This life, in Ayn Rand’s eyes is collectivism. Ayn Rand was able to demonstrate and make evident this idea with her many books. Namely, one of her most famous, Anthem. For the typical reader, Anthem correctly displayed views on individualism because of the use of ‘we’, how Equality 7-2521’s life is portrayed, and the lack of freedom. We.
This is not true. In Ayn Rand’s “The Soul of an Individualist”, the protagonist, Howard Roark, is talking about being an individual. He is also talking about having an ego. “No creator was prompted by a desire to serve his brothers, for his brothers rejected the gift he offered and that gift destroyed the slothful routine of their lives. His truth was his only motive.
However, once he left, he had to employ cognition to determine what he should do and how he should go about doing it. This was important to his survival, as Ayn Rand’s philosophy of objectivism states. The desire for individuals not to sacrifice themselves for others is present in
Rand shows this theme by writing, “We were born with a curse [that] has always driven us to thoughts which are forbidden [and] given us wishes men may not wish” (#). By trusting himself, Equality-72521 found his inner strengths in being the adventurous person he is. Although he addresses his skill as a curse, he justifies that self-reliance is what makes him unique by saying that it has inspired him to have his own thoughts and wishes that other people do not have. By things independently, people find their own strengths, weaknesses, and capabilities rather than focusing on how they are like others. Equality-72521 lives in an unsupportive society, and he proves that stepping out of his comfort zone is what made shaped him into the person he is today.
Prometheus loved humans more than olympians and gave them a number of gifts. In all accounts Prometheus is known as the protector and benefactor of man. He gave mankind a number of gifts including fire. He also tricked zeus into allowing man to keep the best part of the animals sacrificed to the gods and to give the gods the worst parts. Prometheus loves man, he created them, but, he also protects them, this makes him very important as he is one of the few deities to favor humans over the olympians.
When the gun fires and the time starts, their whole world is focused on what they want and desire; being the first to cross the finish line to garner their reward. “That individual did it for themselves; not caring what others thought” (Ayn Rand- In Her Own Words). Therefore, this example of individualism is also portrayed when the golden one and equality 7-2521 choose to be different. Without question, these two individuals exclaim their heart and mind saying, “We do not know, but we shall learn. We cannot stop now, even though it frightens us that we are alone in our knowledge (54).” Likewise, the book also reads, “so long a road lies before us, and what care we if we must travel it alone!
Here we find Equality on a path of self-discovery and independence. Equality 7-2521 can free himself from collectivism because he was independent. In the novel Anthem Ayn Rand makes us comprehend that Equality had and inner struggle and felt that he had been born with a curse. During the book Equality struggles to understand why he is different. In the book Anthem Equality lives in a collectivist world.
The novel Anthem by Ayn Rand is set in a dystopian society where the idea of collectivism is prevalent. Collectivism is the idea of a group having more priority than any of the individuals in it. Throughout the novel, the characters refer to themselves as “we” instead of “I” and refer to each other as their brother men. Equality 7-2521 tells the reader that whenever they feel tempted, they are to repeat the phrase “We are one in all and all in one.There are no men but only the great, WE, One, indivisible and forever.” (Rand, p.19) Alisa Rosenbaum, who later changed her name to Ayn Rand, was born in Russia and grew up there as a child. Her family was a part of the middle class.
To begin, Albert Einstein once said, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” Curiosity, a desire to know or learn something, must exist in in this world in order for new things to be discovered. In the novel, Anthem, written by Ayn Rand, the male protagonist, Equality 7-2521, lives in a dystopian society in which everyone are forced to learn and think the way the World Council of Scholars want them to. The World Council of Scholars are the smartest people who dictate everything in this society. Equality 7-2521 begins to break away from this conformity, beginning with his encounter with an underground tunnel where he learns of electric light; then he presents his discovery to the World Council of Scholars.
Ayn Rand uses Equality’s discovery of light and his relationship with the rest of society to help readers infer the light’s symbolic meaning as the truth of egoism, a truth that cannot be destroyed. In Anthem society has sunk into a dark age. The people are all living dark stale lives were any creative or individual thought is outlawed. As a result all the citizens are sickly creatures living in constant fear. “we look upon our brothers and we wonder.