Equality 7-2521: The Individual
“No one should part with their individuality and become that of another” (BrainyQuote 5). William Ellery Channing, a poet and preacher, stresses the significance of staying true to oneself and not being succumbed to be another being. Similar to Channing’s statement, Equality 7-2521 found the importance of embracing the freedom to think, isolation, and individualism in the midst of being in a collective society. In the end of Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem, Equality 7-2521’s assessment of solitarily expressing his thoughts is that it is not a sin anymore; he is correct because he is free to believe whatever he wants to, learns that he is an individual with purpose, and realizes that no one can control him. To begin,
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One example of Equality 7-2521 finding his individuality is when he thinks about his future job in the collective society. He records these thoughts in his journal saying, “[s]o we wished to be sent to the Home of the Scholars” (Rand 24). In a collective society, people are not allowed to have their own preferences because they are part of a group, but Equality 7-2521’s preference of becoming a scholar shows how he is starting to see himself as an individual. Therefore, Equality 7-2521’s thoughts on committing a sin are correct because he is an individual with his own opinion. Another example is when Equality 7-2521, still standing on the summit of the mountain in the Uncharted Forest, adds to his monologue by writing, “[m]y happiness is... its own purpose... I am a man” (Rand 95). Upon standing on the mountain, Equality 7-2521 learns that his happiness is all that is important. He realizes who he is and acknowledges himself as a man and an unyielding individual. Equality 7-2521’s epiphany justifies his assessment of expressing his thoughts because he is an individual, and individuals are entitled to their own opinion. Thus, Equality 7-2521 is correct to think that communicating his thoughts to himself is not a sin because he is an individual who can have his own assessment of a certain
Equality has learned his reading teaches him that persons are individuals, not splintered fragments of the group; they have no right to pursue their happiness, and should not be sacrifice themselves for others; that they require freedom to do this, and must not be enslaved by the group. The overall Theme would be the actual word Ego it was talked in the story about how it means a person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance. Equality 7-2521 was mainly focusing on telling us that the ending he wanted us to learn was that it’s your conscious mind, the part of identify that you consider “yourself”. In Latin it would mean ‘self’ or “I”.
In Ayn Rand's story Anthem, the protagonist Equality 7-2521 has a power unlike no other within their collectivist society. One day when Equality was working as a street sweeper, he finds an old abandoned underground railroad tunnel from the Unmentionable Times long ago. This is where he conducts his experiments that fill him with pride and joy. Equality dreams how his new invention that he brought into existence can change the world, but helping mankind is not his true motivation behind his passion to create. Throughout the story, Equality's true motivation is him trying to find his inner self and his identity as an individual.
This essay will be discussing whether or not the character Equality 7-2521’s assessment of his sins towards throughout of the book he’s from, Anthem. His assessment (that he doesn’t care about his sin, as it was decided a sin by a government he sees as immoral and corrupt) is in my opinion, correct. This thought stems mainly from the fact he documented his thoughts throughout the book, and the documents could potentially inspire other people to do the same thing he did, which Equality would probably like. At the beginning of Anthem, Equality feels ashamed with many actions of his, specifically calling many of them evil, sinful, or a “transgression”.
Every society in the world from past and present have laws that control the citizens, and are made to uphold order. The main troupe of a dystopian novel is the oppressive government. This is also seen in Anthem by Ayn Rand. The society is controlling and focuses on the elimination of individuality, and this is the main way that the Council promotes the order of their civilization. The laws of Equality 7-2521's society are there to advocate order and to justify the use of collectivism, however the society that Equality 7-2521 later envisions will not include any of these laws in their current forms.
In the dystopian novel “Anthem” by Ayn Rand, the author uses the Council as an example of those who possess complete knowledge. They lead the community with their wisdom and are always right in their conviction, which is how they manipulate the City. The character Equality 7-2521 is introduced as one who believes that despite the requirements of the Council to obey, he cannot compromise the morals that are significant to him, so he wrote, which he believes “is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others will see. It is base and evil.”(Rand
Equality finds a tunnel that he thinks is from the “unmentionable times” is his society while he was street sweeping. He goes down in it and finds smooth hard surfaces which I inferred to be glass, in Anthem all objects are raw materials so it is not possible for there to be glass unless the council was hiding the tunnel so no one could find it. He returns to the house of street sweepers late and the council asks where he has been. He refuses to tell them so he gets taken somewhere by the council and they try to whip the information out of him. “ A grill, a grill, a grill” Equality says.
n Anthem by Ayn Rand, we are introduced to a society based on collectivism. This society has strict rules that will punish people who don’t obey. Faced with the challenges of their society, Equality 7-2521 is forced to find an outlet to investigate their technological creation. Equality 7-2521 must hide from the world because of committing some of the worst crimes, only International 4-8818 knows of Equality 7-2521’s ambitions. Through the lies and deception Equality 7-2521 continues to explore their new technology.
Individuality Is Not a Sin Equality 7-2521 thought individuality was a sin, but later on knew it was not a sin. This is correct; not everything people do affects others in a way. In the book Anthem, by Ayn Rand, in a story where everyone is the same and no one is allowed to be different, there was one person named Equality 7-2521 who dared to be different. Equality discovered that is is okay to be an individual.
In Ayn Rand’s novella, Anthem, mankind is a philanthropic machine. The brotherhood nobly works together to achieve a common goal. In doing so, each man is asked to disregard his own personal means and goals. For every decision must be a collective thought and every advancement, a joint action. However, one man in this machine malfunctions.
There was one time a teenage boy with the name of juan , juan ever since he was young he would the right thing but once the got to college he got really scared and he started to think if he should go or not . At the end he decided not to go and started to work with his father in the family business. But at time people would ask him why he decided not to go to college and he would say because i was scared. His cousins one day tell him that being scared of new things is normal but at least try and fail but at least you try , you will just need to get better for next time.
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.
In the novella Anthem, individual rights and freedom do not exist. The word “I” is prohibited to be spoken by men. Equality 7-2521 is a street sweeper of the city and he is different from the others in the society. Equality is more intelligent, taller, learns quicker, and he enjoys learning about science; especially how things move and work. Since the word “I” is the unspeakable word, Equality uses the word “We” to resemble that he is doing these actions .
“We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever” (Rand 19). How can an individual be a hero in a collectivist society? In The Anthem, a novella by Ayn Rand, the protagonist, Equality 7-2521 is portrayed as an archetypal epic hero. Equality 7-2521 exhibits the characteristics of an epic hero because he is capable of great deeds, he has a nemesis, and he experiences an event that leads to a quest.
How could losing individuality affect a society? The novel Anthem by Ayn Rand is about a guy named Equality 7-2521 who is trying to find himself in a society where everything is controlled and different. Later, he finds himself even though he will have to go through many obstacles to get there. The process behind losing individuality in an Anthem’s society are in forcing strict laws, brain washing of their citizens, and removing of family. The Anthem society in forcing of strict laws made it easy for everyone to lose their individuality.
¨We do not wonder at this new sin of ours. It is our second transgression of Preference, for we do not think of all our brothers, as we must, but only of one, and their name is Liberty 5-300. We do not know why we think of them” (Rand 41). In Ayn Randś dystopian novel, Anthem, the citizens are forced to think that they cannot have any preference, this includes liking someone more than others. Randś protagonist, Equality 7-2521, started the book falling in love with the Golden One, but as he moves toward individuality he begins to be in “love” less as he realizes there’s more than just being in a group.