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Summary Of Ayn Rand's Anthem

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Freedom A collective is defined as a group of individuals. In Anthem, the collective refers to a group of people who have surrendered their individuality completely. The people within the society depicted cannot be, or believe themselves to be, better than their brothers, nor can they think thoughts which are not also shared with all others. This attempt at total fairness ties the entire society to the lowest among them, hindering any innovation that might be made. When Equality 7-2125 says “To be free, a man must be free from his brothers,” he means a person who is a member of a collective before they are an individual can never be free. Equality 7-2521 considers himself to be more able than his brothers in a few ways. He is better at school work and has a natural curiosity for the ways of the world. Within his society, this is a crime. “It is not good to be different from our brothers, but it is evil to be superior to them” (Rand 21). Equality cannot prevent himself from having certain abilities, but he is punished for them, even where these abilities could benefit the collective. Equality does not have the freedom to be his best self. …show more content…

It is a crime for people to prefer any one person over another. “International 4-8818 and we are friends. This is an evil thing to say, for it is a transgression… to love any among men better than the others, since we must love all men and all men are our friends” (Rand 30). All members of the collective should be appreciated equally by all other members, whether they earn it or not. People are not able to choose what qualities they prefer or who they most enjoy interacting with. Because people are unable to show preference, they lose the freedom surround themselves with people who will better

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