The question must be asked: Why does the author depict this totalitarian state of the future as a primitive, technologically- backward society? The answer lies in Ayn .Rand's theory regarding the cause of production and wealth. Examples of her theory abound in the novel. It is important to note that the hero is an inventor. He has been enthralled by the phenomena of nature since childhood. He loves the "science of things." He desires above all to be a scholar, a scientific researcher. He is so committed to this dream that he faces hardship and endures every difficulty to accomplish it. He is a genius — a Thomas Edison of the future — who in the teeth of every form of opposition, re-invents the electric light. The essential point is that Equality 7-2521 is a man of the mind. He is a thinker, a man of reason. An invention such as the electric light is a product of the mind.
Rand argues that all aspects of progress — scientific research, medical advances, inventions, technological improvements, industrial production — are achievements of the mind. Such accomplishments are not brought about by faith in the supernatural or, primarily, by manual labor, but by the rational .mind. Historically, individuals such as Equality 7-2521 — thinkers — have been responsible for humankind's greatest advances. Men like Copernicus and Galileo, who established that the sun is the center of the solar system, Charles Darwin, who proved that human life evolved from simpler life forms, the Wright Brothers, who pioneered man's ability to fly, and many more are real-life examples of individuals such as Equality 7-2521. These are men whose minds have discovered vital new truths that significantly improved human life on earth. The overall principle is that human well-being depends on the reasoning mind.
The question Ayn Rand raises in Anthem is this: Is some social condition necessary for the creative mind to function properly? Can the thinkers perform their inventive work under any type of political system? Or is rational productivity possible only under certain political conditions? The answer she resoundingly provides is that the independent mind needs freedom.
