Anthem
Author: Ayn Rand
Genre: Novel
Date of Authorship: 1938
Setting: In the future in an unidentified city. Much of the first half of the book takes place in a tunnel underground where Equality 7-2521 hides and the second half takes place in a forest where he has taken refuge from a society that hates him.
Character Name and Brief Description:
Equality 7-2521 is the protagonist of the novel. He is a street sweeper who believes in individualism and not in the common idea of “we” that has been set by society. He is strong, intelligent, handsome, self centered, and vain. Equality 7-2521 is always curious and wants freedom to explore and think on his own, despite the beliefs of the society he lives in.
The Golden One is a beautiful peasant who Equality 7-2521 falls deeply in love with. Prior to being named the Golden One by Equality 7-2521, her name was Liberty 5-3000. The Golden One is strong, vain, and proud. She falls in love with Equality 7-2521 because he is different from all the other men around her. She struggles with a desire to find the word “I” to express her love for Equality 7-2521.
The Transgressor of the Unspeakable Word is a victim for using the word “I.” He is burned alive but looks as though he is not suffering because he knows the meaning of individualism. The death of The Transgressor of the Unspeakable Word is used to foreshadow the consequences Equality 7-2521 endures for his discovery of the light bulb.
International 4-8818 is Equality 7-2521’s only friend. When he and Equality 7-2521 discover the tunnel underground where Equality 7-2521 hides to write in his journal and make his discoveries, International 4-8818 has the choice between loyalty to his friend and his wish to not break the law.
Collective 0-0009 is the leader of the World Council of Scholars. He is a coward, like all members of the World Council. He hates and fears Equality 7-2521 for breaking the rules because he feels that only decisions made by the council are of any real value.
Plot Summary:
Equality 7-2521 is a smart, strong guy who wishes to be a Scholar, but instead becomes a street sweeper. In his society, it is wrong to be an individual and do things for oneself. Each night Equality 7-2521 sneaks off to a hidden underground tunnel to write down his thoughts and ideas. He meets a girl named Liberty 5-3000 who he falls in love with. In the underground tunnel, Equality 7-2521 invents the light bulb. The city only has candles and Equality 7-2521 believes that his invention will get him a job as a Scholar. The World Council of Scholars get mad because they fear Equality 7-2521 and his new invention. They vote to punish him. He eventually runs away to the forest with Liberty 5-3000 and they create a new life together. They find a house from the “Unmentionable Times”. They read old books they find and discover the word “I.” Equality 7-2521 and Liberty 5-3000 give themselves new names. Equality 7-2521 talks about building a new civilization that is based upon individualism.
Themes:
- Believe in something even if it means sacrificing everything.
- The best person you can be is yourself, trying to be anybody else is a waste of time and energy.
- Only you can control your life, don’t let anybody dictate how you live.
Quotes:
“I AM. I THINK. I WILL” (94).
“I am a man. This miracle of me is mine to own and keep, and mine to guard, and mine to use, and mine to kneel before!” (95).
“I guard my treasures: my thought, my will, my freedom. And the greatest of all these is freedom” (95-96).
“The sacred word: EGO” (105).
A Separate Peace
Author: John Knowles
Genre: Novel
Date of Authorship: 1959
Setting: The story begins in 1958 but then flashes back to the years 1942-1943 at The Devon School.
Character Name and Brief Description:
Gene Forrester is the protagonist of the novel. He is thoughtful and intelligent, with a competitive nature and a tendency to worry. He develops a love-hate relationship with his best friend Finny, who he adores and envies.
Finny is Gene’s roomate, classmate, and best friend. Finny is a handsome, self-confident, likeable, and extremely athletic guy. He is able to talk his way out of any trouble. He never regards anyone as an enemy and never seeks to defeat anyone.
Leper Lepellier is a classmate of Gene and Finny. He is a peaceful, gentle boy from Vermont who likes to be outside and adores nature. He is not popular kid at Devon. He is the first to enlist in the military but goes crazy, suffering from hallucinations and having a breakdown.
Brinker Hadley is a charming class politician. He has a desire for orderliness and organization. Brinker is unoriginal and very traditional. He is very confident in himself . He believes in justice and order and will do whatever he needs to, to find the truth if he feels it has been hidden from him.
Chet Douglass is Gene’s main competition for class valedictorian. He is a great tennis and trumpet player. He has a passion for learning.
Plot Summary:
Gene Forrester, after 15 years, returns to the Devon School. He stops at Devon’s main building to observe the stairs and then walks down to the Devon River to look at a large tree. The story then shifts to 1942 in the midst of World War II, where Gene and his roomate Finny are students at Devon’s summer session. One day, Gene, Finny, and some other boys hang around a big tree by the river. Finny climbs the tree and jumps into the river. Gene, even though he is afraid, follows and jumps off the tree into the river as well. Later that day, Gene and Finny form a club, which they name the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session. As summer continues, they grow closer, but Gene also begins to feel a rivalry with Finny. He envies how athletic Finny is, and suspects that Finny is trying to destroy his academic success. At one of the meetings for the club, Finny proposes that Gene and him should perform a double jump at the same time off the tree. As they are getting ready to jump, Gene shakes the branch and Finny falls off shattering his leg and ending his athletic career. Gene tries to confess to Finny what he did but isn’t able to do it before the summer ends. On the way back to Devon in the fall of senior year, Gene visits Finny and confesses that he was the one who caused Finny to fall. Finny refuses to believe him. Gene returns to Devon and finds that it is more strict than it had been during the summer session. The obligation to join the war for the senior boys’ increases and a boy named Brinker Hadley convinces Gene to enlist, until Finny returns and talks Gene out of it. Everyone is in disbelief when a boy named Leper enlists and leaves school. Finny argues that war is just made up by fat old men who want to control the younger generation. Finny then starts training Gene for the Olympics, a dream of Finny’s. As the two boys train they regain their closeness and Gene feels a sense of peace that he never felt before. One day, Finny proposes that the boys hold a Winter Carnival. It is going well until a message arrives to Gene from Leper. Leper had deserted the military in order to avoid getting discharged for insanity. Gene goes to visit Leper at his home in Vermont, where they get into an argument revealing that Leper is somewhat gone insane and Gene leaves. When he returns to Devon, Brinker begins to question Gene on why he has not enlisted and suspects it has something to do with Finny’s fall. Finny spots Leper sneaking around the school. One night, Brinker and a few other students conduct a trial for Finny’s fall. They round up Gene and Finny and bring in Leper as a witness. Leper testifies that Gene caused the fall on purpose. Finny gets up and yells that he doesn’t care either way. He falls down the stairs and re-breaks his leg. Gene tries to visit him at the hospital but Finny is mad at him. Gene spends the night wandering around the campus and feeling bad as if he didn’t exist. The next morning Gene goes to visit Finny again and they agree that Gene’s actions were not done on purpose. Finny dies that afternoon when some bone marrow from the break enters his blood stream. Gene does not cry when he hears the news or even at Finny’s funeral. He feels that Finny is apart of him. All the boys graduate and enlist in different safe branches of the military. Gene feels that he fought his own war at Devon, and believes that all men contain hatred in their heart except Finny.
Themes:
- Don’t believe you have to be anybody, to be somebody.
- It is okay to dream. So don’t ask if your dreams are crazy, ask if they are crazy enough.
- Life flies by fast so make sure to find happiness and peace while you are still living; don’t let life pass you by.
Quotes:
“So the more things remain the same, the more they change after all-plus c’est la même chose, plus ça change. Nothing endures, not a tree, not love, not even a death by violence” (6).
“Everyone has a moment in history which belongs particularly to him. It is the moment when his emotions achieve their most powerful sway over him, and afterward when you say to this person “the world today” or “life” or “reality” he will assume that you mean this moment, even if it is fifty years past. The world, through his unleashed emotions, imprinted itself upon him, and he carries the stamp of that passing moment forever” (32).
“What I mean is, I love winter, and when you really love something, then it loves you back, in whatever way it has to love” (103).
“There was no harm in taking aim, even if the target was a dream” (109).
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