Times” that preceded his society drives his quest to escape. Anthem is his story of finding the passage back to a past that ultimately holds his future freedom and the promise of a new mankind.