The Role Of Egoism In Ayn Rand's Anthem

If there was a word so forbidden that no one knew it, wouldn’t you be curious as to what it is? In the book Anthem by Ayn Rand this is exactly what the protagonist Equality has to face. Equality lives in a society where standing out was considered a transgression and egoism is punishable by death. The Saint of the pyre figured out the meaning of egoism and to keep him from sharing this evil his tongue was removed and he was burned at the stake. The Saint of the pyre died a happy man because of his knowledge of egoism. As he was being burned he had chosen Equality of all the people in the crowd to attempt to communicate the meaning of egoism to, which makes Equality question all that he was taught during his youth including that his sole purpose in life is to benefit and serve his society. Rand wrote Anthem to

demonstrate that being a different role model or Saint can affect people in positive ways and teach them important lessons and that we should be intelligent and quirky role models instead of someone that is the same as everyone else.
“And we thought then, standing in the square, that the likeness of a Saint was the face we saw before us in the flames, the face of the Transgressor of the Unspeakable Word.” The Saint's knowledge foreshadowed Equality’s love to learn and his curiosity. Equality thought that his knowledge somehow made the Saint superior to everyone else and made him happier than everyone else too. This is the kind of person Equality looked up to despite his execution at the stake, and Equality would have been executed himself if he hadn’t escaped from society. The Saint was more intelligent than the rest of society and that made him different from everyone else, just like how Equality was more intelligent than everyone else and he was also different from all of society. The Saint of the pyre was a wise yet different man, and that is why Equality thought of him as a saint.
The Saint’s happiness foreshadows that Equality will become truly happy once he knows the secret of egoism. “There was a thin thread of blood running from the corner of their mouth, but their lips were smiling.” The Saint was truly happy because of his discovery of egoism and his freedom from the slavery that he had endured all his life that he was to get once he died. Equality looked up to him because of how happy he looked despite staring death in the face. He eventually becomes truly happy once he was separated from all the influences of society and is all alone. Since Equality was no longer a slave for society he finally became truly happy because being a slave wasn’t what he wanted in life. The Saint of the pyre was a free and happy man in the end, and that is why Equality thought of him as a saint.
“And it seemed as if these eyes were trying to tell us something through the flames, to send into our eyes some word without sound.

And it seemed as if these eyes were begging us to gather that word and not to let it go from us and from the earth” When the Saint of the pyre tries to communicate the unspeakable word to Equality it’s foreshadowed that Equality will learn the unspeakable word and learn the secrets of egoism and will want to share that message. The saint of the pyre choses Equality from the crowd of people and decides to attempt to communicate his secret to him but he doesn’t understand. When Equality learns what egoism is he immediately shares it with Liberty and he comes up with a plan to tell everyone worthy of knowing the secret of the word I. The Saint of the pyre believed in freedom of knowledge, and that is why Equality believed he was a Saint.
Equality believed that the Saint of the pyre was a role model because of how he is different and he taught him life lessons. In the end the Saint was happy and wise, all Equality wanted to be and all he looked up too. He looked up to him because he was different than everyone else, not the

same.