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Riley Clark
Harrison
Honors English 9
09 September 2015

Anthem
How would you feel living in a society that everyone had to be the same and there was no
uniqueness? This is they type of society that Ayn Rand made in her story Anthem. Throughout
the book, the author frequently uses literary techniques to express the theme communism and
how she thinks life is better without it. I agree with Ayn Rand about how she thinks life is less
efficient when everyone and everything is equal. There is evidence throughout the book when
she uses motifs, allusion, and irony repeatedly.
Throughout many times in the book, the author uses many different examples of motifs to
express her theme. One of the biggest examples of a motif that she uses throughout the book is
explaining people by using their eyes. The first instance that she used eyes to describe a character
was when she described the eyes of the Council as being, as cold blue glass buttons, (Rand26). They described The Golden Ones eyes as being, dark and glowing with no fear,(Rand41). The author described Union 5-3992s eyes as, turning white(Rand-46). The reason that
Ayn Rand chose to describe the characters this way was to describe their personality through
their eyes. For example, the reason she described the Golden Ones eyes the way she did was to
show how much of a real woman the Golden One really is and that she has so much energy and
is full of life. This refers to her theme of communism because everyone was described in the
same way and everyone had eyes that described their different personalities. Another example of
how the author used a motif throughout the book is how she had the characters refer to

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themselves in third person instead of first. Ayn Rand would have the characters say we, instead
of saying I. This was a motif that was repeated throughout the book until the very end to show
how everyone was the same and how they were all referred to in the same way. The motifs that
the author used were just one of the literary techniques used to describe her theme of
communism.
Another way that Ayn Rand used literary techniques to describe her theme of communism
is through allusions. She uses many allusions that connect to the bible and the story of Adam and
Eve to show that Equality 7-2125 could possibly be referred to as a god. One of the many
allusions the author uses is when Equality and the Golden One were in the forest together, this
was similar to when Adam and Eve were in the garden. It is also similar because its just like a
new beginning for Equality and the Golden one, as it was for Adam and Eve. Another instance
that the author uses an allusion is when Equality made the light and wanted to share it with the
world to light up the world. This is similar to the story of Jesus because Jesus lit up the world,
which is the same thing that Equality wanted to do. One more allusion that Ayn rand uses to
show her theme of communism was when Equality and The Golden One were up on the
mountain on page 104 and he engraves his 10 rules into stone, as this happened in the bible as
well. The reason that the author uses all these allusions to show that she thinks life is less
efficient when everyone is the same is because she is showing that when people think differently
than others, more things happen and better ideas come.
Irony is another way that the author chooses to express her theme of communism in this
this book. Ayn Rand uses many different types of irony throughout the book. One of the types of
irony she used was situational irony. Everyone in this society worships equality, but there is still
a difference in the living places of the council and everyone else. The Council lives in palaces

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and temples, while everyone else just lives in normal homes. This connects to communism
because even when they think everyone is equal, they still arent. There's always people who will
have more or better things. The author also uses situational irony by making society seem like
everyone is happy because of the way they think and because everyone is that same. But in
reality, the ones who dont follow the rules are the ones who are more happy. This connects to
communism and how life is better without it because when everyone is the same and have to do
the same things, no one is really happy, but when you get to do different things, people actually
are happy. Another type of irony the author uses to show her theme of communism is dramatic
irony. The way that the author uses dramatic irony is when she explains how Equality was going
to bring his idea to the school of scholars and he thought that they would accept him. This is
dramatic irony because he is being naive and not thinking the way he should. This connects to
the theme of communism because not everyone thinks the same way, even if everyone is treated
equal.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, Ayn Rand uses many different ways of expressing her theme of
communism and how she thinks life is better without it. She used many literary techniques to
show this such as allusions. motifs, and irony. It is expresses several different times in the book
in many different ways of how life works better when people arent all treated the same and have
their own way of life. This is why Equality and the Golden One end up on their own, starting
their own life in a way that everyone is different rather than the same.

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Works Cited
Ayn Rand: Anthem
1937 Print.