Prometheus In Ayn Rand's Anthem Analysis

What is the meaning of Ego? In today’s world, it means “a person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance”, it is to be self-centered and care for nothing else except for one's self or, in other terms, being an individualist. Today, people have been told to care for others instead of themselves, but that is not completely true. For example, Prometheus in Anthem by Ayn Rand- is not what one would consider to be a total egotistical person. Searching through different types of definitions and reasons about the definition of ego, the assumption is that egoism is not immoral or virtuous but the balance in between.

A perfect example of a supposed “egotistical person” is Equality, who soon renames himself as Prometheus, the protagonist of the book

Firstly, he did care for his own things like his own knowledge, his own life, and his own invention. In fact, he once said, “So long a road lies before us, and what care we if we must travel it alone!” (Rand 54). But he soon counteracts these thoughts later into the story. He then wanted to show his brethren what he created and he wanted to share his life with Gaia, also known as Liberty or the Golden One, and when she was lying next to him in bed, he soon admits “This is our home” (Rand 88). But most important of all, he wanted to share his knowledge to his children and to the new colony he wants to build. Prometheus was not an egoist enough to want to work things on his own, but just enough to discover his own knowledge and

A couple synonyms to name are: “self-centered”, “self-respected”, “self-confident”, etc. Most of these words start with the word “self” meaning a person’s being that is their own. Although people may compare it to being selfish- a better term of being an egoist is being an individualist. According to the article, Soul of an Individualist, “his own truth, and his own work to achieve it in his own way” meaning that the things he or she does is on their own and not with another. Another article used is another part of Ayn Rand’s Philosophy but on the term “self-interest”. Having self-interest is part of being human and “the purpose of morality, she argues, is to teach us what is in our self-interest, what produces happiness”, this sentence also ties with the words “self” and “ego”.

Having an ego or being an egoist has its limits, though. People should care for themselves, but also care for others because ego is more of a balance in which one can’t work without the other. The beneficial side of ego is that it “constitutes the essential identity of a human being” (Rand Introduction) but the detrimental side, according to visionlaunch.com, is that it can “completely eliminate objectivity”. If people didn’t care for themselves, then they wouldn’t know how to care for others and vice