Anthem Rhetorical Analysis

Mrs. Logic’s Message
Six feet was too tall: Equality 7-2521 stood head and shoulders above the crowd and his brothers in society looked down on him because of it. In the novella Anthem, author Ayn Rand explores the dangers of a Collectivist society and the freedom that comes with escaping such a place as she chronicles the life of her main character, Equality. Part of Rand’s motivation for writing her novella was her desire to further develop the philosophy that she created that is known as Objectivism. Objectivism is the belief that everyone possesses their own moral compass, and that the highest achievement of a person’s life is to follow that compass to reach their greatest happiness. It is essentially a belief in the individual. On the
By the time she was thirteen, Rand had experienced two revolutions: the first overthrew the Communist government, and the second restored it (History.com) Consequently, Sam Anderson, a writer for the New York Magazine writes in his article “Mrs. Logic” that she declared herself an atheist at thirteen (4). Clearly her experiences, as she watched people struggling to survive under two different governments deeply affected the way she thought and in what she chose to believe. Her experiences caused her to reject any government, whether earthly or divine and to rely completely on herself. Anderson also mentions “[Rand] showed strong Objectivist traits from the start: As a child, she was solitary, opinionated, possessive, and intense…” (4). Even as a child Rand was following the philosophy that she later developed and name Objectivism. Objectivism has four basic principles, Rand explains them in this way “Reality exists as an objective absolute-facts are facts, independent of man’s feelings, wishes, hopes, or fears. Reason […] is man’s only means of perceiving reality […] Man-every man-is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. […] The ideal political-economic system is laissez-faire capitalism [...]” (Rand 15-16). These principles cover several areas of human existence and relationships including how a person relates to the truth, themselves, others, and the government. Objectivist societies support and encourage private schools and hospitals, entrepreneurship, and capitalism, all of which fall into line with the four basic principles that Rand used to build her way of thinking. Growing up in Russia, and living through two revolutions gave Rand her unique view of the world and influenced the creation of her