In Ayn Rand’s Anthem, the citizens live in a communist society. It is seen from many points in the story. In Anthem no man is higher than the other. It even goes as far as to what job they have and who they talk to is chosen for them. This is supported by the thoughts in the main character's head and the words he uses to write, his everyday life, and the many other examples of communism in the story. In Anthem Ayn Rand displays communism by letting us know the thoughts in Equality 7-2521’s mind. The story is written all from his point of view and is in first person so we only know what is thoughts are. “Our name is equality 7-2521….” Chapter 1 Paragraph 5.
“Their body was straight and thin as a blade of iron” Chapter 2 Paragraph 4
Equality does not know the word i so he refers to himself as we, but we know there can only be one equality. He also refers to everyone else by they, their or it. He does not use any genders for this doesn't matter if everyone is treated equally as one.
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Here we see that Equality really did not know the word I and that he can't have a way with his own thoughts. That it is a sin for him to think about anything outside of the council. Equality's life in Anthem is doing the same stuff over and over again. He does not get to choose what he eats or where he works or what he does when hes done with work.
“For the lips of the oldest did not move as they said “street sweeper” Chapter 1 end of Paragraph 28“So we went into the house of street sweeper” Chapter 1 Paragraph
Equality 7-2521 aspires to be a self-proclaimed individual. In the novella, Anthem, Ayn Rand discusses of a dystopian society in which every man and women are set equal to each other. Equality is damned by the World Council after a discovery of light and electricity, and a contradictory belief in individualism. Freedom is an essential factor in the happiness of man. Equality is scorned for his different looks, mental competence, and independent beliefs but laughs when he recognizes that he should be glorified for understanding that his perception of life leads to contentment.
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.
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.
In the novel, Anthem, written by Ayn Rand takes place when mankind has entered another dark age. A man named Equality 7-2521 lives in a society where he struggles to live equal within the brotherhood. In the world he lives in people are told they exist only for the sake of serving society, and have no other purpose. Therefore, each individual is assigned a vocation as a permanent life career which determines who they socialize and live with. However, Equality being very different from his brothers, believes in individualism and rejects the collectivism society around him. The concept of individualism vs collectivism is portrayed in the story because individuality is unknown to the people where no one is unique or excellent in any way. The people
“For I know what happiness is possible to me on Earth. And my happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it” (Rand 95). In this part of the novella, Equality, the narrator, is aware that he can find his own happiness and he should show it once it is found. Throughout the novella, Anthem written by Ayn Rand, Equality is trying to find himself in a society full of equals. As he discovers the tunnel, Equality creates a light bulb in which he wants to flaunt upon the people of his society. Subsequently, when it is rejected by the Council, he hides in the forest from those who see him as a betrayer. Equality tries to find himself in a collectivist society that he knows he does not belong in, in which he evolves. The author believes in objectivism,
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, a contentious woman, the new favorite author to multiple people’s list. People who have read her magnificent book, Anthem, understand how exquisite and meaningful her words are. Books like Anthem are worth reading because it gives the reader more knowledge about controversial topics and it takes the reader to experience new places and new adventures. Equality, the main character, is a symbol. He represents many people today, living in countries like his society. Equality has to find his true identity first before helping the others. People are not allowed to believe in individualism, they should not have a identity of their own. Each person has a monotone routine to follow every single day of their lives. Each step a person takes
In Ayn Rand’s book, Anthem displays the struggle of the individual against a government that refuses to recognize the individual’s value, a communist culture. Equality 7-2521 is an intelligent and determined innovator who challenges to violate the rules of his strangling society and discover the forbidden word, the word that changes everything: “Ego”. By discovering this lost word, Equality rediscovers the idea of the individual, and the worth of the individual outside of the collective group of “we”. Ayn Rand names Equality and Liberty, Prometheus and Gaea because they are very similar to those gods. In recognition of his discovery, Equality renames himself after Prometheus and his love, Liberty 5-3000, Gaea, after the epic Greek myths that the two characters so strongly imitate.
Ayn Rand’s Anthem is a politically satirical novel is 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.
Throughout history, authors have teased their readers with the idea of what the future might bring. Often times these stories are littered with new technology and fascinating theories, but occasionally it is the contrary. In the situation where society has taken a step back, there must be a character to give civilization a kick start. In the novella Anthem, by Ayn Rand, society is bound to collectivism, where everyone relies upon each other to live and learn; but the protagonist, Equality 7-2521, is able to break free from the fear of independence and move toward individualism. During the course of the story, Equality discovers the freedom he can bring himself. Then he realizes his mind is the door to the truth, not society. Finally, Equality recognizes himself as different from the rest of the population. These steps toward individualism are perfectly embodied by three quotes Rand incorporates in her story.
Equality has discovered something all by himself and he’s the only one that knows it. Equality would help create a new idea of the period of invention and discovery but only if it was accepted by the Council. (Pg 53 Rand)“We put a piece of copper and a piece of zinc into a jar of brine, we touched a wire to them, and there under our fingers, was a miracle which had never occurred before, a new miracle and a new power.”
As one reads Ayn Rand’s significant quotes from the story of anthem, there is always a main theme that is trying to escape, just as Prometheus escaped in her story. All three of the listed quotes work as a trio to sing that We; as society, works to defeat individuality. The quotes emphasize that we cannot survive without individualism and being alone brings out our unique personalities. It is true that all the quotes work as one, but at the same time they have their own individualism. Each quote holds a purpose of its own and the author wants to express the quote to each persons understanding.
word “I” for the first time, summarizes his moral assessment of sin. As Equality 7-2521 flees
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.