Egoism In Ayn Rand's Anthem

Have you ever heard common phrases such as “every man for himself”? Phrases like this are common sayings that have been knitted into our vocabulary which demonstrate our egotistic nature. From a young age, we’ve been told that we must take care of ourselves first, because no one else will. On the contrary, the book, Anthem, presents a society that is shockingly different. From not being able to use the pronoun, “I” to the idea of living only to serve to serve fellow men, the altruistic, “we” society presented in Anthem is the exact opposite of America’s egotistic, “me” society, due to the fact that we are a capitalist society and because of our society’s competitive nature.
Firstly, our country was founded off of capitalism, which is described as an economic system in which “you eat what you kill”. With this model, it is instinctive to be egotistical, as all of the work that you do, all comes back to you. Egoism is all about self interest and when all of the hard work you do ends up rewarding no one but yourself, self interest is subconsciously breeded. At this point, when self interest is increasing, people are more concerned with treating and helping themselves as opposed to other people. In comparison, the

Our society competes for everything. Namely, colleges are massive breeding grounds for intense competition. People all across America are trying to be better than other people to get into college. Especially when colleges have low acceptance rates, competition levels are high. People are trying to get the best grades, the best test scores, the best preparation, and anything else that you can possibly be better than someone at. Unlike in Anthem, certain people are given preference over others. Due to the fact that everyone wants to be rewarded, people compete with each other to be better, therefore prioritizing their needs above the needs of the