The dust is symbolic of the erosion of the lives of the people. The dust is synonymous with "deadness". The land is ruined, the way of life (farming) is gone, and people are uprooted and forced to leave. Secondly, the dust stands for profiteering banks in the background that squeeze the life out the land by forcing the people off the land. The soil, the farmers have been drained of life and are exploited: "The last rain fell on the red and gray country of Oklahoma in early May. The weeds became a dark green to protect themselves from the sun's unyielding rays.The wind grew stronger, uprooting the weakened corn, and the air became so filled with dust that the stars were not visible at night." (Chapter 1) Throughout the novel there are several symbols used to develop!.
the theme man verses a hostile environment. Each symbol used in the novel show examples of both extremes. Some represent man, that struggles against the environment, others paint a clear picture of the feelings of the migrants. As each symbol is presented chronologically through the novel, they come together at the end to paint a clear picture of the conditions, treatment and feelings the people (migrants) as they make their journey through the novel to the West.
Anthem's representation of the theme is similar to The Grapes of Wrath. In Anthem, the characters also lived in a society filled with a degree of social cruelty and inhumanity. However, in the world of Anthem, it differed in the aspect that the mistreated labor class highly outnumbered their oppressors in population. It was a society where there were a select number of individuals that dominated over all because they were considered to be at a level of intellectual superiority and wisdom, far beyond that of anyone else. Early in the novel, Rand provides the reader with a description of a paradoxical world, lacking identity and individuality. As the plot thickens, it's understood that the cause of all these restrictions and social barriers are those known as The Council of Scholars.
