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Selflessness In Ayn Rand's Anthem

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“We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, one, indivisible and forever.”(19) The leaders of the society in Anthem enforce the idea of all men being one, true equality where all work for the good of their fellow men. In this society no one is capable of being hurt by another's pride or abilities. All people are given the numbing safety of having no talents, no favoritism, and no ego. “Preach Selflessness. Tell a man that he must live for others.”(The Soul of a Collectivist) By being one and the same, everyone is promised a sense of equality, something mankind fights over relentlessly. The rulers have appealed to their people with such idealism, promising a world free of jealousy or unfairness. “I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask none to live for me, nor do I live for any others. I covet no man’s soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet.”(96) Living for oneself was a snuffed out idea in this society. “Make them feel that the mere fact of personal desire is evil.”(The Soul of a Collectivist) The rulers enforced the most extreme idea of equality and selflessness in order to make each man as though they are posession of one and other, not an individual. Rulers have created a collectivist …show more content…

“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

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