Throughout Anthem, Equality in the beginning fears of being the different one. In society it was so wrong to be different. To Equality and everyone else it was a curse. It was a curse to 6 feet tall. It was a curse to be smarter than everyone else (Anthem). Equality was shame upon because the government made everyone uniform or at least tried. “We strive to be like our brothers, for all men must be alike.” (Rand, 19). For the fear of being the odd one, Equality had to strive the someone he wasn’t for a long time. ¨We, Equality 7-2521, were not happy in those years in the Home of Students.¨ (21). Since Equality was born smarter than everyone else, Equality found school to be to easy for him. There were no challenges for him in schools it was
After the council said that the light box must be destroyed, Equality 7-2521 escaped and ran to the forest. He’s currently in the uncharted forest right now. While in the forest, the Author Rand uses imagery to describe what it was like in the forest. Earlier in the novella, she didn’t use imagery as often as she does now as Equality 7-2521 is in the forest. In the community, we get a sense it is bleak and gray.
The words that were coming from them showed him deny and pain. Although the members punished and refused to accept Equality’s invention, he never let that bring down his motivation. He was determined to express himself in a way that no one else did, even if it meant him getting in
The society portrayed in Anthem is a society revolved around collectivism, which is the practice or principle of giving a group priority over each individual in it”(Source 3). The social nature is almost non-existent and becomes less the more you age. Equality states “we fought with our brothers. There are few offenses blacker than to fight with our brothers, at any age and for any cause whatsoever. The Council of the Home told us so, and all of the children of that year, we were locked in the cellar most often.
Within Anthem the characters are impacted by the society’s rules and their reputation changes throughout the story. Also, the characters give the society a reputation too. The society in Anthem has a very big part within the story. As stated in the Author’s Foreword, “Some of those who read the story when it was first written, told me that it was unfair to the ideals of collectivism; this was not, they said, what collectivism preaches or intends; collectivists do not mean or advocate such things; nobody advocates them” (Rand 14). So, as said by the author the society chose to be a collectivist society and it caused Equality to rebel and seek to be different.
Anthem by Ayn Rand is the story of how a man broke free from a society where singularity and being different was evil. Anthem deals with the topic of communism and how everyone is supposed to be equal and the same. This is shown in the book where in Equality 7-2521’s society, the use of the word “I” is non existent. Instead they use the word “We”. This is because that in this world, no man is alone and does everything alongside his brothers.
Throughout the novella, his idea of sin slowly develops and changes into the correct view of sin. Equality goes from believing individualism is a sin to believing that individualism is all-mighty and powerful throughout the story of Anthem. This is revealed through love, realization of individualism, and the overall development of what Equality believes sin.
Equality lives in a collectivist society, which is a society that believes, “that man must be chained to collective action and collective thought for the sake of what is called “the common good.” Therefore, Equality being the person he is, struggles with being an individual. He knows it is against the law but he enjoys knowledge so much, it confuses him. He states, “And in our heart-strange are the ways of evil! - and in our heart there is the first peace we have known in 20 years.”
Equality acted against the society because he was a street sweeper doing a Scholar’s job. This is what he had to say about what Equality had done. “ How dared you, gutter cleaner,” spoke Fraternity 9-3452 “,to hold yourself as one alone and with the thoughts of the one and not of the many?” ( Rand 72 ). Equality begs for them to keep the light, but the world council is stuck to their collective ways.
Anthem is a book that makes oneself contemplate the future and what evils are bestowed upon it. In this novel, the reader is caught in the life of Equality. Equality’s life is placed in the future, where the feared reality of communism has conquered all but the souls of few weary men. Equality is one of those few men who have a light that is invulnerable to a ravaging wind. Equality’s time captive before his extraordinary escape has taken a toll on his body and mind and now at the end of his journey forces him to question whether the decisions he’s made are full of sin or teeming with righteousness.
From the very beginning, Equality had known that he was different, he had an inimitable mentality from his brothers. As long as he could have remembered, Equality was shunned for being unequal from his brothers, when asking questions or wanting to discover new things. “Your eyes are as a flame, but our brothers neither hope not fire. Your mouth is cut out of granite, but out brothers are soft and humble. Your head is high, but our brothers cringe.
honor is a thing to be earned.” Ayn Rand weaves her idea of objectivism and that people choose others relying on their own needs into her connection with Equality. In the beginning of Anthem Equality did not think of himself, but what the society wanted everyone to do as a whole, contrasting towards Ayn Rand’s beliefs (Rand, Anthem 96).When people come to the realization that no one is equal, it is easier to realize that neither are needs, making choices involving circumstances like relationships depend on a person’s thoughts and
Individuality allows every person to be themselves and be different from each other. However, In Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem, Rand describes a society where the people were not allowed to openly be themselves, or else they would be punished for being different. The main character, Equality, notices he is different slowly throughout the novella, but kept continuing to be like everyone else for awhile. These rules exist in this society to strip human individuality in order to achieve total equality.
At the beginning of Anthem Equality has changed his mind about a lot of things in the beginning of the story. Equality got picked to be a street sweeper by the government, but he really wanted to be a scholar but couldn’t because of the government. Equality had a rough life. Well he was a street sweeper but he was smart enough to be a scholar the government did not think he was. In the book anthem by ayn rand Equality was not good for any body or anything at the beginning he had a rough start to his life.
Lucius, from The Village, is asking permission from the Council of Elders to go into the Forbidden forest to retrieve medicine. He has watched people from the community die unnecessarily. “I ask permission to cross into the forbidden woods and travel to the nearest town” (That Guy). Equality from Anthem is much like Lucius because he invented the light and wants to leave to go explore the other societies. Both characters know there is more to life than what they were told and they are determined to find out more to advance their
Equality has changed from a collective to an individual having the knowledge of realizing what he can do to change himself in the environment. Anthem has shown how the society works. The main character Equality has proven the allegory when he realizes there's more than just a collectivism society. From start of the novel Equality has been able to grow from a part of a collectivism to learning about individualism to becoming an individual. Equality conquers the battle of collectivism and individualism for