Anthem Equality

“To be free a man must be free of his brothers” this quote states that freedom does not come from doing only for the good of your brothers but it comes from doing what is good for your own well being. We see many times in the novella Anthem, the theme that doing only for your brothers is not the way to achieve happiness or success. Equality sees numerous times that without being off on your own and doing for yourself you cannot truly be happy.

In the days after equality finds his tunnel he states, in paragraph 44 of chapter two, “But here, in our tunnel, we feel it no longer. The air is pure under the ground. There is no odor of men. And these three hours give us strength for our hours above the ground.” Equality doesn't feel as if he can

make it through normal days without going to his tunnel to write and study by himself. He knows that if he is caught he will be punished and that he is committing many sins in the eyes of his brothers. I feel that this quote exemplifies my opening statement. Equality is not truly happy until he finds his tunnel and is able to be himself. When he thinks about going to the tunnel he feels better and it gives him the strength to make it through the day where he must pretend that he only wants to do for the good of his brothers.

Many people in the society have severe problems stemming from the way the society treats its people, we see this in paragraph 46 of chapter two when equality says, “All is not well with our brothers. There are Fraternity 2-5503, a quiet boy with wise, kind eyes, who cry suddenly, without reason, in the midst of day or night, and their body shakes with sobs they cannot explain. There are Solidarity 9-6347, who are a bright youth, without fear in the day; but they scream in their sleep, and they scream: "Help us! Help us! Help us!" into the night, in a voice which chills our bones, but the Doctors cannot cure Solidarity 9-6347.” Many of equality’s brothers seem to be mentally unwell and I feel as if they could use an escape like equality has with his tunnel. Unfortunately they are all too brainwashed to realize that they must care about their own well being over the well being of their brothers.

In paragraph two of chapter eight equality says, “We awoke when a ray of sunlight fell across our face.

We wanted to leap to our feet, as we have had to leap every morning of our life, but we remembered suddenly that no bell had rung and that there was no bell to ring anywhere.” When equality is finally free and is no longer being controlled by someone else he is slightly shocked. He never realized what it would feel like to be on his own without someone giving orders and forcing him to repeat the same things every day. He then realizes how nice it is to be controlled by no one but himself. As he and liberty start to adjust to life on their own they realize that doing only for themselves and each other makes them

happy.

In paragraph 15 of chapter 12 equality finally realizes he has achieved true freedom when he says, “But what is freedom?

Freedom from what? There is nothing to take a man's freedom away from him, save other men. To be free, a man must be free of his brothers. That is freedom. That and nothing else.” He and liberty have finally escaped the community and achieved freedom. This ties in to the original quote, “To be free a man must be free of his brothers.” They have finally escaped their brothers and sisters, they are free from them, they are free to do as they please and be

happy.