An Analysis of the Flaws of Communism in the Novel Anthem by Ayn Rand
With its emphasis on utilitarian ideals and fierce persecution of individuality. socier compels its members to view humanitamanism as the highest virtue. Religious institutions venerate the martyrs. Governments endorse the sacrifices of the few for the wellbeing of the many. Zealot altruists embark on devastating missions to promote the greater good. With its well-mentioned policies of socialized health care and unemployment compensation, modern bureaucracy has placed the burden of securing the welfare of the masses on every citizen.'
Throughout the course of her life, Ayn Rand, founder of objectivism, ardently combated American culture's steady progression towards collectivism through her literary work. Her philosophy stresses the importance of individual desires and personal happiness. Rand implores others to value themselves highly and embrace their egos. The origins of Rand's ideology trace back to her escape from communist Russia in 1926. Having lived in a socialist state, Rand noticed the subtle changes in the American mindset and wrote her pieces as warnings of the evils of charity at the expense of self. Rand encompassed her objectivist beliefs in her novella Anthem. 'Through the journey of Anthem's protagonist. Equality 7-2521, Rand paints suppression of will as a grievous act of evil and highlights the necessity of individuality in order for humanity to reach its full potential. Through her depiction of a utopian society in which the prosperity of the masses carlos individa rambition and individuals servo to mept the noods of the brotherhood supposed collectve happiness.
Rand's from her experience as a child in the Soviet Union during the reign of the Communist Party. At the impressionable age of 10, Rand witnessed the destruction of her father's business and the oppression of brilliant scholars in the name of equality. She watched while the people close to her were forced to endure such hardship to promote such a contradictory version of happiness. Rand captures the atmosphere of that environment in her work. Equality 7-2521's realization that "Fear walks through the City, fear without name, without shape. All men feel it and none dare to speak" (46) suggests that a while the members of his society claim to motivated by their desire to promote the success of the brotherhood, the ever-present shadow of fear truly coerces them to maintain the established order. Through her illustration of the world of Equality 7-2521, Rand claims that such blind selflessness goes against human nature, and therefore can only be reached through harsh intellectual constraints. The setting of Anthem captures altruism in its most extreme form. Through her descriptions of the cold and calculated dehumanization of members of society, Rand portrays the sacrifice of the individual to the masses in a socialist system.
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The town in which Equality 7-2521 lives represents the Communist environment in which Rand grew up in the Soviet Union. By forming an ideal world based on the teachings of collectivism, Rand clearly conveys the perverse nature of such a civilization. Equality 7-2521's struggle with his internal battle between his personal aspirations and his duties to his community. Despite the intense remorse for the "great transgression" he has committed, Equality capitulates to his urge to embrace his individual talents and abilities. With time he find himself forced to forfeit larger portions his pleasure to his brothers until he can no longer tolerate the narrow views of his inept leaders and declares, "I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask none to live for me, nor do I live for any other" (96). With this proclamation, Equality ceases to allow others dictate the way he will live his life.
Equality's liberation from the chains of his society mirrors Rand's own flight from the Soviet Union, suggesting that Equality's exodus out of the boundaries of his community symbolizes Rand's voyage to the United States. Through the development of the protagonist of her novella Anthem, Ayn Rand points out the flaws of Communism, an ideology that uprooted her life in the Soviet Tininn and took all that her familv had lahorinnslv toiled to obtain.
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An Analysis of the Flaws of Communism in the Novel Anthem by Ayn Rand. (2023, Apr 16). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/an-analysis-of-the-flaws-of-communism-in-the-novel-anthem-by-ayn-rand/
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