Cover of Anthem
    Science Fiction

    Anthem

    by LovelyMay
    Anthem by Ayn Rand is a dystopian tale of a man's rebellion against a collectivist society that suppresses individuality, leading him to rediscover the power of self and freedom.

    In Chap­ter Ten of “Anthem,” the nar­ra­tor describes dis­cov­er­ing a house from the Unmen­tion­able Times after tra­vers­ing a chal­leng­ing moun­tain range and forests unseen and undis­turbed by human soci­ety. This house, dis­tinct in archi­tec­ture with its two sto­ries, flat roof, and pre­dom­i­nant win­dows, rep­re­sents a trea­sure trove of the past, filled with arti­facts, cloth­ing, and books from a civ­i­liza­tion long gone. Unlike the com­mu­nal liv­ing enforced in their soci­ety, this house sug­gests a more indi­vid­u­al­is­tic and pos­si­bly famil­ial unit exist­ed, with only two beds with­in and per­son­al gar­ments that vary in col­or and mate­r­i­al, unlike the uni­form attire the nar­ra­tor is accus­tomed to.

    The dis­cov­ery is pro­found for both the nar­ra­tor and the Gold­en One, as they decide to claim this house as their own, mark­ing the start and the end of their jour­ney, choos­ing to live apart from the col­lec­tive soci­ety they’ve fled. The items with­in the house—books with unfa­mil­iar words, gar­ments of var­i­ous col­ors, and reflec­tive sur­faces that show their likenesses—spark curios­i­ty and awe, promis­ing a future of learn­ing and under­stand­ing about the world of the Unmen­tion­able Times.

    The chap­ter clos­es with the nar­ra­tor, reflec­tive and antic­i­pa­to­ry, con­tem­plat­ing the new world spread out before them. They per­ceive it as wait­ing for a new begin­ning, a direc­tive or pur­pose they are yet to give. Despite the unknowns and the mas­sive cul­tur­al and his­tor­i­cal gap they face, the nar­ra­tor and the Gold­en One are res­olute in their deci­sion to not return to their pre­vi­ous lives, to explore and inhab­it this world that appears to open up with end­less pos­si­bil­i­ties and learn­ing. This chap­ter marks a turn­ing point, sym­bol­iz­ing a break from the past and a step toward a future filled with per­son­al dis­cov­ery and free­dom.

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