Dear Ms. Ayn Rand,

I cannot recall the exact date on which I purchased a copy of Rush’s 2112 album, but I distinctly remember how much I loved and continue to favor the title song. Twenty minutes seemed like a long time for one song to run on, but it was just enough to tell its lyrically and musically masterful story. Without ever looking at the paper insert on the inside of the CD case on which the lyrics, in their many verses, were printed in tiny text, I learned the words of the song, repeating them over and over in my head until the whole story came into place: your published masterpiece.

It wasn’t until I had actually read through the leaflet that I realized my favorite song was based on your story. As I scanned the lyrics entitled 2112, I noticed an insignificant-looking scrawl—much smaller than the print of the lyrics themselves—just below the credit to the lyricist. It read, “With acknowledgment to the genius of Ayn Rand.” Instantly, my mind began to wonder and ask questions. Who was Ayn Rand? How did she contribute to 2112?

The thought baffled me, so the next time I had access to the internet, I brought up the GOOGLE webpage and typed “Ayn Rand + 2112” into the search bar. The first result read “2112 by Rush Songfacts” and naturally I clicked it, eager for information. In the third box of facts was the information I had been seeking: “The lyrics are based on the novella Anthem by Ayn Rand, a writer and philosopher who grew up in Russia, but moved to the US as a young adult.”

As soon as I could get to the bookstore (which, unfortunately, was nearly a month later), I purchased Anthem, and pulling back the front cover, I read it from front to back.

I felt tears in my eyes at the same moment The Unconquered did, the oment he learned the word “I,” the moment that changed him for the better. Upon learning such a discovery, it felt natural to weep alongside him. I never realized how much that tiny word was used in our vocabulary or how much it really meant. How many people do you think actually take the time to look up “I” in the dictionary? It reads:

-Pronoun

1. the nominative singular pronoun, used by a speaker in referring to himself or herself.

-Noun

2. used to denote the narrator of a literary work written in the first person singular

3. Metaphysics. The ego.

If I had endeavored to discover the meaning of “I” before I read your book, I don’t think I would have paid any mind to the third on the list: The ego. It never occurred to me that “ego” is what is truly meant by “I.” In my mind, “I” is now the word to show my personality, my character, my self-image, my self-worth, and, overall, my individuality. When I say “I,” it is a representation of me. It took a second reading of your novella to fully understand this entire concept, but now it is there, lingering benevolently on the border of my thoughts and reappearing quite animatedly each time I use the minuscule word.

I also became conscious of the fact, after reading Anthem, that I could be as different and unique as I wanted to be and no one could say I couldn’t. I didn’t have to have that ubiquitous fashion of brand-name clothes that everyone seems to want or go along with the crowd in whatever they did; I could wear whatever I wanted and act, feel, and express myself how I found necessary. Now I find myself wearing clothes as colorful, fun, and wonderfully atrocious as I can dream up and writing stories, drawing pictures, and thinking thoughts beyond my imagination, and it doesn’t bother me what other people think; now I am.

Each time I hear my favorite song, Rush’s 2112, I see your story play out in my mind. I watch Equality 7-2521 sit in his domain beneath the earth, “putting words down upon a paper no others are to see” as he discovers the secret of electricity; I watch as his excitement grows as he conquers his fears and presents his discovery to the World Council of Scholars; and I see the pain and despair on his face when he is shot down, his discovery destroyed, and he is sentenced to death. By contrasting the two, I think I understand both Anthem and 2112 a lot better than I ever would have before.

Thank you for that experience, and thank you for aiding me in my own individual discovery of myself. I stay in hope that “I” will never become “We.”

Respectfully yours,

Haylee Hunter

Haylee Hunter
9th grade
Kenai Central High School, Kenai, Alaska
Teacher: Susan Nabholz