The Shade Of Oppression In Ayn Rand's Anthem

The Shade of Oppression
Why can a plant not grow in the shade? When a population is kept in the dark, no progress is made. One example of a community kept in ignorance is from the novella Anthem by Ayn Rand, a place where there is total control by the government. This technology deprived world insinuates that science and technology can spur rebellion, division, and change, showing that technological progress develops from the freedom of oppression.
To begin with, the knowledge of new information from science can spur rebellion among the citizens, insinuated by the tight control shown in the novella. The Council begins to berate Equality for daring to be different from the rest of society. After Equality presents his light discovery Collective

0-009 exclaims, “How dared you think that your mind held greater wisdom than the minds of your brothers? […] how dared you think that you could be of greater use to men than in sweeping the streets?”(Rand 71-72). The advancement of science and technology has to come from the advancement of an individual that could lead to the banishment of ignorance and rebellion. Totalitarian world have complete control over their citizen’s thoughts, and if new developments, arise, they must be oppressed. Furthermore, the complete control over the community with a barrier against technology can show the complete resistance to any uprisings. There are words in the Palace of the World Council in the marble that represents the motto of the city. The words that are etched and repeated by the citizens are described, “We are one in all and all in one. There are one men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever” (Rand 19). Science and technology do not have any place in a community dedicated only to other citizens. If everyone is focused on pleasing each other, then there is no reason to think of rebellion. The authoritarian government is set to be against advancements to focus on the blinding of any rulers, oppressing the citizens and preventing any upheavals against the power.
Moreover, a division can come about from technological progress because of differing opinions and the greed that comes about from technology.

The society that Equality belonged to drives him away. As Equality runs away from the society he explains, “We have not built this box for the good of our brothers. We have built it for its own sake. It is above all our brothers to us, and its truth above their truth” (Rand 76). Equality begins to put technology over his fellow citizens, showing how technology began to spur division between Equality and those he knew. The ultimatum of putting technology over humans is what this totalitarian government fears against. Additionally, the splitting up of opinions can come from technology development, adding to the idea that freedom of oppression can enable technological progress. The Council discusses with Equality about former inventors similar to Equality’s situation. Solidarity 8-1164 explains what process happened in the past, “Many men in the Home of the Scholars have had strange new ideas in the past […] but when the majority of their brother Scholars voted against them they abandoned their ideas as all men must” (Rand 73). The actions of one man are not to be implemented in this society against the word of the Council, as all men must agree and think the same. Divisions of opinion can disrupt the unity of the community, encouraging the authoritarian government to begin to restrict these ideas. Likewise, authoritarian control with

little technological progress implies that the nature of science and technology can spur change. The Council is explaining to Equality the negatives of incorporating the light that Equality discovered. One of the Council members, Unanimity 2-9913, explains, “This would wreck the Plans of the World Council […] and without the Plans of the World Council the sun cannot rise. It took fifty years to secure the approval of all the Councils for the candle…”(Rand 74). Change is not supported by totalitarian worlds, showing the barrier against technological change is aligned to these views. Similarly, the progress of technology instills discovery against the authoritarian world, instilling the government to oppress these thoughts and allow no conditions for technological progress. Equality discovers a multitude of new scientific discoveries, that were undiscovered before-hand. As Equality begins to make new discoveries, he describes, “… but we had been thought when still a child, that the lodestone points to the north and that this is a law which nothing can change; yet our new power defies all laws” (Rand 53). If Equality’s discovery that all previous knowledge fed beforehand was false, then an advancement of knowledge and a step away from ignorance is made. Without the power of oppresiom, technology can be allowed to make a change in society and completely redevelop ideas and beliefs in the citizens.
When one removes the shade over a plan, the plant can flourish under the right conditions.

The nature of science and technology is implied by the totalitarian world of Anthem by Ayn Rand by implying that it can stimulate rebellion, division, and change, which can indicate that progress develops from the absence of oppression. The added information of new technology can spur clashes of resistance among the population. Differing opinions can contribute to division among society, the opposite of what a totalitarian government wants. Change can develop from technology and science since these tools can widely lessen ignorance and spread the word about new and correct information and concepts. In the present world, LGBT+ rights have made clashes, uprisings, and change; showing the citizens of the current times have been subjected to oppression and ignorance which need to be brought more into the light of new

ideas.