Orwell And Rand: A Literary Analysis

For centuries, mankind has attempted to create utopias, a perfect society where everyone and everything is equal, but despite these attempts Orwell and Rand show that these societies fail miserably. Rand expresses a society where every person is treated exactly equal, no person has the right to think of themselves as a better person. They are restricted to a label, rather than a name. No person is allowed to say “I”, they must always speak as if they are talking about every single person at once. Orwell, on the other hand, shows a different society where the utopia starts off smoothly, with all the animals equally sharing the workload and the rewards. As time progresses things turn for the worst, a dictator rises and takes all the animals rights

away. In the end, both of these stories end up turning into a dystopia. Animal Farm and Anthem are both written about dystopias, a most imperfect and dismal society, but they each have a different language style, and voice.
Everyone was supposed to be equal, everyone was supposed to be united with their “brothers” in a perfect society. Every animal was supposed to be equal, every animal was supposed to have a better life in a new perfect world without the humans. In both Animal Farm and Anthem a once perfect world turns into an unideal place where no human or animal would ever want to live. Rand shows Equality 7-2521 and the Golden One realize that their society isn’t as perfect as it seems, they become dissatisfied with the world around them. Once Equality escapes, he felt, “a rage, such as it is not fit for humans to know, [that] choked [their] voice in [their] throats.” (Rand 74-75). The world and people Equality thought of as prefect has given him anger and irritation towards the newly formed dystopia. While, Orwell shows a once peaceful farm turn into a dictatorship, where the pigs rise up above all of the other animals. The animals were forced under the rule of the pigs, where they soon realize that when “[they looked outside] the creatures outside looked from pig to man, and man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” (Orwell 141). The pigs have turned into the humans that all the animals once feared, making their society back into a dystopia where it had all started.
Anthem has a very unique language style, where the author carefully chooses the vivid words used. Rand expresses the emotion of the characters and describes the scenes, as if you are seeing it in a photograph. Through the figurative language, word choice, and emotion, Rand really captures the core theme of individualism and the idea of a dystopia.
I know not if this earth on which I stand is the core of the universe or if it is but a speck of dust lost in eternity. I know not and I care not. For I know what happiness is possible to me on earth. Any my happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose. (Rand 95)
This is just one prime example of the way Rand captivates the reader, capturing the idea of individualism. Whereas Orwell uses a much simpler language style, in which it is easy for the reader to understand the plot. Even though it is simple, Orwell still captures the image of communism and a dystopia, through farm animals. “Somehow it seemed as though the farm had become richer without making the animals themselves any richer- except of course, for the pigs and dogs.” (Orwell 129). Orwell is telling the reader that while the superior animals became richer and the farm became richer, the supposed lower class still had to deal with all of the work. This quote is so simple, yet it captures essentially the core theme of Animal Farm, dictatorship and superiority.
In both Anthem and Animal Farm, the voices of the author shines through the themes.

Rand shows a person discovering himself and becoming someone who has no restrictions, a person who has no boundaries. In addition to Rand voicing the theme, she also voices how Equality was a leader for those left in the society. Even though they might not have known what happened. Rand makes the reader feel that everyone should break away from the council and find out who they really are. He plans to build a great society with all of his brothers, “and it will become as the heart of the earth, lost at first, but beating, beating louder each day.” (Rand 104) Their new society will rise above all others and will be the heart, the place, where without it, the earth would crumble. Orwell, on the other hand creates a perfect allegory of the Soviet Union. All of his characters are spitting images of those that were a part of the Soviet Union. Orwell recreates the story in a way that everyone can understand. “He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?” (Orwell 55). Orwell voices the start of a dictatorship through a simple misunderstanding. This type of situation is exactly what happens in the Soviet

Union.
People think that there needs to be some world where everything and everyone is equal, but through Animal Farm and Anthem we can clearly see that these utopias fail. Through individualism, and an allegory Rand and Orwell show us that no matter what there is no perfect world. In voice and language style, these authors portray an unachievable world, a dystopia.