Birth and Death are both topics that have always fascinated the human mind. So are the desires for noble birth and dignified death, namely eugenics and euthanasia. Eugenics is a slightly perverted form of Evolution, the process by which Nature nurtures and culls, letting the ‘fittest survive’ and the weaklings perish. We humans have always wanted healthy children of excellent pedigree, no matter how often we are taught that we humans are and will remain imperfect and in such imperfection lies our beauty. This inability to understand made even great minds like Plato talk in glowing terms about eugenics. This inability to understand made lesser minds like Hitler and Churchill treat their fellow humans with cruelty and contempt. But luckily, this book from Ayn is not the product of such misunderstanding.
‘Anthem’ is a novella by Ayn Rand, so brief a book that you can finish reading it in a single sitting. In this dystopian work set in future, a man named Equality 7-2521, born in one of the breeding halls, instead of as a normal child to normal parents, is assigned the vocation of a street sweeper. But his heart wills otherwise, pushing him to become a scholar, seeking all that there is to learn and explore. But in the world where humans have all lost their individualities and treated as one single mass organism, his desire matters nothing to the Council, the all-powerful governing body that determines the fate of each and every human born.
Soon, our protagonist discovers two things that change his perceptions and push him on a different path – Love and an equally ‘enlightening’ discovery. But will the Council, which allows interaction between genders only as a controlled exercise for the sole purpose of breeding more humans, permit his heart’s desire to marry his ‘Golden One’? Will the World Council of Scholars accept him as one of their own when they become aware of his unapproved quests of knowledge? Will humanity ever regain its individuality, instead of behaving like one amorphous mass? Read the book and find for yourself.
This is the first work of Ayn that I am reading and I am impressed. Written in simple language and flowing style, the book is a pleasant read. In an age where people are increasingly being misled by opportunistic politicians, media magnates and corporate houses, to unquestionably believe in everything they are told, to accept lies as truths and fanaticism as normalcy, this book is a gentle nudge to any thinker worth his salt to start using the mind more and take pride in one’s individuality.
Anthem – an ever-relevant clarion call!
‘Anthem’ is a novella by Ayn Rand, so brief a book that you can finish reading it in a single sitting. In this dystopian work set in future, a man named Equality 7-2521, born in one of the breeding halls, instead of as a normal child to normal parents, is assigned the vocation of a street sweeper. But his heart wills otherwise, pushing him to become a scholar, seeking all that there is to learn and explore. But in the world where humans have all lost their individualities and treated as one single mass organism, his desire matters nothing to the Council, the all-powerful governing body that determines the fate of each and every human born.
Soon, our protagonist discovers two things that change his perceptions and push him on a different path – Love and an equally ‘enlightening’ discovery. But will the Council, which allows interaction between genders only as a controlled exercise for the sole purpose of breeding more humans, permit his heart’s desire to marry his ‘Golden One’? Will the World Council of Scholars accept him as one of their own when they become aware of his unapproved quests of knowledge? Will humanity ever regain its individuality, instead of behaving like one amorphous mass? Read the book and find for yourself.
This is the first work of Ayn that I am reading and I am impressed. Written in simple language and flowing style, the book is a pleasant read. In an age where people are increasingly being misled by opportunistic politicians, media magnates and corporate houses, to unquestionably believe in everything they are told, to accept lies as truths and fanaticism as normalcy, this book is a gentle nudge to any thinker worth his salt to start using the mind more and take pride in one’s individuality.
Anthem – an ever-relevant clarion call!
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