In order to fully understand Ayn Rand's philosophy it is necessary to place her in a historical perspective. Ayn Rand was born on February 2, 1905 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Her father was a successful pharmacist while her mother was involved in the theater. They would be considered members of the intellectual class. In 1917, the Russian Revolution broke out and her father's business was seized by the Bolsheviks. The family relocated to the Crimean Peninsula. In 1926 she traveled alone to the United States never to return to her motherland again. Her experiences as a youth growing up in St. Petersburg, fleeing to the Crimean, and returning to the University of St. Petersburg had a tremendous impact on her philosophy. Her experience's in oppressive, communistic Russia directly correlated to her numerous works and philosophy.
An example of Ayn Rand's philosophy can be demonstrated in her work Anthem. In this novel, Rand writes about the future Dark Ages. Anthem takes place in a city of a technologically backward totalitarian society, where mankind is born in the Home of the Infants and dies in the Home of the Useless. The novel shows the life of Equality 7-2521, and his struggle to free himself from the collectivist world in which he lives. Just imagine, being born into a life of slavery, having no freedom, no way to express oneself and no ego. In this novel, slavery and its people were one collective unit. The whole country had no personal identity; it was one central being. When in the city, Equality had been guilty of many transgressions. He was not like his brothers, he was different, and he was smarter, healthier and stronger. At the age of five he advan ...