Summary Of Anthem By Ayn Rand

From the past to the present, society has struggled with the concepts of conformity and individuality. Often times, people find comfort and safety in being like everyone else because they don’t feel alone. On the other hand, individuality seems to be encouraged by society by telling everyone to be themselves, yet people are ridiculed for standing out. In the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand, the conflict between conformity and individuality is present in Equality’s quest for freedom when he convinces International 4-8818 not to report their discovery of the tunnel, when Equality meets the Golden One, and when he presents his invention to the house of scholars.

The internal struggle International 4-8818 faces when having to choose whether or not to

conformity because he displays more love to one person, when he is supposed to love everyone equally. When Equality spots the Golden One for the first time, he feels immediate attraction which he cannot explain. Equality describes the way he feels about Liberty 5-3000 after he meets her, “We wish to write this name…to speak it, but we dare not speak it above a whisper. For men are forbidden to take notice of women, and women are forbidden to take notice of men” (Rand 18). Equality is experiencing feelings for the Golden One which challenges his society’s rules. He is forbidden to be attracted to another person because then he is not showing that he loves all his brothers and sisters equally. Nonetheless, Equality ignores this law, and pursues this budding relationship. This exhibits how Equality and the Golden One are facing the conflict of conformity vs. individuality because each of them struggled with knowing that they were blatantly disobeying the law. Both show their hesitance to break away from everyone else in the society when they exchange words with each other; each of them know that their thoughts and feelings are forbidden, and they feel anxious about having them. However, they ultimately decide to keep seeing each other, which causes their relationship to grow. Their relationship also benefits Equality because the Golden One follows him

conformity is present in Equality’s quest for freedom is when he presents his light to the Council of Scholars. When Equality shows the scholars his invention, which is presumably a light bulb, they are terrified of it and start to insult him out of fear. During this, Equality tries to explain his invention and reason with them, and one of the scholars says, “‘How dared you think that your mind held a greater wisdom than the minds of your brothers? And if the Councils had decreed that you should be a Street Sweeper, how dared you think that you could be of greater use… than in sweeping the streets?’” (Rand 41). A scholar scolds Equality for creating his light and not sticking the job that was assigned to him. He desires to be a part of the House of Scholars and he believes he is not fit to live in the House of the Street Sweepers. This is an example of how Equality will not conform because he refuses to accept the fate society assigns to him. On the contrary, Equality must take into consideration the consequences of not conforming to society. He knows he could potentially be killed for performing an occupation that is not his assigned one. However, in his eyes, no punishment is great enough for him to stop his experimentation, even if it means death. In addition, Equality will not allow the scholars to take his invention from him. Disobeying the House of Scholars is a major sin in the world in which Equality lives, and his