Ayn Rand has created one of her own utopian worlds in her novel Anthem. At least what most people would believe is a Utopian world. There is no fighting because everyone has there own place, almost everyone is happy and they all try to benefit each other. Everyone is supposed to live in unity, everyone is a brother or sister to the other, although no one grows up with their actual family. There really is no such thing as a utopian world though, they are always corrupt, they suppress people making them unable to be themselves. A utopia is defines as a perfect place, although a perfect place can change for many people. Its very hard to make everyone believe they live in a perfect society where nothing is wrong.
Anthem is not the only novel that shows its readers what a utopia could look like. A utopia is mentioned in Brave New World By Aldous Huxley, 1984 by George Orwell and even The Giver by Lois Lowry. (Side note: Didn't have to look any of the arthurs up.) Im sure there are many more, but these novels came to my mind while reading Anthem. Although Each society in these novels are described as utopias they are truly, Dystopian societies. There will always be corrupt people. Those characters realize that their society is NOT perfect, because they are not happy in it. They will defy all rules and laws and even their government. They’ll try to change the world. In Anthem Equality 7-2521, realizes that the place he had grown up in was not perfect, no matter what the scholars made him believe.
Rand creates a world that splits up men and women, where they only come together to have children, almost like in The Giver, where the children are raised by parental units that aren't actually blood related to them. Each child must have a different name meaning they must add numbers at the end. The names range from Liberty to International each with one number then a dash followed by four more numbers. As the kids grow they grow up in homes away from anyone that is actually related to them. They are all taught the same basic skill until they are told what career they should take, and are forced to take it. They are told where they should be in society and how they should act, much like Brave New World, where the children were actually made to fit specific jobs. All these things suppress people in a society, they can no longer make their own choices, and once they realize that, they will usually rebel or try to escape.
Something new to this novel that I’ve never seen before, and I thought was interesting was their was no use of ‘I’ in it. Although the novel utilizes first person, Equality 7-2521 must refer to himself as ‘we’ because he was conditioned to. It makes the characters in the novel united and thought of as one. This really shows the signs of unity that usually come up in utopian novels. No character can think only about himself, everything they do must be for and with the others. At first it was very hard to follow, and didn't make much sense to me. Until I realized that All the characters in the book referred to themselves as ’we.’ It makes the novel unique and different.
I’ve honestly wished many times in my life that I was in one of these societies where they tell me what I should be and do with my life. Especially now that I’m nearing College and after that i’ll have to find a career, I have no idea what I want to do with my life. Im so lost, I wished there was someone to tell me my perfect job, the one I can help the most in. A career that I can use all my skills in. What would I have to give up though? A family life? My own name, and most of the freedom I already have. I dont think I would be able to deal with that either. I wouldn’t want to be suppressed, turned into a pet of the government. I like being free, much like the characters in the dystopian/utopian novels.
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