Ayn Rand was one of the most controversial political writers of her day. I’ve been interested in reading some of her literature, but her thousand plus page book, Atlas Shrugged, seemed a little daunting, so I settled for her shorter novel Anthem. Anthem seemed to sum up her philosophy of objectivism in a nice little cocoon.
Objectivism is a philosophy created and advocated by Ayn Rand. Her stance was that one’s moral compass should be what makes one happy and the only way to achieve happiness is through non-invasive and laissez faire government.
Anthem is set in a dystopian society; the government has eradicated the word “I” and every -citizen works for the advancement of “we”. Equality 7-2521 is the hero of this book who looks and sees flaws in this type of society. The whole book is written in journal format as Equality seeks to understand why his society is flawed, how he breaks away from it, and his discovery of the word “I”.
I agree with what this book advocates. I came to the last two chapters and a bitter bile raised in my mouth at these words:
“Many words have been granted me, and some are wise and some are false, but only three are holy: “I will it””
and
“My happiness is not a means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose.”
and
“And now I see the face of a god, and I raise this god over the earth, this god whom men have sought since man came into being, this god who will grant them joy and peace and pride. This god this one word:
“I”
I truly believe that we as people will never achieve true happiness through pursuit of our own gain, but we achieve happiness through giving our lives to something bigger than ourselves, God and service to others. Our will should never be the ultimate end. Even Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane prayed “Not my will; but thine be done.”
Some may argue that if we were to live in a society that Ayn Rand advocates we would be able to pursue happiness like religious happiness, but let’s be realistic not everyone would pursue religious happiness. Our society would be total chaos. There has to be some form of government like John Locke advocated or we would all be in a state of nature (a.k.a chaos).
However, I don’t advocate a society like the one that Equality lived in, because I don’t think that all our actions should be dictated. But I would say that if we lived in a society that took away every freedom except our freedom to worship and serve God as we choose I don’t think that it would be right to be insubordinate to that government. Jesus said render unto Ceasar’s what is Ceasar, and also that we are to lead quiet lives.
This book really made me question if I wanted to read Atlas Shrugged as I had planned on at the beginning of this summer. Her ideas seem selfish and self-serving in my eyes. I also feel that no matter how much we petition and advocate for a change in government; it will never be perfect. We are humans and flawed; therefore, everything of our making and design will be flawed as well.
