Ayn Rand We the Living - Essay Example

? Ayn Rand "We the Living" By Colleen Lang Colleen Lang English I Ayn Rand "We the Living" or any creators will come up with works basedon their own life events and issues. The authors will see, hear and even feel many events, issues, individuals, etc, etc., and those things will get ‘seeded’ in the author’s mind, and will ‘sprout’ out in the form of creative works including autobiographies or semi-autobiographies. Ayn Rand’s We the Living is one such semi-autobiography, as she wrote that work after being ‘seeded’ by the various events that she saw, heard and felt in the aftermath of the introduction and spread of Communism throughout Russia in early 1900’s. We the Living focuses on the impact the Russian Revolution had on three characters, particularly on their wish to chart their own destinies. Kira Argounova, the central protagonist, wanted to be an engineer and a builder. “I’m going to the Technological Institute.” Kira…gasped “I’ll be an engineer” (Rand 23). The two key men in her life, Leo Kovalensky and Andrei Taganov wanted to strongly hold on to their ideologies of Aristocracy and Communism respectively. The character of Kira is considered as the alter-ego of the author Ayn Rand because she created that character and plot elements surrounding her based on her own real life events. Having experienced the Russia’s Communist revolution first-hand, she fully knows how it negatively impacted the lives of many particularly hers’ and her family, thus ‘evolving’ her into a persuasive critic of Communism. Due to this personal ‘seeding’ or influence, and the resultant creation of the plot and characters in We the Living, it is clear that Ayn Rand would disagree to the assertion that Communism fails because human nature is not good enough to practice it. Instead, she will argue that Communism failed the humans particularly the Middle-Class Russians like her family, totally wrecking their lives. She would take that stance because her life and aspirations as well as that of her central protagonist, Kira were derailed very early due to the oppressive actions of the Communist government. The father of Ayn Rand (or Alisa Rosenbaum, her original name), Zinovy Zakharovich Rosenbaum owned and operated a pharmacy, which was confiscated by the Communists as part of the nationalization drive. This forced the family to abandon their home and flee to Crimea, where also they faced not-so favorable environment due to the aggressive postures of counter-revolutionary 'Whites'. As the Bolsheviks uprooted her and her family's comfortable life, she had an aversion to the Communists, which got strengthened during her college days. In the novel, Rand places Kira in a similar predicament, as she and her family gets thrown away from their homes. Kira's father is the owner of a textile factory and it is seized in the same manner as Rand father’s pharmacy. Due to this action of the Bolsheviks, the Kira family had to move out of their hometown, and when they return after some time, even their house is converted into a living quarters of other families. Thus, the basic reason why Rand would disagree with assertion that humans failed Communism is because she faced ill-effects of Communism first hand. In addition, Rand throughout the novel through many suppressing as well as depressing events shows how Communism failed the humans. Not only her family has to give up their textile factory, businesses of many families including that of Kira’s uncle Vasili was also confiscated by the Communist government, forcing him to sell all his earned possession for day-to-day living. The whole private sector got decimated with all the people depending on it thrown into the streets, without livelihood options. This sector was severely controlled by the government with licenses to run them being given to only the people who are in the good books of the government and hade trust of the Proletariat, thereby depriving her father from getting permission to restart the textile factory immediately. In the novel, Rand portrays how the food supply was also restricted due to the government controlled ration, with the majority of the people needing to be content with millet. Even getting that millet was a tough struggle for many people. “Women was crawling on her knees, trying to gather a spilled sack of millet” (Rand 12).The extremity of the influence of Communism was also visible in the Technological Institute attended by Kira, with the lectures resembling more of propaganda about Communist achievements in the field of engineering than providing good technical and academic insights into the field. “She noticed many red kerchiefs in the crowds of students and heard a great deal about Red builders” (Rand 37). In the novel, the Communism made more negative impacts on the lives of all three central characters, ending all their lives tragically. With the Communism in Soviet Russia restricting political and importantly individuals’ freedom, it becomes difficult for the characters to think and do what they innately like to do. They are forced to do what is better for the country and so their individual rights and wishes are sacrificed for the betterment of the country. For example, the character of Leo was deprived of the ‘needs’, which he needs to live a basic as well as a contented life - education and work. All doors were closed for him as he belonged to an Aristocratic family. With the Bolsheviks propping up only the party members and the individuals from the working-class background through employment and other business and social opportunities, people like Leo were pushed to the oblivion. However, not wanting to be left behind, Leo indulges in illegal business against the state and that makes him deteriorate further. Although, there were some personal choices, it is clear that Leo’s life destructed to a certain extent due to Communist’s regime and so Rand would take the stance that Communism failed the humans. This stance gets further strengthened when the life of another character Andrei is viewed critically. Andrei complete allegiance to the Communist party in a way restricted him from following his personal wants, and the ideals he always stood for even destroyed him physically. As he grew up in a Communist household, he was maximally influenced by the concepts of Socialism and Communism from a young age itself. Due to this strong imbibing, he ignores or even suppresses his individualistic tendencies and fully surrenders to the Communist party, thus exhibiting those leanings in every aspect of his life. Andrei’s dedicated Communist leanings could also be the reason why Kira cannot transform her friendship with him into love. Although, she had a soft corner for him, his ideology restricted her from fully accepting him. “She said “no” to the words he spoke, and “yes” to the voice that spoke them.” (Rand 73). After coming to know that Kira feigned her love for him mainly to save Leo, he is crestfallen. Even his exhibition of individual tendencies at that last moment did not save him. Following his personal bent of mind, he aids in the release of Leo, losses his party position and tragically commits suicide. Here again suppression of personal wants due to Communist leanings, led to the destruction of a life. As far as Kira is concerned, as mentioned earlier, Communist principles and actions have been making negative impacts on her life right from her childhood, and even the negative impacts on the lives of Leo and Andrei had severe repercussions on her life, as she also dies in the end of the novel. From the above analysis of characters and events in the novel, We the Living, and its real-life connection, it is clear that author Ayn Rand would argue against Communism. Having been personally affected by the ill-effects of Communism, and creating the characters imbibing those anti-Communist leanings, author Rand would fully disagree with the view that Communism failed because human nature is not good enough to practice it, and instead would argue that Communism only failed humans particularly the people in erstwhile Soviet Russia. Works Cited Rand, Ayn. We the Living. Signet, 1996. Read More