Anthem is Ayn Rand's hymn to man's ego. It is the story of one man's rebellion against a totalitarian, collectivist society. Equality 7-2521 is a young man who yearns to understand the Science of Things. But he lives in a bleak, dystopian future where independent thought is a crime and where science and technology have regressed to primitive levels. All expressions of individualism have been suppressed in the world of Anthem; personal possessions are nonexistent, individual preferences are condemned as sinful and romantic love is forbidden. Obedience to the collective is so deeply ingrained that the very word I has been erased from the language. In pursuit of his quest for knowledge, Equality 7-2521 struggles to answer the questions that burn within him.
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