What would the world be like without the words I, mine, my, etc.? This interesting question is answered by Ayn in Anthem. This is the first book of Rand’s that I have read and I think it was OK. It brings to light a futuristic society where individuality is completely obliterated and the town elders decide the person’s future.
The protagonist of this story is Equality 7-2521 who realizes that he is different from his brothers. Unlike them, he has desires to be a scholar, fall in love with a woman of his own choice and learn more about the Unmentionable Times. The people around him are like robots who can’t think for themselves and have no passions in life. The elders decide that Equality should be a Street Sweeper.
One day he finds a tunnel carefully hidden and knows it is from the Unmentionable Times. He doesn’t tell anyone and every night he goes underground to read, write and experiment with scraps that he finds around. He also falls in love with a woman called Liberty 5-3000. He calls her the Golden One although he knows it is against the law to call someone a name that distinguishes one citizen from another.
One night while he is in his tunnel, he invents a light bulb. He knows it will change the world because they are presently using candles. He decides to show his invention to the World Council of Scholars that will meet in a month. Unfortunately, Equality looses track of time and is taken to jail because he has stayed out too long. He is beaten in order to get him to tell them where he has been. Equality, however, doesn’t tell anyone and on the day of the Council meeting, he escapes from jail.
But the council doesn’t seem to appreciate his invention. They say that because it is worked on by only one person, it can’t be good to use. The scholars want to put Equality back into jail. To escape, he jumps out of the window holding on to his invention.
Equality runs into the Uncharted Forest and knows he is safe there. Living in the forest, he feels independent. He finds comfort in his solitude and becomes self sufficient. He is later reunited with the Golden One who has followed him into the forest. They soon find a house from the Unmentionable times and decide to make it their home. There they find old manuscripts and Equality finally finds the letter “I” in one of the books. He is overjoyed and knows the importance of that word.
One of the most touching parts in the story is when the Golden One tries to tell Equality that she loves him. Since the word “I” is unknown to them, it comes out as “We love you”. She realizes that the phrase doesn’t sound like the way she had wanted it to. She feels something is missing and can’t seem to figure it out.
The novel on the whole is pretty short and easy to read. However, it takes some getting used to in the beginning when Equality calls himself “We” and the Golden Girl is referred to as “They”. However, it doesn’t take long to adjust to the different pronouns. Some more books like this by Ayn are Atlas Shrugged and Fountainheads.