Anthem Page #2

Anthem is a dystopian fiction novella by Russian-American writer Ayn Rand, written in 1937 and first published in 1938 in the United Kingdom. The story takes place at an unspecified future date when mankind has entered another Dark Age.

• Science fiction

								

      but we always remembered. We tried not to understand what the
      Teachers taught, but we always understood it before the Teachers
      had spoken. We looked upon Union 5-3992, who were a pale boy with
      only half a brain, and we tried to say and do as they did, that
      we might be like them, like Union 5-3992, but somehow the
      Teachers knew that we were not. And we were lashed more often
      than all the other children.

      The Teachers were just, for they had been appointed by the
      Councils, and the Councils are the voice of all justice, for they
      are the voice of all men. And if sometimes, in the secret
      darkness of our heart, we regret that which befell us on our
      fifteenth birthday, we know that it was through our own guilt. We
      had broken a law, for we had not paid heed to the words of our
      Teachers. The Teachers had said to us all:

      “Dare not choose in your minds the work you would like to do when
      you leave the Home of the Students. You shall do that which the
      Council of Vocations shall prescribe for you. For the Council of
      Vocations knows in its great wisdom where you are needed by your
      brother men, better than you can know it in your unworthy little
      minds. And if you are not needed by your brother man, there is no
      reason for you to burden the earth with your bodies.”

      We knew this well, in the years of our childhood, but our curse
      broke our will. We were guilty and we confess it here: we were
      guilty of the great Transgression of Preference. We preferred
      some work and some lessons to the others. We did not listen well
      to the history of all the Councils elected since the Great
      Rebirth. But we loved the Science of Things. We wished to know.
      We wished to know about all the things which make the earth
      around us. We asked so many questions that the Teachers forbade
      it.

      We think that there are mysteries in the sky and under the water
      and in the plants which grow. But the Council of Scholars has
      said that there are no mysteries, and the Council of Scholars
      knows all things. And we learned much from our Teachers. We
      learned that the earth is flat and that the sun revolves around
      it, which causes the day and the night. We learned the names of
      all the winds which blow over the seas and push the sails of our
      great ships. We learned how to bleed men to cure them of all
      ailments.

      We loved the Science of Things. And in the darkness, in the
      secret hour, when we awoke in the night and there were no
      brothers around us, but only their shapes in the beds and their
      snores, we closed our eyes, and we held our lips shut, and we
      stopped our breath, that no shudder might let our brothers see or
      hear or guess, and we thought that we wished to be sent to the
      Home of the Scholars when our time would come.

      All the great modern inventions come from the Home of the
      Scholars, such as the newest one, which was found only a hundred
      years ago, of how to make candles from wax and string; also, how
      to make glass, which is put in our windows to protect us from the
      rain. To find these things, the Scholars must study the earth and
      learn from the rivers, from the sands, from the winds and the
      rocks. And if we went to the Home of the Scholars, we could learn
      from these also. We could ask questions of these, for they do not
      forbid questions.

      And questions give us no rest. We know not why our curse makes us
      seek we know not what, ever and ever. But we cannot resist it. It
      whispers to us that there are great things on this earth of ours,
      and that we can know them if we try, and that we must know them.
      We ask, why must we know, but it has no answer to give us. We
      must know that we may know.

      So we wished to be sent to the Home of the Scholars. We wished it
      so much that our hands trembled under the blankets in the night,
      and we bit our arm to stop that other pain which we could not
      endure. It was evil and we dared not face our brothers in the
      morning. For men may wish nothing for themselves. And we were
      punished when the Council of Vocations came to give us our life
      Mandates which tell those who reach their fifteenth year what
      their work is to be for the rest of their days.

      The Council of Vocations came on the first day of spring, and
      they sat in the great hall. And we who were fifteen and all the
      Teachers came into the great hall. And the Council of Vocations
      sat on a high dais, and they had but two words to speak to each
      of the Students. They called the Students’ names, and when the
      Students stepped before them, one after another, the Council
      said: “Carpenter” or “Doctor” or “Cook” or “Leader.” Then each
      Student raised their right arm and said: “The will of our
      brothers be done.”

      Now if the Council has said “Carpenter” or “Cook,” the Students
      so assigned go to work and they do not study any further. But if
      the Council has said “Leader,” then those Students go into the
      Home of the Leaders, which is the greatest house in the City, for
      it has three stories. And there they study for many years, so
      that they may become candidates and be elected to the City
      Council and the State Council and the World Council—by a free and
      general vote of all men. But we wished not to be a Leader, even
      though it is a great honor. We wished to be a Scholar.

      So we awaited our turn in the great hall and then we heard the
      Council of Vocations call our name: “Equality 7-2521.” We walked
      to the dais, and our legs did not tremble, and we looked up at
      the Council. There were five members of the Council, three of the
      male gender and two of the female. Their hair was white and their
      faces were cracked as the clay of a dry river bed. They were old.
      They seemed older than the marble of the Temple of the World
      Council. They sat before us and they did not move. And we saw no
      breath to stir the folds of their white togas. But we knew that
      they were alive, for a finger of the hand of the oldest rose,
      pointed to us, and fell down again. This was the only thing which
      moved, for the lips of the oldest did not move as they said:
      “Street Sweeper.”

      We felt the cords of our neck grow tight as our head rose higher
      to look upon the faces of the Council, and we were happy. We knew
      we had been guilty, but now we had a way to atone for it. We
      would accept our Life Mandate, and we would work for our
      brothers, gladly and willingly, and we would erase our sin
      against them, which they did not know, but we knew. So we were
      happy, and proud of ourselves and of our victory over ourselves.
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