Poverty and Hunger in Literature

Paper Summary:

This paper explores the themes of hunger and poverty in "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck and "Anthem" by Ayn Rand. It compares the authors' views on the subject and shows that while Steinbeck would choose to clothe the poor and feed the hungry, Rand feels that it is a person's choice to be in a state of poverty.

From the Paper:

"This attitude was expressed well in her short novel Anthem. To appreciate Anthem, it is necessary to realize the context against which it was written. The United States was firmly entrenched in New Deal philosophies and social programs to aid the unemployed. Rand, who moved to America in the 1920s, had spent the first years of her life in Communist Russia, where she had grown up with the revolution, and its ideas of collectivism.

She found these distasteful, as she found the growing socialism in America distasteful. She saw great danger in the idea of the "one-ness of mankind." When she wrote Anthem, therefore, she set it in a modern advanced society of the future, one in which great collective goals had been achieved. No one was hungry and no one was sick. The government took care of everything. As you read the book, however, you realize that you do not see the word "I" used. Everyone is addressed as "you" and "we" and "us.""

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