Novel Book review

“Me, my, and mine.” I am sure we say and hear these words practically everyday. These are words that we often take for granted and are underappreciated. The sense of individualism may seem like something no one can ever take away, but that was not the case for Equality 7-2521. Equality 7-2521 was a street sweeper in a society with complete collectivism, which means that this community views itself as one entity. In Anthem, our main character will face many challenges and learn what it means to be yourself.

The protagonist starts off as a curious person, but not daring enough to defy the government and  act on the curiosity. The main struggle of Equality 7-2521 is to choose for himself or to obey what the government’s desires.  As the story goes on, he learns more about himself and also about the flawed society he lives in.

The story’s theme is essentially what would happen if we all lost our own identity. As the story progresses, the protagonist explores the flawed aspects of extreme collectivism: job distribution, love, and the lack of freedom. One technique cleverly used by the author was replacing all the pronouns which conveys self with pronouns that conveys a collective. For example, instead of saying: “ But I feel no burden upon my spirit and no fear in my heart.”the author would say: “But We feel no burden upon our spirit and no fear in our hearts.” It was confusing in the beginning, but it certainly enhanced the flow of the story.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a short  yet fulfilling story. The reading difficulty isn’t challenging; the vocabulary is no more than middle school level. Despite this, I think older readers will still find the book interesting as it beautifully presents a unique concept beautifully. This is a perfect book to read if you don’t know what to do in a short holiday and want to get the most out of it.

Link of Draft