“Emma” by Jane Austen
As Emma discovers that the way to love people is to encourage their independence, she builds a life that’s not only delightful on the surface, but deeply fulfilling.
Dec 11, 2024
Angelica Walker-Werth
Angelica is a fellow at Objective Standard Institute, an assistant editor and writer for The Objective Standard, and an Ayn Rand Fellow with Foundation for Economic Education’s Hazlitt Project. Her roles at OSI include managing the internship and Active-Mind scholarship programs, course administration and development, and editing On Solid Ground. She writes nonfiction articles and speaks; you can see her work at walker-werth.com. She is a voracious reader of fiction in her spare time, and writes about the ideas in fictional works at fictionosophy.substack.com.
“The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid’s Tale is a fascinating story that highlights the importance of self-esteem, individual thought, and personal choice through a stylized and engaging narrative.
“The Student Conductor” by Robert Ford
The Student Conductor is a touching, bittersweet story of a man learning how to pursue the things he loves—and what could stop him from doing so.
“The Hunger Games” trilogy by Suzanne Collins
The Hunger Games trilogy highlights many important aspects of tyranny and rebellion, the most important of which is that pursuing your values requires freedom.
“Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” by Philip K. Dick
Empathy, religion, war, and social hierarchies in Dick's 1968 sci-fi classic.
Angel Walker-Werth: To Say ‘I Love You’ One Must First Know How to Say the ‘I’
What is the nature of love? Is love really selfless? Angel Walker-Werth answered these questions at NICON 2023.
“Speaker for the Dead” by Orson Scott Card
Speaker for the Dead uses some bizarre sci-fi concepts to explore important moral issues—hitting the nail on the head on some, but muddying the waters on others.
Self-Concept in Thornhedge
This fun fantasy novella offers an opportunity to reflect on identity and self-esteem.
“The Testaments” by Margaret Atwood
This spinoff to The Handmaid’s Tale, set in the same tyrannical theocracy (the Republic of Gilead), alternates between the perspectives of three very different women. Aunt Lydia, the only character who’s in both this novel and the original, was coerced into helping...