In 1776 the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence stating the separation of the American colonies from Britain. The Declaration states traditional American values that were meant to define America forever. However, in the 1800’s some of these traditional principles, to an extent, were being reformed with new values and ideologies, such as Abolitionism, Feminism, Public Education, Prison Rehabilitation, Utopianism, and Nativism. Overall, the reforms of the Antebellum Period were consistent with original American principles of democracy, equality, and reform.
The Declaration of Independence v. The Constitution The Declaration of Independence is more significant than the United States Constitution, for the principles in the Declaration revolutionized the citizens’ thinking towards themselves and the role of government. As aforementioned, the ethics in the Declaration caused people’s viewpoints to be more respectful towards themselves. For example, the Declaration of Independence begins discussing the unalienable rights of men; these unalienable rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The colonists are essentially stating that King Charles III is not abiding these rights, causing them to grow agitated.
In the Declaration of Independence, it is a common objective to state that all men are equal. Jefferson wrote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed
In Anthem “equality” is not purely shown, but is attempted. Equality is held by shaming individuality and sometimes physical punishments. “There is evil in your bones, Equality 7-2521.” (Rand 18). Equality is being shamed for having grown taller than the other boys, something he cannot control, like intelligence.
The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution are documents which are designed to work together. They together hold the core values, beliefs and laws of the United States of America.
Ayn Rand’s Anthem starts by Equality 7-2521 saying “It is a sin to write this.” Throughout the story, Equality’s views and mindset changes, he realizes that he is different from his brothers and its ok to be different. He discovers that if something is legal it is not certainly right. His eager for knowledge taught him the word “I” abandoning the word “We”.
America is the land of the free and home of the brave, but has it always been? If someone were to reference old documents like The Declaration of Independence or even The Constitution they would think so, but American history itself says otherwise. During the mid 1770’s slavery was an almost unquestioned normality and women had no rights, however when The Declaration of Independence was written, the statement, “all men are created equal” appeared while Thomas Jefferson stated the natural rights of every human. This statement is clearly not true in the eyes of the men who wrote and edited this document, hence proving that the statement “all men were created equal” is hypocritical. In accordance to primary sources gained from this period of intolerance and recreations of it, it is clear that not only were the women not treated as equal, but the African men and women treated as property were also stripped of the three main rights and liberties the Declaration argues for.
There's so much emphasis on putting others before oneself that people often forget to look out for their own needs, as shown in this book. Ayn Rand successfully captures the negatives of an overrated ideology and presents an unorthodox perspective on the matter. In conclusion, Equality's true motives behind his work are much more selfish than they first appear to be. Equality strives to fulfil his own personal desire rather than contribute everything to society, and this isn't necessarily a negative thing.
Equality is something people want till people actually have it. Equality often limits a person’s abilities and disables to do something for themselves or inspire themselves. Equality's, the main character in the book Anthem, the primary motivation is proving that he is smart enough to become a scholar. Equality has a right to be motivated in this way since he believes that he can help the society so he is giving into the collectivism. I think that if everyone was motivated in this way, there would be a more progressive society where people sought to improve themselves and society at the same time.
Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal . . . A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man’s mind.”
Anthem is an Anti-Utopia and Ayn Rand describes what a world would be without individualism. In Anthem, Equality’s major decisions lead him to freedom from his brothers, being able to be independent, and the right to make his own choices. During his time in his hometown of Anthem, Equality and his brothers were not free, but only Equality knew it. Equality mentioned that everything smelt of fear except for his tunnel which was cleansed.
When one is confined to society and held captive against their ego, it is imperative that they learn to eulogize their own individuality, and learn to improve themselves. In Ayn Rand’s novella, Anthem, Rand uses Equality 7-2521 to communicate the importance of the individual. Equality has always had his own sense of individuality that causes him to stand out and defy the social norms. His individuality allows him to persevere and diverge from collectivist society.
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.
The book Anthem by Ayn Rand is a very interesting book. At first it is confusing to the reader because of the use of the words we and us instead of I. The main character, Equality 7-2521 introduces himself in the plural form. The reader takes a while to figure this out. The era that Equality is in, is after the Great Rebirth.
Equality 7-2521 can free himself from collectivism because he was independent. In the novel Anthem Ayn Rand makes us comprehend that Equality had and inner struggle and