Outside reading and my definition of American Literature

Part of my definition about what I believe American Literature is is that it has developed in time periods that were influenced by large events in a society and the works within those time period follow that but are similarly influenced by smaller events public as well as personal to the author. 

Rand’s influence for actually writing her book Anthem came from reading a futuristic-ally based story in the Saturday Evening Post, and realizing that the story she had come up with in her head as a result of hearing news about Soviet Russia in school might actually be able to go somewhere.  The idea that there is this man who runs away from a society that isn't accepting of innovation and creativity has similarities to what happened in Rand’s life when she ran away from Communist Russia in 1926 to come to America and write.  In her novel, the idea of the “ideal” society that the Councils strive to maintain and the one that Equality 7-2521 and the Golden One strive to create draws on ideas from famous men, such as Thomas More and John-Jacques Rousseau, who wrote of their versions of an “ideal” society, in that she has specific points that argue against Rousseau’s.  Rand argues that the individual is the heart of creativity and discovery in a community and not social institutions, such as the Councils in Anthem, whereas Rousseau argues that social planning and institutions kept a community in check.  Rand showcases Rousseau’s ideal society as the one in which Equality 7-2521 live in and uses her own ideas to make her own “ideal” society.  By subtly making connections to modern and famous works, places and situations, as well as ideas, also by leaving many details vague, such as the description of characters, Rand can connect to virtually any audience, because they can envision how they think the people should look and they can make connections to modern events to better understand why Equality 7-2521 did what they did and why the community they left was as it was.

People like to understand—especially motives.  They like to know why events happen, why people make their decisions, and why situations are like they are.  By keeping up with current events and reading Anthem during the time in which it was first published, an individual could make connections and envision their own reasons as to what happened in the “Unmentionable times” (Anthem) and make up their own setting.  The city described in the book is quite vague, but the big city feel so close to farming fields and underground tunnels could make someone from, say, New York City, understand where everything would take place instead of thinking of a few buildings in one place and a farm in another next to a grouping of trees, all in seemingly random placement.  They can connect on another level to what they’re reading, which makes them like the work more.  Rand’s take on modern events in her life as well as connections she subtly made to modern day places and ideas of others created a spike up in interest in her as a writer, which showed in number of copies sold of this and her next books.  People understand her writing which makes them like it more.

Outside reading in connection with the two prologues we read in class

The Prologue by Anne Bradstreet describes the way in which Equality 7-2521 are supposed to act in their society.  In her first stanza, Bradstreet starts off by calling her writing bad her pen “humble” and says that what she’s writing shouldn't be compared to that of men because theirs is good writing.  Rand starts off her novel with the words “It is a sin to write this,”(p.1) which sets up all the events in the book as sinful and against whatever their society and/or overall higher power stand for.  This is reminiscent of Puritanism in that Puritans believed that everyone was sinful and that God was the best and decided that, much as the World Council does in Anthem.  In her next three stanzas, Bradstreet further describes her writing as broken and no worthy of praise, which is how the people of the City were supposed to see themselves when they acted out of character.  Abnormality in women’s actions in a Puritan society garnered the same reactions from other members of the society as abnormality of character in Anthem did, such as shown by the people’s reactions to Equality 7-2521’s unveiling of their discovery and the reactions Bradstreet expected to get from her poems.  In the sixth stanza of her poem, Bradstreet states that the Greeks got their ideas from women (the Muses) and in Anthem the whole history behind Equality 7-2521’s discovery was from Unmentionable times, which was the past events that no one was allowed to talk about.  The underlying history makes women and the Unmentionable times important and a huge factor in society, but nonetheless a factor less in the spotlight than the modern issues and the more important/better ones—what the World Council says to believe and men’s writings.  In her seventh stanza, Bradstreet claims that she isn't trying to be as amazing as men and that she doesn't expect the same reaction from her readers much as Equality 7-2521’s intention with their discovery was to add insight and a new idea to their society.  Both these men and Bradstreet want to add to the melting pot of strict ideals and rules of their respective societies their abnormal ideas to try and broaden the spectrum for what their society allows and to try and give their side (women writers and normal Street Sweepers at the bottom of their social pyramid) a winning hand.  The whole point of Bradstreet’s prologue was to make other men’s prologues and poems on similar topics seem better and more elegant much as Equality 7-2521’s goal with their discovery was for the World Council to recognize it and implement it, no mention of their own recognition—just more glory for the Council for people would think it their insight rather than that of a street sweep.  This goal connects to Puritanism in that the lifelong goal of Puritans was to glorify God and the overarching goal behind Equality 7-2521’s discovery was for the City to be a better place. 

Prologue by Edward Taylor has similar connections to Anthem as Anne Bradstreet’s prologue did, save for one idea, which is that one person can make a world of difference if they believe enough.  Taylor never says that one person can glorify God and get forgiveness but he writes in his poem that just one person can do their hard work and get noticed, enough to make a difference to others as well as/or to themselves, and that they don’t need to follow rules to do so as long as what they believe that what they’re doing is right and moral and for the best.  In Anthem, Equality 7-2521 just wants to make a difference in their society and they honestly think their idea good and amazing.  They break rules by following their desires—they stay out late in a forbidden place and use tools that are most likely not allowed in the City to make something that may or may not be completely disastrous all for the risk of getting recognized.  Later on in the book when Equality 7-2521 and the Golden One run off into the woods, they are following their passion and glorifying what they believe in much as Taylor says to do in his Prologue, much as Puritanism expects hard work towards glorification of God from its citizens.  The way Taylor writes about his yearning to glorify God in as many ways as he can connects to the yearning for knowledge of Equality 7-2521.  In the last parts of the novel, in which the Golden One and Equality 7-2521 find the house in the forest, the way they talk about what they’re going to do—live there and make their living their own way—Rand has connected to Taylor’s type of motivation in that they are doing all that they can to do what they think is a good thing—they ran away from the only society they've ever known and are now living in some strange home with a flat roof and walls of windows that somehow support the upper floors—to these characters.  They know its abnormal and they know some people will frown upon it but they are doing this for a good cause, much as Taylor says that what the crumb of dust lives for is to glorify God.  Equality 7-2521 and the Golden One know that they aren't causing this huge movement within their society—they are crumbs of dust in the whole aspect, but they are following their passion, which is Taylor’s main idea.  

Outside reading in connection to Puritanism

In Anthem by Ayn Rand, Puritanism referred to in that the two men are in a Puritan-like society, which is one that is strict with rules and social orders about events in public and private lives.  Rand refers to this in her story with the setup of her characters, with the elect people being the ones who don’t have to get up every morning and work the fields like representing the ones in Puritan society that were “saved”—those who were going to heaven regardless.  The working men and women in this book represent those who weren't saved—they worked hard to try and get in good with God, to try and make Him see and forgive them for whatever sin they did to not being able to get into Heaven.  The men, Equality 7- 2521, learned too fast for their society which got them in trouble, like in Puritan society—if knowledge and ideas come easy to a person without explanation, he must be a sinner or in the wrong because a person is supposed to work for God to notice him, and that’s the only way it was done.  The idea of “a city on a hill” is reflected in the layout and description of the city in Anthem in that where Equality 7- 2521 grew up and worked is described as being “white and clean and bare of all things”(p.20) and their daily lives are described in a few sentences because of how repetitive and uneventful they had to be and were—abnormality of any form was frowned upon—and the City center, where all the important events happened, is described with vivid words, describing events, such as the burning of the Transgressor.  This major difference between the two places and the fact that when Rand talks about the city she writes the City make the City seems like the place to be, the best place from which a person would be able to see the sky and heaven when they looked at it from down below and connects this book yet again to Puritanism.  The house in the woods that the Golden One and Equality 7-2521 find is their “city on a hill” in that when they first see it Rand writes that they saw it as “a white flame among the trees”(p.89) and that the rooms were “full of light.”(p.90), which makes the random house in the woods seem like this glorious place that is as close to heaven on earth as they’re going to get.  What all the children in the Home of Students before they went to bed, “We are nothing.  Mankind is all.  By the grace of our brothers are we allowed our lives.  We exist through, by and for our brothers who are the State.  Amen,” (p.21) references Puritanism in that the students are like the people in Puritan society, recognizing that they aren't important and their society is what is best.  They live to work and to make their society a better one as well as one in which there is a clear hierarchy, in a Puritan’s case with God at the top and in a character from Anthem’s case, one in which the World Council/ the society as a whole is at the top.  By ending what they say in “Amen” it’s as if the children are praying, even though there are no books and no religion in the City. 

The discovery Equality 7-2521 made and worked on in secret represents God in a way in that they were trying their hardest to make it an object and concept that everyone could understand without fear or confusion as to what it really was.  The way Equality 7-2521 talk about their new discovery as a concept that is “not for all men to see, but only for those who will seek them” (p.52) connect to Puritanism in that Puritans believed that a person had to work hard to get where he was if God allows it and that there is the idea of limited atonement make them seem like the “chosen” ones in their own little world in the tunnel.  The discovery is also another representation of God in that Equality 7-2521 “followed it”(p.53), they regarded its progress as a “miracle” (p.53)that “defies all [known laws]”(p.53).  God was followed and considered a miracle maker in that what he did could only be done by him, no other explanation needed.  The gap between the World Council and others is similar to the gap between God and people in that all the people listen to the World Council for what to do and how to act and all the people listen to God through what happens in their lives to show how he feels.  Everyone in a Puritan society believes and fears and reveres God and in the society in the book Anthem they do the same for the World Council—citizens didn’t argue with what it had to say and they didn’t give their opinion on it unless asked for it.  Like with how the Puritans dealt with God’s actions and dealings, both good and bad, the people in the book and society would take it in stride and ask for more.   The society as a whole is yet another representation of God in that people’s lives revolve around what happens in it.  They have strict schedules, the workers get up at the same time and do the same work in hopes of bettering the City in the same way that Puritans woke up and did their due diligence in hopes of glorifying God and getting rewarded for it.   Their life purpose is to glorify god much as Equality 7-2521’s life purpose is to serve in their community.