The Tone Of Immorality In Ayn Rand's Anthem

In “Anthem,” Ayn Rand emphasizes the diction of the novella, by using the negatively connotative words to achieve a tone of immorality. For example, when Equality is in a tunnel and writing, “It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil....there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone. We have broken the laws”(Rand 17). Also, “Strange are the ways of evil. We are false in the faces of our brothers. We are defying the will of our Councils...The evil of our crime is not for the human mind to probe . The nature of our punishment if it be discovered, is not for the human heart to probe”(Rand 36-37). Equality’s thoughts create a feeling of wrongdoing and dishonesty which are factors of
For instance, he uses transgression and then uses the words punishment later on, indicating the he is aware of his felony but continues to do it anyway. In addition, he understands the defiance and falseness he is inducing in his actions to further illustrate his wrongdoing. Words such as sin, base, evil, all give a disturbing mood and make the reader hope his sins are not discovered because those words reveal the vileness of his actions he is committing. The diction gives the tone of immorality and lets one perceive how shocking one’s actions may be. In “Anthem,” Ayn Rand shows a tone of beauty by highlighting the imagery of The Golden One. For example, upon Equality’s inspection of the Golden One, “... as they raised the water to their lips, were like sparks of fire in the sun. Then the Golden One saw us, and circles of light played upon their white tunic, from the sun on the water of the moat, and one sparkling drop fell from a finger of their hand held as frozen in the air”(Rand 42). Also, while in the Uncharted Forest with the Golden One, “The