...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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...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...
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...A dystopian society from our point of view, portrayed in Ayn Rand’s Anthem, promotes collectivism, or the practice of valuing the group over the individual. To maintain this mindset, there are numerous rules and restrictions that must be enforced to prevent the people from discovering individualism. These include being prohibited from valuing yourself over others, bonding with the opposite gender, and traveling to the uncharted forest. The most severe crime is articulating the unspeakable word, which is revealed at the end of the novel: ego. The first mentioned sin is to have private thoughts, which supposedly reduces the companionship of the group. Next it is mentioned that no citizen must ever be alone, as this is the root of all evil, because...
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...newcomer, memories flooded our mind of the 43 years we have held this position of factory manager. He is slow. He is smart, we think knowing that regardless of how much work is done, the pay will remain the same. As a result of this, motivation is lost, dreams are crushed, and aspirations fade away. The sense of individualism is forgotten, as the word “I” has no meaning, it is erased from dictionaries and brainwashed from minds. Ego is lost. This collectivist society along with its impact on a person’s thoughts is portrayed in the works, Anthem and “Soul of a Collectivist” by Ayn Rand. Through reading the novel, the text made me realize if in the future our civilization would be similar to what it portrayed in Rand’s works. Inspiring me to discuss how ruler of the civilization justified their way of ruling, how civilizations today are slowly turning into a collectivist society, and my thoughts and reflections on Anthem and “Soul of a Collectivist”. Anthem...
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...In Ayn Rand’s Anthem, a society is built on the ideology of “Brotherhood” and togetherness. One man, Equality, defies this ideology and threatens the “perfect” society built by the councilmen. When Equality discovers the word “I”, he explains the word “‘we’ must never be spoken, save by one’s choice and as a second thought”. Rand, with this quote, wants one to understand the collectively as a group is harmful and restricts one’s freedom. The communist society is unequal and suppresses one’s freedom. While the people are brainwashed to believe everyone is “equal”, there are still those with higher power and control. In the community the council is the “voice of all men”. Even though the community is thought to be equal, the council...
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