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Ayn Rand, in Anthem, illustrates a futuristic, socialist society. In the novel, Rand destroys any sense of individuality and describes the social setbacks endured after living ‘only for the brotherhood’. The individual person fails to exist and is but a ‘we’ and recognized by a word and a series of numbers rather than a name. Additionally, she describes the horrors encountered within this different system of life: from reproduction methods to punishments. Through the life of Equality 7-2521, Rand demonstrates a person’s journey from obedience to exile in this socialist society. Throughout the entire novel, Rand criticizes Marxist theory as she demonstrates socialism’s failure to suppress revolution, thwart material dialectic, and its detriment to humanity. As Rand refutes a principal concept of socialism, she illustrates multiple counts of insubordination and social class structures. Socialism’s attempt to remove class structure fails miserably. The most prominent demonstration of rebellion rises from Equality 7-2521 and his emotions and desire for knowledge. After being denied by the Council of Scholars, Equality 7-2521 rashly breaks a window and flees “in a ringing rain of glass” (Rand 75). Equality 7-2521’s actions illustrate the ‘working class’ rebelling against the ‘elitists’ though this society attempted to eliminate social structures. Furthermore, Equality 7-2521 was not alone in rebelling against ‘the brotherhood’, Liberty 5-3000 followed his example. Unsatisfied with her life and the suppression of emotion, she followed Equality 7-2521’s example and “on the night of the day when we heard it, we ran away from the Home of Peasants” (Rand 82). The rebellion of the two members reflects the means of a social rev... ... middle of paper ... ...hought by all men cannot be true” (Rand 73). These absurd claims made by the council demonstrated their ignorance and refusal to embrace progress within their own society. Rand criticizes Marxist ideals throughout her novel, Anthem, as she demonstrates socialist failures to remedy the social issues they oppose. Worsened atrocities within this futuristic world demean the ideals of socialism. Rand demonstrates the innate evils of socialist concepts through denial of life, progress for the betterment of society, and identity to the individual. Works Cited Brizee, Allen, and J. Case Tompkins. "Purdue OWL: Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism." Welcome to the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL). 21 Apr. 2010. Web. 21 Apr. 2011. . Rand, Ayn, and Leonard Peikoff. Anthem. New York: Signet, 1995. Print.
Many people seem to get entangled into society's customs. In the novel Anthem, the protagonist, Equality 7-2521, lives a period of his life as a follower. However, Equality eventually, tries to distant himself from his society. He is shaped to be a follower, but eventually emerges in to an individual and a leader. On his journey, he discovers the past remains of his community. Ayn Rand uses Equality's discoveries of self to represent the importance of individuality in a functional society.
Anthem, by Ayn Rand is a classic novel about a man who struggles through life to try and show the positives about a life unknown, unlike the dark and wicked society that he lives in. It shows what collectivism can do to a society and how a community can not flourish without individual identities. Equality is shown as a extremely intelligent young man with great potential to the future of the society, but the Council of Vocations seems him in a different light. Looked down upon by everyone, Equality 7-2521 was given the job of Street Sweeper to make him equal to his fellow brothers and to erase any individuality he obtained.
Anthem, by Ayn Rand, is a very unique novel. It encircles individualism and makes the reader think of how people can conform to society and do as they are told without knowing the consequences and results of their decisions. Also, it teaches the importance of self expression and the freedom that comes along with being your own person and having the power to choose what path to take in life. Figurative language is used often in this book and in a variety of quotes that have great importance to the theme, plot, and conflict of the novel.
Ayn Rand wrote Anthem as a critique of Communism, yet along with that she demonstrated her own belief system of individual ideals. Objectivism was aptly shown throughout the entire novella with the thoughts and actions of the main characters, Equality and Liberty in contrast with the universal thought of the city and society. Rand clearly showed her philosophy well in this story.
In a year that remains undefined beneath a small city lit only by candles, a young man is working. He works without the council to guide him and without his brothers beside him. He works for his own purposes, for his own desires, for the dreams that were born in his own steady heart and bright mind. In his society, this is the greatest transgression. To stand alone is to stand groping in the dark, and to act alone is to be shamed by one’s own selfishness. The elegantly simple society that Ayn Rand has created in the novel Anthem has erased all segregation and discrimination by making every man one and the same with those around him; only Equality 7-2521 defies the norm with his ruthless
Ayn Rand’s Anthem is a politically satirical novel set in a future society that is so highly collectivized that the word “I” has been banned. The world is governed by various councils who believe that man’s sole reason for existence is to enforce the Great Truth “that all men are one and that there is no will save the will of all men together” (Rand, 20). Any indication of an individual’s independent spirit is swiftly and brutally put down, with the transgressors being punished with severe prison sentences or even death. It is this dysfunctional world that Equality 7-2521 is born into. The novel begins with Equality 7-2521 alone in a dark tunnel, transcribing his story.
Anthem is a novella written by Ayn Rand, in which Equality 7-2521, the protagonist, struggles for self-identification living in a collectivist society. Equality believes that individuality is an eminent aspect of one’s life because individuality defines and outlines who man is. He endures all the hardships in his life living with people who support collectivism, and who reject his ideas. For example, when Equality 7-2521 invents and exhibits the light bulb, the World Council rejects it and tells him that it is selfish to work on something alone instead of working with his brothers. The World Council threatens to destroy the light bulb but Equality does not let that happen and rebels, so he is forced into exile from his society. Equality realizes that he is different from others because he cares about his happiness unlike others who are convinced to believe that a group’s happiness counts more than an individual’s happiness.
Anthem by Ayn Rand is considered a dystopian novel. The characters live in a society where everything is bad, and they have no control over their life or destiny. The book is about a man, Equality 7-2521, who breaks all the laws of his society and dares to be different. The book is in first person and designed to seem like a journal entry. Equality 7-2521 lives in a futuristic society where people have no knowledge of individualism, and the words ‘I’ or ‘me’ do not exist.
The word collectivism often makes people cringe. Overall, there is a general fear of not being able to make personal decisions in America. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, collectivism can be defined as; emphasis on collective rather than individual action or identity (“Collectivism”). In Anthem, Ayn Rand describes an extreme collectivist society. Although Anthem’s society seems extremely surreal, aspects of its collectivist society closely mirror today’s society.
in his world it was believed that ?What was not thought by all men cannot
“I swear – by my life and my love of it – that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine” (Rand 979). The last lines of John Galt’s speech in Atlas Shrugged declare the fundamental principle of Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism. Her ideology plays an integral role in her literary pieces, functioning as the motor driving the actions, goals, and beliefs of the protagonists. From the first strains of Objectivism established during her childhood in Russia, Ayn Rand would develop and cultivate her ideas further in each novel, culminating in her magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged. We the Living, The Fountainhead, and Anthem share the theme of Atlas Shrugged, and The Fountainhead and Anthem would join the masterpiece as staples of the Objectivist and Libertarian ideologies (Smith 384). Nothing could pose a greater contrast when presented in juxtaposition with Rand’s doctrine than the Communism of her childhood. Ayn Rand’s experiences living in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic led her to create Objectivism; through her fictional works, she showcases her philosophy which is centered on the struggle of the individual versus the collective by emphasizing different aspects in each of her novels.
Ayn Rand’s novella, Anthem, shows a totalitarian society that suppresses the ideology of individualism. Within these societies children live apart from their families and grow up without any inherited characteristics of being an individual person. Anthem is an example of this kind of society because it showcases the link between a totalitarian dictator’s powers to the oppression of individualism found in children that live apart from their families. Totalitarian dictators enforce the arrangement of children living separate from their families because it oppresses individualism and allows for a better grasp of beneficial control over the society.
In Anthem, Ayn Rand took a picture where life of where first person pronouns don’t exist, and made it a reality. It is really weird to read a novel with no first person pronouns. When you think of a society where there is no electricity, only by the power of candles for light. A council that chooses their job until they go to the home of the elderly. It becomes so real in your mind it is freaky. That is exactly what Ayn Rand transformed into a novel. This novel has been read by many kids and young adults around the world, and is still being read as a literature study book by many teachers around the globe.
Coming from Russia during the civil war between a collectivist party and capitalism, author Ayn Rand grew up under the exposure of communism. She strongly disagreed with the sentiment of socialism, thus moved to the U.S. to experience the capitalist system. Here, Rand’s books became critically acclaimed through her unique perspective and characters. The majority of these novels is heavy handed and are heavily laced with biases that depict her strong distaste of collectivism. In the particular novella Anthem, Rand gives a warning to readers about the dangers of depending on the ‘we’ of society.
Ayn Rand authored Anthem about 20 years following the occurrences of the Russian Revolution in 1917. In addition, the misdoings and ills of the Soviet regime under the leadership of Josef Stalin contributed in influencing Rand’s insight of the significance of collectivism. The USSR shared a common belief that Communism, which can be explained as an extreme side of socialism, would assist the citizens by collectivizing numerous aspects of their existence. The collectivist principles made an assumption when people serve one another to the best of their ability, every person living in that society mutually benefits (Johannessen, 32). Nonetheless, in Russia, the rise to power by the Communists had been blood-spattered as well as entangled with totalitarian principles in the pretence of socialism. While numerous contemporary philosophers argued that the Great Depression had minimal effect on the Soviet Union as evidence of the efficacy of Communism in addition to others presupposing that Soviet Communism had turned out to be repressive because of lack of proper leadership. Rand sums up that there were inherent flaws in collectivism, and this is what she undertook to make known in Anthem.