Ayn Rand has a very unique and powerful style of descriptive writing. She uses unexpected analogies to powerfully convey the character and appearance of her characters.
My favorite example of this and one of my favorite sections of any of her books is her introduction of Kira early on in We The Living.
“The Russian Socialist Federalist Soviet Republic was about to acquire a new citizen.
The official held the little book bound in gray burlap, whose many pages he was going to fill. He had trouble with his pen; it was old and rusty, and dragged strings from the bottom of the inkstand. On the clean open page he wrote:
Name: ARGOUNOVA, KIRA ALEXANDROVNA. Height: MEDIUM.
Kira’s body was slender, too slender, and when she moved with a sharp, swift, geometrical precision, people were conscious of the movement alone, not of the body. Yet through any garment she wore, the unseen presence of her body made her look undressed. People wondered what made them aware of it. It seemed that the words she said were ruled by the will of her body and that her sharp movements were the unconscious reflection of a dancing, laughing soul. So that her spirit seemed physical and her body spiritual.
The official wrote: Eyes: GRAY.
Kira’s eyes were dark gray, the gray of storm clouds from behind which the sun can be expected at any moment. They looked at people quietly, directly, with something that people called arrogance, but which was only a deep, confident calm that seemed to tell men her sight was too clear and none of their favorite binoculars were needed to help her look at life.
Mouth: ORDINARY.
Kira’s mouth was thin, long. When silent, it was cold, indomitable, and men thought of a Valkyrie with lance and winged helmet in the sweep of battle. But a slight movement made a wrinkle in the corners of her lips—and men thought of an imp perched on top of a toadstool, laughing in the faces of daisies.
Hair: BROWN.
Kira’s hair was short, thrown back off her forehead, light rays lost in its tangled mass, the hair of a primitive jungle woman over a face that had escaped from the easel of a modern artist who had been in a hurry: a face of straight, sharp lines sketched furiously to suggest an unfinished promise.
Particular Signs: NONE. The Soviet official picked a thread off his pen, rolled it in his fingers and wiped them on his trousers. Place and Date of Birth: PETROGRAD, APRIL 11, 1904.“
This excerpt was also the inspiration for a parody post I wrote in the summer of 2016:
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