Anthem has been around me for as long as I can remember. After what seemed at the time endless amounts of pointless reading, I came across Ann Rand's work. Anthem was the first of her writing's I read. It changed my way of looking at other works of literature, altogether. It enhanced my own view of what I felt literature was and the world of literature should be. Opening those doors helped me to see the underlying meaning that most authors strive for. Ann Rand made the relationship of text and context a reality. .
This book has been in my family for as long as I can remember. My mother would read Ann Rand when I was a tot; witch was enough for me to think it of no interest to me. Cracked and Mad magazines were my form of entertainment. Chasing satyr at an early age and knowing nothing of it. Time went by and my taste for literature meliorated. That was when mother asked me to read, The Fountainhead. This book is huge I said. I asked her if she had any smaller suggestions for me. She handed me Anthem. This was right up my ally. .
Ann Rand spoke to me with her ideas, imagery, and characterization. This novel gives me impressions of true freedom. In a time filled with collectivism and governmental restraints, this novel speaks to my soul. It tells me that no man should accept his own slavery, in any form of the term, in any form at all. This novel concentrates on many principals of thought. It is verging on Marxism, with a tinge of capitalistic appeal. Rand grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia in the early twentieth century. She had a love for American idealism and the freedoms it gave some men. Studying the characters you can see the oppression with in them. They know something is wrong within their situation, but are too brain washed to see an answer. Anthem challenged my own perception of freedom. As I would read this novel I would feel a similarity to these characters. I always felt that we weren't as free we thought we were in this country.
