A quick read, even for a novella, I appreciated that Rand didn’t waste time with slews of exposition at the beginning of the story, and instead made it very clear what the terms and conditions of this dystopia were. The story follows the journey of a young man, living in a world where electricity has not yet been invented. In addition, this society he lives in requires the strict adherence of the individual to work for the greater good of society (and where “I” has been replaced by the plural pronouns “we,” “us” and “our”). The novella’s protagonist, “Equality 7-2521,” though gifted in the sciences, has been assigned to the role of the street sweeper, and the majority of the story addresses his coming to terms with him either doing what he himself would like to, and what he had ought to be doing for society. The story was actually pretty enlightening, and though heavy-handedly alluding to Rand’s more libertarian mindset, has some decent themes about personal responsibility.
Science Parable 