Ayn Rand's We the Living

2094 Words5 Pages

Ayn Rand and We the Living "We the Living is not a story about Soviet Russia in 1925. It is a story about Dictatorship, any dictatorship, anywhere, at any time, whether it be Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany, or - which this novel might do its share in helping to prevent - a socialist America." These words, written by Ayn Rand herself for the foreword to the 1959 printing of her 1936 novel We the Living, convey not only Rand's direction to the reader to keep in mind the universality of the book's theme, but also her opinion of communism in 1925 Russia and her suspicion that the United States might be headed down the same erroneous path. During her lifetime, Rand would write prolifically both fiction and non-fiction, and found a philosophical movement whose widespread appeal would spark both loyalty and controversy. However, We the Living is Rand's first, and possibly most-accessible, statement on the nature of communist oppression and the immorality associated with man's tolerance of it. Born in Russia in 1905, Ayn Rand (nee Alice Rosembaum) immigrated in 1926 to the United States where, after a short visit with a cousin in Chicago, she proceeded to find work almost immediately in Hollywood, first as an extra and then as a junior screenwriter. It was while she was working at the studio for director Cecil B. DeMille that she met her future husband, Frank O'Connor. He was a minor actor, described as handsome and kind, but "by all evidence unassertive, passive, not at all like the Rand version of the ideal man" (Gladstein 9). Although some sources allege that she married O'Connor in an effort to gain permanent resident status in the country (Walker xiv), others maintain that Rand fo... ... middle of paper ... ...he destitution and demoralization of the citizens of Petrograd. Andrei, the character with the most honor and virtue, still finds ruin because of his affiliation with the immoral politic. All morality is beaten out of the characters with the most potential for it by the dire circumstances of their lives. An excellent, emotionally moving story, this novel leaves no doubt as to the author's feelings about the path of destruction down which socialism leads. Works Cited "Essentials of Objectivism." ARI Ayn Rand.Org. 2001. The Ayn Rand Institute. 20 April 2001. . Gladstein, Mimi Reisel. The Ayn Rand Companion. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1984. Rand, Ayn. We the Living. New York: Random House, 1936. Walker, Jeff. The Ayn Rand Cult. Chicago: Open Court, 1999.

Open Document