A look at themes, characters, literary
elements, and vocabulary
Ayn Rand was born in Russia in 1905.
She was educated under Communist rule,
experiencing first-hand the horrors of
totalitarianism.
 She escaped from Russia in 1926 and came to
America because of its individualist philosophy.
 Anthem was written in 1937, about the essence
of collectivism.


Communism is a social structure in which classes are
abolished and property is commonly controlled, as well as a
political movement that advocates and aims to create such a
society. A society in which each person is equally treated from
street-sweepers to doctors. Each received the same amount of
food, clothes, and shelter.

"Pure communism" in the Marxian sense refers to a
classless, stateless and oppression-free society where decisions
on what to produce and what policies to pursue are made
democratically, allowing every member of society to
participate in the decision-making process in both the political
and economic spheres of life. In modern usage, communism is
often used to refer to the policies of the various communist
states that had ownership of all the means of production and
economies.

I will show you a poem and read it twice. Choose one of
the following to write about. Write for ten minutes. Do
not stop.
Put today’s date on your writing.
Respond to the poem.




What does it make you think of?
What “catches your ear”?
Copy one line of the poem and use it to start your
writing. Let the line lead your thinking.
Write about something unrelated of your choosing.
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.
Essentially, Anthem is a novel about being the
captain of your soul and not allowing others
to dictate who you are.
Pronouns are words that “stand in” for nouns.
For instance, this is a much less awkward
sentence if we use pronouns:
Mrs. Wilkins announced to Mrs. Wilkins’
students that Mrs. Wilkins would not see Mrs. Wilkins’
students Wednesday.
How can we fix this awful sentence?
Singular pronouns “stand in” for singular nouns.
For example,
Bill = he or him
Mary = she or her
Mrs. Wilkins = I or me
People = they or them or we or us

Genre: Anti-Utopian (meaning that the world presented is
the world as it should not be).

Setting: (time) · In the future, after the collapse of the
social order. (place) · An unidentified city; much of the first
half of Anthem is narrated from a tunnel underground where
Equality 7-2521 is hiding, and the second half is narrated from a
forest where he has taken refuge from society.

Tense: Present, with some past-tense narration

Point of view: Equality 7-2521 speaks in the first person,
but does not refer to himself as “I”. Instead, he uses “we”.

Equality 7-2521:





A street sweeper
The protagonist
Narrator of the story
Has a curse of being different from his brothers, being an
individual.
Liberty 5-3000:
 The golden one
 Lives in the home of the peasants
Fear: In this story, fear is used to keep a tight grasp
on the collective society.
 “There is fear hanging in the air of the sleeping
halls, and in the air of the streets. Fear walks through
the city, fear without name, without shape. All men
feel it and none dare to speak.” (Rand, pg. 46).

INDIVIDUALISM
COLLECTIVISM
“Regarding every man as an
independent, sovereign entity
who possesses an inalienable
right to his own life, a right
derived from his nature as a
rational being.” Ayn Rand.
 Not being ruled over
 Not ruling
 Not being a master or a
slave.


The subjugation of the
individual to the group
 The Anthem society
 No right to a private
existence
 No right to lead your own
life, pursue own happiness, or
use own property
EGOISM
SELFLESSNESS
Concern with one’s own
 The self is destroyed in a
interests
collectivist society
 Live for own happiness
 No personal names
 Unconquerable human spirit  Individuals are
 “This one god, this one
interchangeable
word, ’I,’”
 No preferences
 “The sacred EGO.”
 It is wrong to disagree
 It is wrong to have
independent thoughts
 It is wrong to ask questions


Light: Light represent truth.

The forest:

Manuscripts: The manuscripts are important because Equality uses
Only when light is brought to bear can
those with exceptional qualities be separated from the crowd. The city is
dingy and dark. The only colors there are gray, white, and brown. The
whole society lives by candlelight and the leaders fear the light when
Equality brings it to them. In contrast, the house Equality and the Golden
One find in the forest has many windows that let light in.
The forest is a connection between the past and the
future. It also allows Equality to live freely and alone, an opportunity
denied in society.
them to write his own thoughts not shared by the entire community. His
record of his thoughts represents his first break with society.
Metaphor: A figure of speech in which a word for one idea or
thing is used in place of another to suggest a likeness between
them.

Collective- More than being a metaphor for the Russian state,
Anthem’s collective society represents the forces of socialism and
altruism (interest in the welfare of others) everywhere.

Robert Frost The Road Not Taken
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one
traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the
undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was
grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really
about the same,
And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first
for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come
back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in
a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.


What metaphor does Robert Frost’s poem use?
How does it compare with Anthem?
Syntax/ style: The manner of linguistic expressionhow the writer or speaker says whatever it is they say.

 There is no use of “I”. The language is very formal with very few
instances of embellishment.
Tone: The attitude of the author toward his/her
subject- the emotion evoked in the reader by the text.

 Equality 7-2521 records his thoughts and actions in a
straightforward manner, with no trace of irony.










Ailment: bodily disorder
Alms: something given to relieve the poor
Atone: to make amends
Avert: to ward off
Befall: to happen to
Covet: to desire or envy
Decree: to order
Edict: order
Ego: the self distinguished from the others
Fathom: to come to understand, a unit of length










Infamy: evil reputation
Larder: a place where foods are kept
Mandate: a command
Pyre: a combustible mound for burning a dead body
Reprimand: a severe scolding
Sanction: approval
Transgression: sin
Vindicate: avenge
Vocation: job or career
Warrant: justification