Junior Dola Dedeigbo recently read “Anthem” by Ayn Rand.

“It had a plot I heard before. The characters captivated me, and the complication with the story was something I wanted to see resolved,” Dedeigbo said. “It was a dystopian book and it introduced to me a society that I never thought I’d read about before. The characters were interesting, the plot was interesting, the storyline—everything about it—made me want to read more.”

“Anthem” is a dystopian fiction inspired by the author’s personal moral and political philosophy. Set in a collectivist society of the future, the story follows Equality 7-2521 as he navigates his restrictive circumstances with an insuppressible desire to fulfill his calling to be a scientist. 

Ayn Rand was a Russian-American author and philosopher. She was born in 1905 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Raised amidst the Russian Revolution, she experienced communism firsthand. She was determined to advocate against the same political system when she saw its rising popularity upon fleeing to America. Her notable works include “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged.” Both “Anthem” and “Atlas Shrugged” earned the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award.

“I recommend it to people who enjoy popular books like ‘The Giver’ and people who are interested in totalitarian governments, dictatorships, who are interested in learning about those,” Dedeigbo said.

“Anthem” depicts the conflict of man versus society through an aspiring intellectual trapped in mediocrity by regressive governing. Rand emphasizes the consequences of socialism in the extreme while reinforcing the importance of intellectual freedom in the progression of mankind.