Linguistic relativity and objectivism in Ayn Rand’s “The Anthem”

Abstract

Dystopian fiction generally evokes images and phenomena that belong to an imagined and fictionalized future. However, they derive from political or social situations belonging to the present. The exaggeration of these situations in a potential future serves as a warning for the reader. Sapir and Whorf suggest that language, as an integral part of the society, influences perception through controlling thought. This control is realised through banning the words that indicate certain concepts. Without the words, the concept vanishes and it does not exist for the person speaking the language that has banished the concept. This cognitive linguistics theory, referred to as Linguistic relativity, widens the gap between language and perception. This hypothesis is very helpful in the literary analysis of dystopian fiction since it can expose how characters interact with their own societies. This article aims at exploring the linguistic model of Relativism in Ayn Rand’s “The Anthem”. The novel is set in an unspecified time in the future where freedom and individual rights have been obliterated and the usage of the word “I” is forbidden. This dystopian world is mostly built upon linguistic manipulation and the application of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is very important for an overall complete understanding of the characters.