We the Living (1936)
Set in Soviet Russia, this is Ayn Rand’s first and most autobiographical novel. Its theme is: “the individual against the state; the supreme value of a human life and the evil of the totalitarian state that claims the right to sacrifice it.”
- Listen to an audiobook excerpt from Chapter One
- Listen to an audiobook excerpt from the end of Chapter One.
- Watch Michael Berliner’s answers to questions about We the Living.
Coming Soon
- Audio course on We the Living.
- Lesson Plans and Teacher’s Guides
- Request a free Teacher’s Kit
- Printable Essay Contest Flyer
- Discussion Questions
- Teacher Submitted Plans and Activities
Teacher’s Guide to We the Living
Printable Essay Contest Flyers
An easy way to share our annual essay contest questions and details with your students is by printing out an essay contest flyer. Print them out for your each of your students or post it in your classroom. They are sized for a regular 8.5″X11″ piece of paper. Here are PDF flyers for each of our contests for your convenience:
Discussion Questions on We the Living
- When Kira Argounova, the novel’s heroine, meets Leo Kovalensky, a handsome stranger who thinks she is a prostitute, why does she not correct him?
- The Communist war hero and much feared secret police agent Andrei Taganov is a pure proletarian, completely devoted to the Party’s cause. Why then does he lose respect for the Party—and why does he fall in love with Kira?
- In a society that outlaws profit, what secret business deal does Leo, an aristocrat, make with Pavel Syerov, an important Communist? Why? Who profits from it?
- How does the discovery by the secret police of one article of clothing in Leo’s room set the course for the resolution of the story?
- Although Communism’s ideal state, the USSR, has collapsed, many communists are still undeterred: they argue that Communism is good in theory but was misapplied by Stalin in practice. By reference to events in We the Living, what arguments can you present in response to such a position? How would Ayn Rand respond?
- We the Living shows that under Communism the poor become much poorer. Some would argue that Communism fails the downtrodden because human nature is “not good enough.” How would Ayn Rand respond to this? Where does she place the blame for the misery wrought by Communism?
Teacher-submitted lesson plans and activities
If you have a lesson or activity you would like to share on this site, please email education@aynrand.org and include it in either in the body of the text or as a Word document. Submitting a lesson is not a guarantee that it will be posted. Thank you!
