The novella is informed with a sense of urgency derived from the popularity of various collectivist factions existing at the time of its writing (that continue to exist to this day.) In the 1930s, a number of U.S. By means of her character's quest, Ayn Rand defends the right of individuals to a life of their own and sounds a warning against modern society's relentless movement toward collectivism. The struggle of Equality 7-2521 to think, live, and love on his own terms and in conflict with the oppressive dictatorship forms the heart of Anthem. When individuals speak of themselves, they use the collective 'we,' there being no individualistic concepts or words available. All first-person references have been expunged from individual thought. Above all, the word 'I' has been outlawed it is the 'Unspeakable Word' that has been erased from the language and from the thoughts of citizens. Even their names are variations on collectivist slogans - Unity, Fraternity, International, and so on - followed by numbers, indicating the many 'brothers' who share the slogan for a name. Instead, they engage in state-controlled breeding, in which the government decides who sleeps with whom and when. Citizens have no personal lives or loves they cannot choose friends or lovers.

They are born in state-controlled hospitals, raised in state-controlled nurseries, educated in state-controlled schools, toil at state-assigned jobs, and sleep in massive barracks organized by the state. The citizens of this society are pawns without rights who exist as wards of the state. The hero, Equality 7-2521, is a brilliant young man who yearns to be a scientist, but who is commanded to be a Street Sweeper by a government that fears his independence of mind. The story of Anthem takes place in an unnamed Communist- or Fascist-like dictatorship of the future, where an individual has no rights, existing solely to serve the state. The novella's theme and central conflict - the individual versus the collective - occurs in all her novels and is an important element of her moral and political philosophy. Anthem is an outstanding introduction to Ayn Rand's philosophy of human nature.

Anthem by ayn rand audio