The Power of Society Ever heard the saying, “You are who you surround yourself with”? People are mere products of their society. Society shapes us as individuals, affecting the way we think, feel, and act. Ayn Rand conveys this in Anthem as Equality 7-2521 changes because of the society he is in. The society in Anthem brainwashes its citizens to the point of them thinking that they are sinners for breaking even the most absurd laws of the “brotherhood”. However, sometimes in life, limited freedom leads to curiosity; when you are told not to do something, it makes you want to do it even more. This is the motive that leads Equality 7-2521 to investigate what the society is hiding, which causes him to sin in the eyes of the council. In the novel …show more content…
Ever wonder why there are no guards at the prison, and why the locks on the doors are old and easy to break? The society in Anthem is prideful; this is shown when Equality is in jail, and he says, “There is no reason to have guards, for men have never defied the Councils so far as to escape from whatever place they were ordered to be” (Rand 67). So, Equality 7-2521 turning himself into the council is an example of how the citizens have been brainwashed by the society to do whatever they are told; breaking this law eats away at Equality 7-2521’s self-consciousness, leading him to turn himself into the Council. However, this is not the only reason why Equality 7-2521 admits himself to the Council; his pride and ego think …show more content…
He hopes that by turning himself into the Council, they will acknowledge his humility and instead of punishment, view his great intelligence. Equality 7-2521 expresses this feeling by saying, “Tomorrow [...] we shall take our box [...] and walk through the streets to the Home of the Scholars. [...] We shall join our hands to theirs, and we shall work together, with the power of the sky, for the glory of mankind” (67). Now may be Equality’s only chance to escape the House of Street Sweepers and get into the Council of Scholars. By finding this tunnel from the “unmentionable times”, Equality 7-2521 has unlocked a side of himself that he never knew existed; a side that viewed society in a different light. In the words of James Baldwin, “The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter [...] the way a person looks at reality, then you can change
Equality 7-2521 knew he was gonna get in trouble, but he knew his ways not to get caught. In chapter 6 of the novel Anthem when Equality 7-2521 got stripped and tied to the post and got beat at the Palace of Corrections was the first time he was ever caught. He was so intrigued with the electricity that he lost track of time as to when he needed to get back. The people that work for the Palace of Correction do not really care about their people, so they will hurt the people just to get the truth out. They will keep on beating their people just like they did with Equality 7-2521 just for the truth.
In hope of obtaining the Good Life, people often have to deal with balancing the ideas of doing what is best for society and doing what is best for the individual. Both Sophocles’ “Antigone” and Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” support the concept that to obtain the Good Life, a person must act for the benefit of society more than for the benefit of himself or herself. In “Antigone”, through Antigone and Kreon’s actions and the repercussions of their actions, Sophocles argues for the preservation of values of society over self-preservation and putting the beliefs of society over the beliefs of the individual. In the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, King argues against the individual’s tendency for passivity and idleness
We say to ourselves that we are a wretch and a traitor. But we feel no burden upon our spirit and no fear in our heart” (Rand 37). Because he disregards the council's laws with no remorse, Equality exhibits his narcissistic
In Anthem, the protagonist Equality escapes into the Uncharted Forest after his encounter with the Council of Scholars and becomes aware that his actions are for his benefit and not for others. Equality realizes this when he says, “We have not built this box for the good of our brothers. We built it for its own sake,” (34). He concludes that he built the lightbulb not for the good of society, but rather for himself. This is in contrast to what he was taught when he was an adolescent: He must prioritize the good of society over himself.
Anthem reveals that conformity requires all men to serve others with full acceptance. Questioning what to become when older, the teacher forewarns Prometheus, “‘Dare not choose in your minds the work you would like to do… You shall do that which the Council of Vocations shall prescribe… where you are needed by your brother men’” (Rand 22). Living in a city of conformity, Prometheus is powerless against the council. Since the council wants to have full domination over its citizens, any form of independent thought is seen as opposing authority which deprives Prometheus of his ideals.
Caring more for one person than another is called the Transgression of Preference, which no one is allowed to commit to in the society. When any of the laws of Anthem are violated, then they have consequences. When Equality 7-2521 was at the age of ten, people in the society gathered at the square so they could watch a man, the Transgressor, be burned at stake and had his tongue cut out so he could not speak the “Unspeakable Word”. Equality 7-2521 was one of the men to see it with his own eyes. So when they go against the World Council they can get injured or could have a death penalty.
The quote symbolizes that when applied to life, Equality 72521 has free will a choice in how he lives, his own destiny and the path that he wants to follow. In Anthem, the society is one in which everyone is equal and no one is superior to anyone else. However, society comes with a price as no one is able to think or speak for themselves. When Equality 72521 realizes that he can think and speak for himself in his “new world” then his new reality stems from
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.
In “Anthem”, by Ayn Rand, Equality 7-2521 is completely unaware that the Council he trusts is actually plotting against him to maintain control of the society, but comes to realize the truth about his society as he questions its morals and eventually runs away to make his own path. This leads to his ultimate realization that his society is completely and totally evil. He weeps when he discovers the word “I”. He had been searching for a word that could suffice for that meaning, but never found it until he ran away from the society to discovery it. The society in Anthem was morally wrong for a handful of reasons.
Throughout the novel Equality 7-2521 had been living a sort of double life. He would work his assigned job as a street sweeper, then he would go and work on his electricity box. He finally gathered the courage to present his great finding to the council. The council looked down upon Equality in disgust one member went as far to say, “And if the Councils had decreed that you should be a Street Sweeper, how dared you think that you could be of greater use to man than in sweeping the streets” (72). This is the council's way of humbling Equality in telling him that he is no use to any of his brothers other than sweeping the streets.
He is refering to the council he does not want to be blamed. The advice Rand gives in her short essay Equality would agree, I think. There are some things that he would agree with. “When your impartial attitude declares, that neither the good nor the evil may expect anything from you; whom you betray and whom do you encourage?”(Rand).
Equality defies the council of scholars and his government by studying and learning about the world. “How dare you think that your mind held greater wisdom than the mind of your brothers” (Rand 71). Equality goes against
With punishment and fear in the back of people’s mind, the people in the society choose not to think about judging others and speaking their mind. Equality 7-2521 is different than the other people in the society. He went against the Council and their morals, and Equality 7-2521 went away from his society and began to be himself and do as he wanted. Before he left the society, Equality 7-2521 showed individualism by discovering electricity. By doing so, Equality 7-2521 went against the morals of the society.
To fully control a man, dictators must not only enslave his body, but also destroy his mind. The leaders in Anthem seek to accomplish this tyrannical end by putting the new born generation in schools where all of there education and freedom are limited. Those who are old enough to have there own opinions are either convinced to agree with the council are are punished for opposing the council. Equality is an example of a person who gets punished for being to smart and also being taller than the others. When Equality discovered electricity he was punished for it.
Collectivism and Selfishness in Anthem Imagine living in a world where everybody's lives are completely mapped out by the government. Where every decision is made without the input of the citizens it affects. In the novella Anthem, Ayn Rand depicts a completely collectivist society, where every idea, action, and invention is purely for the benefit of society as a whole. Everything is done with the entire population in mind, and individuality is extremely frowned upon.