Addressing Diction- 1984, Stargirl, and Anthem

What is it about certain pieces of writing that makes them classics and others not? Is it their author’s diction? Their fervor toward writing? Their tone? As William Faulkner said, it is the writer’s duty to write about the fact that man has a soul; a spirit, capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. Some books leave you with a sense of lacking after you finish them. Great authors can immortalize mankind’s soul, each with their own unique tone and diction, and leave you with that sense of loss.
In her novel Anthem, Ayn Rand introduces the reader to a main character with nothing more than a serial number as a name. Even in his thoughts, he refers to himself as “we” and “us”, never as “I” and “me”. The future world created by Ayn Rand, and inhabited by Equality 7-2521, as he is known, is a seemingly hopeless place. Nearly all men have succumbed to living for the greater good of the majority. Ayn Rand says in Anthem that every child is taught that they...