The Unknown Citizen Analysis

The Virtue of Mortality Ayn Rand’s story of Anthem takes place in an oppressive, Communist-like society of the future, where there is no individual - only the great “WE.” Subjects of this dreary civilization have no rights - existing solely to serve the state for a lifetime in their assigned position. The protagonist of the story, Equality 7-2521, is a gifted young man who is different from his fellow brothers. Equality desires to be a scientist, but instead, the government commands him to be a Street Sweeper out of fear of his mind and curiosity.

Ayn Rand’s Anthem depicts a collectivist society where no man is allowed to be an individual. Due to this society making the people believe that there is no “I” but only a “we” the people of the community blindly believe what the higher power tells them. The people in the society of Anthem live with jobs that the head of the government give them and emotion is pushed to the side, all leading to Equality questioning and eventually breaking the law. Equality is a symbol of identity within Anthem who rebels against the system secretly. The ideals and rules of a collectivist society represented in Anthem by Ayn Rand show that collectivism is not an efficient way to create peace and order in a society.

In the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand, she characterizes Equality 7-2521 as a brother living in a Dystopian society. Equality shares his traits and his belief on the transgression that he holds. Collectivism makes him portray a different way towards the rest of the society. He exhibits curiosity, intelligence and loneliness so the reader can identify Equality as a symbolic figure in the novel. This is what outcasts him from the rest of his brothers mentally and physically.

Ayn Rand once said, “Collectivism holds that the individual has no rights, that his life and work belong to the group (to ‘society’, to the tribe, the state, the nation) and that the group may sacrifice him at its own whim to its interest.” In Ayn Rand’s novella, Anthem, she depicts an anonymous, communist city in which no individual has any rights, they only exist for their “brothers”. Equality 7-2521 is a very venturesome and curious character that wants nothing more than to be an individual and live with no limits. The complication with Equality 7-2521 wanting to be his own individual is the rules and controls that comes with his collectivist society.

The passage from Civil Obedience was express with rhetorical and stylistic devices throughout his essay. The author opinion of government is the mode which only the people have chosent to execute their will. Throughout this essay this essay explains the refusal to obey certain laws. The tone of the author seems determined.

The explanation of why upright people execute wrongful actions can be interpreted in multiple ways. In "The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience," Herbert C. Kelman, a professor of social ethics, and V. Lee Hamilton, a sociologist, discuss how the use of authorization, routinization, and dehumanization can be used to carry out unethical actions like in the My Lai Massacre. The American Law assumes that subordinates should be obeying orders, and when linked to obeying superiors, moral principles become inoperative. Erich Fromm, a psychoanalyst and the author of "Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem," explains how the different types of mind set and authority can be noticeably effective in whether one is obedient. Humanistic

“An irrational society is a society of moral cowards – of men paralyzed by the loss of moral standards, principles, and goals” (86) says Rand, and I feel that too far have the men in the society sunk away from moral standards, like putting their knowledge to use and expanding it, simply because they do not believe in judging others for fear of what others may see in them, especially Equality since he always abides by the strict standards with fear of the civilization itself. Equality would certainly agree with Rand’s advice, “One must never fail to pronounce moral judgement”, as Equality did by leaving the controlled society that brainwashed

Through the main character, Prometheus, readers experience the suffocating nature of a society that enforces “total equality.” Ayn Rand’s novel Anthem explains, relates and propagates the negative effects of collectivism on man’s individuality. Rulers justify their collectivist society by appealing to the desire for equality. Exploiting the craving for fairness, power-hungry leaders are able to convince the community that a unified society is in their best interest.

“A world where no man will hold desire for himself, but will direct his efforts to satisfy the desires of his neighbor who’ll have no desires but to satisfy the desires of the next neighbor who’ll have no desires - and so on…”(The Soul of a Collectivist) The speech focuses on how one snuffs out the individual desires of man and makes him work for the collective body of he and his neighbors. To form a collectivist society personal desire must seem as though it is a selfish sin, nobody can be great because “Great men can’t be ruled”(The Soul of a Collectivist), and singular thought can not be

In the short story, “Harrison Bergeron” Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. relies on the use of irony to indicate where our country will stand once we have gained total equality amongst each other. The theme in “Harrison Bergeron” is that the government cannot enforce equality within the people. The author creates a fictional visualization of the future in the year 2081, where the government controls the people and tortures them in order to maintain “equal opportunity” in their world to prove why it is impossible to achieve absolute equality in the world. Vonnegut dives into a whole other level of uniformity in Harrison Bergeron by focusing on eliminating advantages in appearance, intelligence, strength, and other unique abilities rather than focusing on

Modern tragedy is still about the downfall of a man; however, this man needn 't be one of high social standard, in fact, it is better if the man is an everyday person. Every tragic hero needs to have what 's called a "tragic flaw", Miller defines this flaw as "... Really nothing-and need be nothing, but his inherent unwillingness to remain passive in the face of what he conceives to be a challenge to his dignity, his image of his rightful status. " Meaning, the tragic flaw should be their great sense of pride. Willy Loman, the protagonist of Death of a Salesman, fits right in with Miller 's definition of tragedy because his pride keeps him from doing quite a few things.

Citizenship is a status given by a government to some or all of its people. Being a citizen means not only meeting certain responsibilities, but also enjoying certain rights. In the U.S. today, many of our governmental institutions are based on concepts of the Ancient World. Citizenship in the United States resembles the concepts of citizenship in both Ancient Athens and Ancient Rome. Ancient Athens believed that participating in government and making the city-state work was a part of being a good citizen.