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adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
That's enough conservative fanfiction for my lifetime. Thanks though 😇
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A lightning bolt of a book. Rand’s ode to individualism is heavy-handed but undeniably gripping. The final chapters, where Equality discovers the power of ‘I,’ are transcendent. While the characters feel like philosophical puppets and the world-building is thin, the core message — rebellion against mindless conformity — hit me hard. Flawed but unforgettable.
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
- strawmans the ideologies the author set out to critique without giving them any depth in the story
- surprisingly deeply misogynistic
- typical rand blend of uninspired ‘great man’ worship, bland stock characters, and half-baked blunt messaging
- had to read it for a class
“The secrets of this earth are not for all men to see, but only for those who will seek them.”
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I first read this book as required reading at 14, and I remember really enjoying it. I learned years later that Ayn Rand was a controversial figure, but I wasn't sure why and didn't recall anything overtly evil about Anthem. I decided today to reread it and then did a deep dive on the author to determine if I wanted to keep my copies of her books. I've concluded that Anthem wasn't as good as I remembered it being (to be fair to young me, this was during the peak of the dystopian craze and I loved the genre) and that Rand is kind of a detestable person.
If I didn't know any better, I would've assumed a man wrote Anthem because it's more of an allegorical manifesto than a story, is plagued by narcissism, and the only female character is inconsequential and unthinking. If Equality were a real human alive today, his Hinge profile would say "I'm 6'0 cuz I guess that matters." He would undoubtedly be a manosphere guy preaching that he's a "high value man" that deserves a "submissive tradwife" because that's exactly what happens here. Liberty, the only named woman, is 17 while Equality is 21. I could almost ignore this weird age dynamic as excusable in fiction if not for the fact it only exists to maintain Liberty's untouched purity. If she were 18 or the same age as Equality, it would imply that she's not a virgin, which, despite him already going through mating, the thought of her doing so is unbearable. As if Rand thinks her being old enough for the forced mating process would somehow be an indictment of her and not the dystopian society she lives in.
Liberty's character as a whole seems contrary to the philosophy of Anthem. Equality is infatuated with her because she's got a rebellious expression and is #notlikeothergirls, but we never learn anything about her past that. He seems to exalt her, calling her the Golden One and Gaia, but she worships him, calling him Unconquered and following him like a disciple. Neither of these people sees the other as human or flawed, and she is at a disadvantage in this relationship. Liberty is supposedly different from the other women because she is strong-willed and free-thinking, but it doesn't show. When she chases after him, she says he can "Do as you please with us" and bows on her knees at his feet like he's a god. Meanwhile, he treats her like a prized possession. He says his two great joys are his invention and her "And both these joys belong to us alone, they come from us alone." Equality puts her importance at the same level as his science experiment, expresses possessiveness for both entities, and then takes credit for the brilliance of both. When they find a home to live in, he declares that they shall share nothing with anyone but each other, and she replies, "Your will be done" as if reciting the Lord's Prayer. On the same page, she also appears to discover vanity as she stares at herself in a mirror for hours while Equality does the man's work of collecting water, food, and firewood.
Despite them living in the same house of books and being presumably equally literate and capable of thought, Liberty is never seen reading. Instead, Equality reads and then teaches her what he learns. Another indicator of both their age difference, where he acts as her master rather than a partner, and also her subservience to him, where she acts like he's a prophet. He then tells her that people used to have unique names, "So let us choose our names." Except he doesn't let her choose, he picks for her. He names himself after the Titan Prometheus and her after the primordial goddess Gaea (who is Prometheus's grandmother btw, but I digress), and she just agrees without question. By the next page, "Gaea is pregnant with my child," which he immediately follows with "Our son will be raised as a man." He talks about how his son will be equally prideful and conceited, but never considers for a second what would happen if the baby is born a girl. He claims to be a man of reason, yet he has no reason to believe Gaea is pregnant with a boy. He says that he will become the leader of like-minded men and women, but so far he hasn't been able to envision a future for women other than companion and birth-giver. Even her name he chooses not for Gaia's ancient cosmic power that's older than his own namesake, not because he notices his partner has a particular connection to nature, nor because he admires the goddess's role in usurping a tyrant by saving Zeus. He picks it because Gaia is a mother, and he wants his woman to give him children worthy of godhood too.
Prometheus questions, "What is my life, if I am but to bow, to agree and to obey?" Yet that is all Gaea does, and he takes no issue with her. She is not allowed the same individuality nor displays of intelligence within the text, even though it is implied that she possesses similar qualities to her partner. She simply migrates from one authoritarian cult, where she is expected to mate and work and voice no objections, to another. I didn't research Ayn Rand's personal beliefs until after I did my reread. It was utterly unsurprising to discover that she is strictly antifeminist, since it comes across in the way she writes women as accessories with the depth of a puddle and only has male protagonists. Ayn Rand and her Prometheus are short-sighted hypocrites who have decreed that narcissism is a religion, so that makes them god. Their philosophies, as depicted in Anthem, are nonsense that's been falsely named reason. To believe anything either of them says has any real merit, you'd have to be a fool or 14.
If I didn't know any better, I would've assumed a man wrote Anthem because it's more of an allegorical manifesto than a story, is plagued by narcissism, and the only female character is inconsequential and unthinking. If Equality were a real human alive today, his Hinge profile would say "I'm 6'0 cuz I guess that matters." He would undoubtedly be a manosphere guy preaching that he's a "high value man" that deserves a "submissive tradwife" because that's exactly what happens here. Liberty, the only named woman, is 17 while Equality is 21. I could almost ignore this weird age dynamic as excusable in fiction if not for the fact it only exists to maintain Liberty's untouched purity. If she were 18 or the same age as Equality, it would imply that she's not a virgin, which, despite him already going through mating, the thought of her doing so is unbearable. As if Rand thinks her being old enough for the forced mating process would somehow be an indictment of her and not the dystopian society she lives in.
Liberty's character as a whole seems contrary to the philosophy of Anthem. Equality is infatuated with her because she's got a rebellious expression and is #notlikeothergirls, but we never learn anything about her past that. He seems to exalt her, calling her the Golden One and Gaia, but she worships him, calling him Unconquered and following him like a disciple. Neither of these people sees the other as human or flawed, and she is at a disadvantage in this relationship. Liberty is supposedly different from the other women because she is strong-willed and free-thinking, but it doesn't show. When she chases after him, she says he can "Do as you please with us" and bows on her knees at his feet like he's a god. Meanwhile, he treats her like a prized possession. He says his two great joys are his invention and her "And both these joys belong to us alone, they come from us alone." Equality puts her importance at the same level as his science experiment, expresses possessiveness for both entities, and then takes credit for the brilliance of both. When they find a home to live in, he declares that they shall share nothing with anyone but each other, and she replies, "Your will be done" as if reciting the Lord's Prayer. On the same page, she also appears to discover vanity as she stares at herself in a mirror for hours while Equality does the man's work of collecting water, food, and firewood.
Despite them living in the same house of books and being presumably equally literate and capable of thought, Liberty is never seen reading. Instead, Equality reads and then teaches her what he learns. Another indicator of both their age difference, where he acts as her master rather than a partner, and also her subservience to him, where she acts like he's a prophet. He then tells her that people used to have unique names, "So let us choose our names." Except he doesn't let her choose, he picks for her. He names himself after the Titan Prometheus and her after the primordial goddess Gaea (who is Prometheus's grandmother btw, but I digress), and she just agrees without question. By the next page, "Gaea is pregnant with my child," which he immediately follows with "Our son will be raised as a man." He talks about how his son will be equally prideful and conceited, but never considers for a second what would happen if the baby is born a girl. He claims to be a man of reason, yet he has no reason to believe Gaea is pregnant with a boy. He says that he will become the leader of like-minded men and women, but so far he hasn't been able to envision a future for women other than companion and birth-giver. Even her name he chooses not for Gaia's ancient cosmic power that's older than his own namesake, not because he notices his partner has a particular connection to nature, nor because he admires the goddess's role in usurping a tyrant by saving Zeus. He picks it because Gaia is a mother, and he wants his woman to give him children worthy of godhood too.
Prometheus questions, "What is my life, if I am but to bow, to agree and to obey?" Yet that is all Gaea does, and he takes no issue with her. She is not allowed the same individuality nor displays of intelligence within the text, even though it is implied that she possesses similar qualities to her partner. She simply migrates from one authoritarian cult, where she is expected to mate and work and voice no objections, to another. I didn't research Ayn Rand's personal beliefs until after I did my reread. It was utterly unsurprising to discover that she is strictly antifeminist, since it comes across in the way she writes women as accessories with the depth of a puddle and only has male protagonists. Ayn Rand and her Prometheus are short-sighted hypocrites who have decreed that narcissism is a religion, so that makes them god. Their philosophies, as depicted in Anthem, are nonsense that's been falsely named reason. To believe anything either of them says has any real merit, you'd have to be a fool or 14.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Listening on "The Classic Tales Podcast". halfway through I realized I had read Anthem before. Interesting premise. Not sure I agree with the ultimate "lesson" but the world they were living in was chilling. The female character was disappointingly just window dressing.