Anthem

“Introduction – This novelette creates a dark world of the future where individualism is destroyed. Ayn Rand “sings her anthem” through the struggles of Equality 7-2521 to leave the collective ‘We’ and discover himself.”

In considering the following, look back at the text as needed and record your ideas on notebook paper.

1. Describe the world of Anthem.  What are some practices in the book which tell the reader that the people live in a dark age industrially and intellectually?

2. Trace the evolution of the hero and heroine’s names in this novel. Identify, for each, their three names and explain how and why the names were used.

3. Trace the history of the world as it is told in the book.

4. Trace the life cycle of a typical city dweller.

5. Discuss those things which shape “individuality” in our world that have been eliminated in the world of the future in the book. What other practices in their society stifle individuality?

7.   Discuss Equality’s transgressions. How did they begin, multiply, and 

      eventually change or transform him?

8. Is Ayn Rand’s purpose in writing this novelette to entertain or to warn the reader? Tell how you decided this.

9. Explain how each of these places could be seen as a different stage in Equality’s quest for individuality:  Home of the Students, Home of the Street Sweepers, the tunnel, the road/field, the Palace of Corrective Detention, the Uncharted Forest, the mountain house. (You might have different labels you would attach to them.)

10. Explain what the author means by collectivism (cite examples); explain what she means by objectivism (cite examples). Do you personally feel that she treats both points of view fairly?

11. The author presents objectivism as a counter measure to what she sees as the evils of collectivism. While counter measures my correct the abuses of an earlier system, historically counter measures have often gone on to spawn their own evils. What might be some evils that would arise with objectivisim?

12. State the theme of this story and cite incidents and statements from the novel to support your generalization.

13. Why could this book be especially appropriate for ninth graders?

14.  The title of a book often gives insight into the author’s meaning. An anthem is a hymn of praise and joy. What are some of the “anthems” in this story. Look carefully at the last two chapters, the part the author referred to as “the anthem.”