Set in Communist Russia, Ayn Rand’s “ We the Living ” is a novel that talks of revolution , war, poverty, inflation, smuggling ,love, treachery ,plot and dictatorship in Communist Russia and qualifies for a must read for anyone interested to know of Communism in Russia. Above all it depicts the struggle of individual against the collective state.
Published in 1936 “We the Living” is Ayn Rand’s first novel. In her own words, the book is autobiographical, in the sense that, the ideas, convictions and values of the central character are hers though the specific incidents of her life are not.
Storyline
Kira Argounova, the central character of the novel, comes back to Petrograd along with her parents and sister, only to find that the house that they had vacated while fleeing to Crimea in the time of communist revolution in Russia, was occupied by proletarians of the communist party .There they meet their mother’s sister and family and start a life from scratch.
Kira was different from other girls of her age. The first thing that she learned of life and the first thing that her elders learned, dismayed, of her was the joy of being alone.
When she was taken to church and sneaked out alone in the middle of the services to get lost in the streets and be brought home to her frantic family in a police wagon – she was never taken to church again. She knew what she wanted in life and had chosen a life of hardest work and effort.
So when she came back to Petrograd she decided to join the Technological Institute against her parents’ wishes. After an untoward incident with her cousin she travels back alone at night when she meets Leo – a counter revolutionary. They meet twice before they decide to sneak out of Russia to Germany. Caught by the revolutionaries they are sent back to Russia and she decides to live with him.
Andrei is a friend of Kira at the institute – a true Communist –with whom she could think together and talk about thoughts. The one thing that she hated in the whole idea of Communism was the sense of collectivism or considering the state above the individual.
Leo loses his job and becomes sick and Kira is ousted out of her institute for not being from a proletarian background. With Andrei’s party influence she manages to get a job and pretend to be a Communist to keep the job – more for treating Leo than for herself. Leo had to be sent to a sanatorium at a distant place for his treatment. Unaware of her love for Leo, Andrei falls for her and Kira exploits his love for her for the money needed for Leo’s treatment.
The author successfully portrays life in Communist Russia- dictatorship, poverty, unemployment – where people without a Communist Party membership could not live-“Dictatorship of the proletarians”. The author also portrays treachery within the party, smuggling and hoarding as the reasons for the fall of Communist Russia.
Heart broken by the state of communism in Russia, Andrei denounces communism and commits suicide leaving a note “No one is responsible for my death”.
Kira wonders whether she had killed him or the revolution or both. Kira and Leo break up and she finally escapes from Russia.
Excerpts from the Book
From Andrei’s last speech addressing his Party comrades:
“Are we sure we know what we are doing? No one can tell men what they must live for. No one can take that right – because there are things in men, in the best of us, which are above all states, above all collectives! Do not ask: what things? Man’s mind and his values. ...Every honest man lives for himself.Every man worth calling a man lives for himself.The one who doesn't, doesn't live at all. You cannot change it.You cannot change it because that is the way man is born , alone, complete, an end in himself”
Published in 1936 “We the Living” is Ayn Rand’s first novel. In her own words, the book is autobiographical, in the sense that, the ideas, convictions and values of the central character are hers though the specific incidents of her life are not.
Storyline
Kira Argounova, the central character of the novel, comes back to Petrograd along with her parents and sister, only to find that the house that they had vacated while fleeing to Crimea in the time of communist revolution in Russia, was occupied by proletarians of the communist party .There they meet their mother’s sister and family and start a life from scratch.
Kira was different from other girls of her age. The first thing that she learned of life and the first thing that her elders learned, dismayed, of her was the joy of being alone.
When she was taken to church and sneaked out alone in the middle of the services to get lost in the streets and be brought home to her frantic family in a police wagon – she was never taken to church again. She knew what she wanted in life and had chosen a life of hardest work and effort.
So when she came back to Petrograd she decided to join the Technological Institute against her parents’ wishes. After an untoward incident with her cousin she travels back alone at night when she meets Leo – a counter revolutionary. They meet twice before they decide to sneak out of Russia to Germany. Caught by the revolutionaries they are sent back to Russia and she decides to live with him.
Andrei is a friend of Kira at the institute – a true Communist –with whom she could think together and talk about thoughts. The one thing that she hated in the whole idea of Communism was the sense of collectivism or considering the state above the individual.
Leo loses his job and becomes sick and Kira is ousted out of her institute for not being from a proletarian background. With Andrei’s party influence she manages to get a job and pretend to be a Communist to keep the job – more for treating Leo than for herself. Leo had to be sent to a sanatorium at a distant place for his treatment. Unaware of her love for Leo, Andrei falls for her and Kira exploits his love for her for the money needed for Leo’s treatment.
The author successfully portrays life in Communist Russia- dictatorship, poverty, unemployment – where people without a Communist Party membership could not live-“Dictatorship of the proletarians”. The author also portrays treachery within the party, smuggling and hoarding as the reasons for the fall of Communist Russia.
Heart broken by the state of communism in Russia, Andrei denounces communism and commits suicide leaving a note “No one is responsible for my death”.
Kira wonders whether she had killed him or the revolution or both. Kira and Leo break up and she finally escapes from Russia.
Excerpts from the Book
From Andrei’s last speech addressing his Party comrades:
“Are we sure we know what we are doing? No one can tell men what they must live for. No one can take that right – because there are things in men, in the best of us, which are above all states, above all collectives! Do not ask: what things? Man’s mind and his values. ...Every honest man lives for himself.Every man worth calling a man lives for himself.The one who doesn't, doesn't live at all. You cannot change it.You cannot change it because that is the way man is born , alone, complete, an end in himself”
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