...ANTHEM In a time after mass destruction, when the world has ended up where it started, the idea that people are one and all and all in one is ingrained into their minds. They go through school at the exact same pace, all for their careers to be chosen for them by the council. In this society, no one stands for themselves, but they stand for each other, and are punished when they don’t do this. Throughout Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem, the protagonist Equality 7-2521 learns that it is not a sin to be an individual in the radical and strict society he lives in, which condemns individualism. He does this by seeking knowledge from the Unmentionable Times after realizing how powerful it can be, alluding to his individuality. Next, he breaks free from...
Words: 1014 - Pages: 5
...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...
Words: 739 - Pages: 3
...Equality’s discovery of electricity was an incredible feat considering the complexity of society Ayn Rand depicted for Anthem. Rand’s portrayal of society contrasts with the quintessential dystopian society portrayed in many novels such as The Giver and Fahrenheit 451. The civilization in Anthem exists some time in the future, however, the intricacy of technology had declined to the point where citizens were using candles and torches as methods of illuminating their surroundings. The cause of this decline traced to the development of an intolerance towards individualism. Equality never fit in his community because of his strong nonconformist personality. He had preferences and objects of joy, a sin he called “the great Transgression of Preference” (6). He had a bias for science during his schooling and had a tendency to commit transgressions, which foreshadow his experiments in the tunnel. His...
Words: 984 - Pages: 4
...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...
Words: 629 - Pages: 3
...Anthem Writing contest I am. I think. I will, when these words are thought nothing out of the ordinary comes to mind. According to Ayn Rand’s book anthem, mine, my, and I are all taken for granted. Ayn Rand was born in 1905 and her book Anthem, published in 1938 kick started a all new genre of dystopian society books. In Anthem a future world has lost technology and all knowledge of individualism. They have abandoned the thought of themselves and now “worship” the word we. Equality 7-2151 breaks we’s invisible bond made by us and we then created a brand new utopian society, that thrives on individualism. The perfect society equality created at the end of the book will include little to no rules from his past home because, he ran away from these rules, equality knows the unspeakable word, and the leader of his land is himself. Equality 7-2125 grew up just like everybody else. At age five left for schooling then at age fifteen got a job as a streetsweeper, doing everything as a whole with no thought of themselves whatsoever. Then years later his world changed when he found a grate within the outskirts of the colony and ventured inside. In the tunnel he was in awe at the sophistication of everything the tunnel...
Words: 751 - Pages: 4
...that exists and everyone is identical. Ayn Rand creates a perfect picture for that. In the book, Anthem, Equality’s primary motivation is his desire for individuality. Like every other human-being the challenge of finding who you really are and what your purpose is, is a rather difficult task to complete. After being strained to be someone he’s not and living off of strict rules the aspiration to establish who he really was, was the fire within him to conduct his experiments. Equality’s experiments were a symbol of his developing self. If everyone in the world were to be like Equality and have the same motivation, the world would be a more developed and efficient environment with very confident individuals. In similarity to Lois Lowry’s book The Giver, Ayn Rand establishes a society with uniformity. Lowry’s book refers to what is known as sameness and is a world that’s only black and white. What’s the point of no color? Color expresses one’s personality when both authors are trying to achieve the theme of equality. Everyone is seen the same and in most ways are the same. Going back to Ayn Rand’s writing, the kids attend a school where...
Words: 572 - Pages: 3
...Erich Fromm was a German social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. In Fromm’s essay ”Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem,” he discusses and compares the impact of human obedience and disobedience to ones self and to human society. While discussing both obedience and disobedience, Fromm opens his essay with “For centuries, kings, priests, feudal lords, industrial bosses, and parents have insisted that obedience is a virtue and that disobedience is a vice.” Immediately after this statement, he gives strong points of views opposing the statement of disobedience being a vice. In the “Anthem,” Ayn Rand tells a story about a place in unspecified future period, where people no longer have their own individual rights, and collectivism is leading the entire society. It's a dystopian sci-fi novella set in the future when mankind has entered another dark age as a result of the evils of society. She introduces a boy named Equality 7-2521 who is disobedient to the Council of Vocations and experiences self-growth and freedom. Disobedience is an act of courage, necessary for the individual to fight against the unreasonable demands of authority. Fromm writes, “Human history began with an act of disobedience, and it is not unlikely that it will be, terminated by an act of obedience,” supporting his statement that obedience might as well “cause the end of human history.” He uses religious and mythological figures to demonstrate...
Words: 893 - Pages: 4
...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...
Words: 591 - Pages: 3
...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...
Words: 623 - Pages: 3
...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? ...
Words: 22792 - Pages: 92
