Equality, the man of many names. The novella “Anthem” by Ayn Rand is about a character which is not like the rest and is trapped in a deranged, collectivist society, where everyone is ONE. The council selects who mates with who, which job each citizen receives and how they are educated. No One is allowed to prefer one person over another or have a personal life. Equality flees this society by escaping to the Uncharted Forest where he finds a home and stays there with Liberty 5-3000, a woman who Equality falls in love with.
She birthed the first race of humans and gods called Titans. To all gods and human alike, she was the supreme goddess. The Titan Prometheus was also a Greek god who was a clever trickster. He stole fire from the workshop of Hephaestus and Athena on Mt. Olympus and gave them to humankind as well as the mastery of metalwork.
94)” In Ayn Rand’s book Anthem, the main character Equality finally learns the word “I.” He finally begins to think for himself after years of living in a society where the word “I” was banned. The people in the society that Equality lived in could never think of themselves, but could only think of what would benefit everyone. In an excerpt of a novel titled The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, she talks about individualism versus collectivism. Anthem deals with this topic as well. Equality’s road to individuality begins with standing up to his oppressors and learning that thinking for one’s self is the only way to happiness and success.
In the novella Anthem by Ayn Rand, there are many quotes that have a very significant meaning in the story, as well as in the real world. Equality lives in a society where everyone does, says, and thinks what they’re told to, having no sense of being their own person. Equality eventually gets tired of all of these rules, spoken and unspoken, and decides to defy his society. Throughout the novel, Equality was able to find who he was and what his purpose was by challenging his society, and it’s rules. One of the first quotes that has a more significant meaning is when Equality says, “The word ‘We’... crushes all beneath it, and that which is white and that which is black are lost equally in the gray of it” (97).
The laws the government had in Anthem helped achieve total equality. There’s this one word that you cannot say in the society: “there is no crime punished by death in this world, save this one crime of speaking the unspeakable word.” (Rand, 49). Anthem’s society has a law that will get you killed for saying one word. With laws like these everyone will be too scared to do anything wrong keeping the society equal behavior wise. The lack of education in this society is certainly important in the process but so is the fact that the people in the society had no individuality.
By the end of the book Prometheus writes in his journal "I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them". That statement is not true. Prometheus owes his brother International 4-8818 because he kept the tunnel a secret even though he could get killed for it. I think that Prometheus is only planning on saving the chosen ones to benefit his plans and his happiness. He wants to build a his own society with him as leader.
People Anthem even though though their society is based the council the council only cares about themselves. For example in the book Equality tries to give the light to the council, Equality thought that he would be cleansed of for his, “Sins” and they’ll use his discovery for the greater good. The council also did other various things to other people, for example they burned and torchered a guy that didn’t think like they the council did. Equality talked about how when he was little, he saw a man smiling at him, but this man seemed torchered. They burned him at the steak!
Equality 7-2521 is the main character of the novel “Anthem”. Later he is called “ The Unconquered”, named by a woman whom he deeply loves. Finally he gives himself a named, from a character in a book he read called, Prometheus. Prometheus himself symbolises bravery, intelligence, curiosity, and divergence. He shows bravery while finding the opening of the tunnel that he doesn't know what down there or what could happen to him.
Every person is unique and have their own opinions on certain topics. In the novel, Anthem, by Ayn Rand, she talks of the struggles of an egotistical individual with greater curiosity than his society allows. This man, Equality 7-2521, creates the invention of electricity, and instead of being applauded, he is condemned. He struggles through the various rules and laws of his society, for he is completely different from all of his brothers. In an excerpt called “The Soul of an Individualist”, Rand elaborates on the idea of an individualist, and allows the reader to get a better view at how passionate she is about one’s self.
Friedrich Ludwig Jahn said, “The secret of living in peace with all people lies in the art of understanding each one by his own individuality.” To find peace and live in harmony, people need to know and embrace each person’s individuality. Although the people in Anthem are supposed to be happy and peaceful, they are not permitted to have a sense of individualism. Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem illustrates the importance of each person in society having an individual identity to true peace and happiness. Rand expresses this philosophy through the main character Equality who discovers freedom and self-worth for himself. Freedom allows for characters to acknowledge their own person and to ultimately achieve happiness and peace.