The Role Of Individualism In Ayn Rand's Anthem

Imagine a society where individualism is frowned upon. Where self gain and expression are outlawed and imagination is considered a sin. Ayn Rand’s dystopian novel Anthem paints an interesting picture on a society that is all about selflessness. In this novel Ayn Rand warns against blindly depending on your government for everything and the consequence of a society that has done everything to make everyone equal. But is striving to be concerned for our fellow man really all that bad or is it actually the most glaring fault in our government.

The characters in Anthem show us the dangers that can arise from having a population totally dependent on the government. The most obvious problem would be what would happen to people’s ability to think for themselves. In Anthem almost all the character, with a few exceptions, except what their government tells them and never

considers to question it. They can’t be blamed though, for we learn that it has been this way for a long time. “Thus it has been ever since the Great Rebirth, and further back than that no memory can reach”(Anthem 19). This sentence reveals to us that in Anthem’s society their way of thinking and government has been around for a while. Possibly hundreds of years. There are many character’s in Anthem that prove that dependence is a negative thing. The main character Equality 7-2521 has allowed his dependence to rule most of his life however, when he find something extraordinary he begins to question things. You can see the developments of ethical egoism start to take place in him. Ayn Rand explains this as that we should do what we think is right for our own self interest and not for other(Ayn Rand’s biography). On extreme example of how the people of this world have become too dependent on the their government would be the fact that when they turn 40 years old they are moved to a place called the “House of the Useless”(Anthem 19). The people in this house are considered useless because they have to depend on the government for everything and they don’t give anything back in return.
Undoubtedly, one of the main themes in Anthem has been how far are we willing to go to help our fellow humans in life.

This book has characters that display an extreme sense of ethical altruism. The society in anthem is so fair and equal that none of the characters show any individualism. It takes the main character nearly all of the novel to finally learn what it means to be “selfish” and keep some things for himself. This is something that Ayn Rand calls ethical egoism. However, is this a method that can be really be applied to today’s society and is it alright to have it? There should definitely be a balance between how much ethical egoism and ethical altruism you display. You should try your best to care and look out for others but there are some things that a person has to be selfish about. There are things that people will always need help with and circumstances that will require people to be kind and helpful. On the other hand sometimes you have to put your own happiness and self before anyone else’s. It’s not that you don’t care about people it’s just that sometimes you have to come

first.
Many people rely on different programs that make them dependent to the government. Welfare and Food stamps are two of the major programs people rely on. “35.4 percent of all 309,467,000 people living in the United States are on or using welfare”(CNS News). That’s a large percent of people and to deny all of these people help without offering a solution is wrong. If people are going to complain about dependency from people who do not give back then they should think of ways to improve the system. Many people, including Ayn Rand, do not think that the government should go out of it’s way to help people. They believe that you need to look out for yourself first. That you must have ethical egoism to survive in this world.
In conclusion, Ayn Rand believe that to make it in this world you must look after your own self before you help anyone else. Her novel Anthem portrays perfectly what would happen in a world where people do the exact opposite of this theory. The question of which is better, ethical egoism or ethical altruism, remains very highly debated. In the end only time will tell of either side has any negative lasting effects.