...A dystopia is an anti-paradise usually with a totalitarian government controlling it. A dystopian novel is often a futuristic society that has degraded into a repressive and controlled state. Ayn Rand was a Russian-born American novelist who wrote Anthem during World War 2. Ayn Rand’s Anthem is an example of a dystopian novel based on the society worshipping the council, independent thought, free speech and the ability to retain any knowledge they wanted is restricted and the Unmentionable times being banished and forgotten. The first reason showing that Anthem is a dystopian novel is that the society worships the Council of Scholars. The Council makes the rules and disciplines the people who do not follow the rules. One of the Council’s...
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...what is and is not allowed in the totalitarianistic society pictured in Anthem, by Ayn Rand, and proceeds regardless. While the outright and truthful account is being given at the beginning, the reader comes to understand that Equality is unsure of what the response will be to his purposeful fracture of the law. But something more subtle is apparent following the conclusion of the book: Equality’s underlying carelessness with the law. Though acknowledging his refusal to adhere to every law set forth by the Council, he still maintains his sense of apprehension. The arc Equality undergoes throughout the course of Anthem...
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...Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that emphasizes the moral worth of the individual. Individualism is something thats makes a person one, giving them the right to be an individual, the freedom to equality. In the novel Anthem By Ayn Rand individualism is a central idea explored through the story. The main character Equality 7-2521 is living in a society where the concept of individuality is non existent, he is very curious about the world he lives in and the science and nature that surrounds it. But unfortunately it's a sin to think/wonder such things and that it's not good to be different from his brothers but it is evil to be superior to them. According to the text it states (Rand 6) “We...
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...Ayn Rand’s book Anthem is a story of a boy named Equality 7-2521 and his hunt for his freedom from the many harsh rules and controls that is city had. On his quest for freedom, he discovers how cruel his society actually was. If any of the laws in the city are disobeyed, the people will either be severely punished, or even worse, sentenced to death. When Equality discovers electricity, he decides to present it to the World Council of Scholars. They are furious with his discovery, so they send him away to the Palace of Corrective Detention. While he is there, he decides he has to escape. So he breaks free, and runs into the Uncharted Forest. Now Equality is on his own, independent, and free of all of the unnecessary rules and restrictions that...
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...Anthem takes place in a unknown time in the past or future where technology nor science comes to the mind of the society. “A street sweeper walking in upon the world of scholars / It is against all the rules and laws”(69). Ayn Rand’s book Anthem takes place in a dystopian society that the council of vocations control. throughout the book there was not any change in technology over time other than equality discovering electricity. Also the candles that the entire society use took a long process of getting approved and confirmed. The council and scholars disagreed with Equality’s creating which could have been a revolutionary change in technology in Anthem. Technology in Anthem have not been moving forward and have not been improving in fact it might just be forgotten to the society. “We can give our brothers a new light, cleaner and brighter, than any they have ever known” (60). No one under the class of scholar have ever tried to make an invention. Even in the book the scholars aren't even making inventions for the society...
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...Objectivism rejects this false alternative and offers an entirely different view of the world. Equality 7-2521 lives in a society where he has to follow rules and everyone has to be the same person. In the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand, it shows that Equality’s views have changed when he leaves that society. In the old society he had to use “we” to refer to himself. He can never be recognized as an individual. Equality had to respect everyone and stay where he was put. If he was not a scholar then he could not learn. He is sent to be a street sweeper so that is what he had to be. Ayn Rand’s philosophy ties into Equalitiy’s life because he is in a society and it is all he has ever known for a way of life but then he goes out of that society into...
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...In Ayn Rand’s Anthem, people are indoctrinated in a utopian society, the oppressive dictatorship that society has been ruled by has never seen much hostility. This is about to change because people have free will and free thought. People have not known that life could be different. But one person, Equality 7-2521, wishes for himself instead of following the collective ideology. This frightens him at first so he hides his thoughts from others. He has heard stories of torture, and even witnessed this at the young age of 10, and reports of imprisonment at the Palace of Corrective Detention. Equality is a hero that discovers the glitch in the matrix. Being a coward is about to change, all because of free will. Living under an oppressive government is like living as a soulless, mindless robot....
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...Imagine not being allowed to be yourself due to your society telling you so and you aren’t allowed to question it. That’s how Equality is in Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem; the leaders of his society disapprove of people being an individual. No one questions the logic of the leaders, including Equality, until the book concluded. He writes down his thoughts and feelings, knowing he is not allowed to, which causes him to question why they can not be who they want to be. Equality sets out on a personal journey to figure out answers why and once he gets those answers, his approving thoughts of the leaders change to critical and denouncing thoughts. Children are taught obedience, but maybe they are actually taught compliance. Equality complied for years...
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...In Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem, the main character is Equality 7-2521. He lives in a society in the far off future after a major war that tore the world apart and so started the Great Rebirth. In these times, citizens of this society must follow rules so that another war will not happen. These rules state that all men are equal and no man is better than another. There isn’t just one man, only we. The citizens cannot say the word “I”. If they do, they will be punished in front of everyone in the City. Equality 7-2521 must live in the Home of Infants until age five. Once he has reached the age of five, he will be sent to the Home of Students until he reaches the age of fifteen. Once students have reached fifteen, the Council of Vocations come...
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...was assigned to the Home of the Street Sweepers in Ayn Rand’s book, “Anthem.” In the communistic society that Equality was living in, there was someone in society that had to try to make sure that the system kept its order. While Equality was growing up, his instructors saw that he was smarter than his fellow classmates and didn’t always like to follow the rules. This is why Equality got assigned to the Home of the Street Sweepers, because they knew that he was going to revolutionize the society too fast. This is a problem because if too many people resided behind him and he decided that he did not like something...
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...-Conformity and Rebellion: In my analysis of Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” I would tend agree that people are divided based on their roles and functions in society. This division of people may be outside of an individual’s or group of people’s control. This division of people may be driven by socioeconomic, geographic, political, ideological or technological reasons. There may be individuals in power that will dictate where classes of people should live and work. The divisions of people into classes can be seen in both the real world and fictional writings. There may be divisions of classes within the same group of people based on power and influence in that group. Some of these individuals in these groups may also consist of those rare individuals with a conscience, that Thoreau speaks of, who can influence change or incite a rebellion. If the actions of these rare individuals incites a revolution and takes down those individuals currently in power then I would agree they would be considered an enemy of the state. People can also be divided based on their roles and functions in society without force or coercion. Their culture or customs of a society may dictate roles and functions. An individual may be born into this society with fixed expectations of their roles or functions. This agreement can be the seen in the case of Changez, in the Reluctant Fundamentalist. Changez was born into a caste system where his family held some form of power and influence based...
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...Anthem by Ayn Rand Author's Foreword |F.1 |This story was written in 1937. | |F.2 |I have edited it for this publication, but have confined the editing to its style; I have reworded some passages and cut | | |out some excessive language. No idea or incident was added or omitted; the theme, content and structure are untouched. The| | |story remains as it was. I have lifted its face, but not its spine or spirit; these did not need lifting. | |F.3 |Some of those who read the story when it was first written, told me that I was unfair to the ideals of collectivism; this | | |was not, they said, what collectivism preaches or intends; collectivists do not mean or advocate such things; nobody | | |advocates them. | |F.4 |I shall merely point out that the slogan "Production for use and not for profit" is now accepted by most men as | | |commonplace, and a commonplace stating a proper, desirable goal. If any intelligible meaning can be discerned in that | | |slogan at all, what is it, if not the idea that the motive of a man's work must be the needs of others, not his own need, | | |desire or gain? ...
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