The Road To Individualism In Anthem, By Ayn Rand

In our society, people are motivated in lots of different ways. This can create both positives, such as putting a man on the moon, and negatives, such as war and starving people. Anthem is a story about a man who is going against his collectivist society in his search for individuality. Equality’s main motivation is to discover new things and new ideas in the world around him, as well as to try to figure out who he is as an individual. His motivation is correct because he enables the thought of free will, and the world could become a better place if everyone was motivated like Equality.

Megan Morecraft Honors English II Mrs. Drake September 28, 2016 Equality’s True Motive Similar to The Giver by Lois Lowry, the society (in The Giver) is built upon rules that restrict the motives and individualities of the people that live within the community. For example, in The Giver the Elders of the society took away the ability to see color and feel love for one another by making the people resort to sameness. The protagonist, Jonas, was special like Equality in Anthem, because both of the characters figured out the problems of their society and rebelled. In the novella, Anthem, Ayn Rand creates a character named Equality, also known as Prometheus, who conducts secret experiments that are genuinely motivated by the desire to prove self-worth

Naomi In today’s generation, we have learned about collectivism in history classes. In the Holocaust the majority of the people didn’t have a say about anything. In today's generation, we have individualism in our society today. Everyone has the right to make their own choices, such as, if one wants an education or not.

Is it possible that Equality didn’t make a wise decision during his time in Anthem? Should he have given away his light bulb so the scholars would destroy it? In Ayn Rand’s Anthem, a man named Equality struggles to accept the way people live in his town. His brothers are brainwashed into believing their lives mean nothing.

“It was not that the learning was too hard for us. It was that the learning was too easy. This is a great sin, to be born with a head which is too quick” (21). Equality 7-2521 is an exceptionally intelligent individual born into a society where intellect is considered evil. Though he originally believes that he was “born with a curse,” (18) he eventually comes to realize that his “curse” is intellect and individuality which he learns to love.

Anthem Essay Topic 1 Ayn Rand's Anthem depicts a collectivist society where each person is stripped of his/her individuality and forced to do only things that work to better society. The protagonist, Equality 7-2521, has just invented some sort of lighting creation similar to the common lightbulb. Equality knows that his new invention may have a huge, and positive, impact on mankind. However, his knowledge of the prosperity that his creation could have on society is not what causes him to experience feelings of satisfaction and pride while constructing it. Equality's main source of motivation for creating the lightbox is to feel like he has something all to himself that another person is yet to have, and to experience a sense of accomplishment.

Winston Smith, the protagonist in George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four is portrayed by the author to be a person very different from the character of a hero in the traditional sense. He is not supremely courageous or extraordinary in any way. Winston is a deeply flawed and complex individual who is not equipped with the virtual invincibility of a classic hero. He is essentially not a significant character in the context of the book’s setting. He does not lead a grand revolution or take on Big Brother directly.

Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man, wrote about the disadvantages of a black man who worked hard but was unable succeed. Though the prologue and chapter one, Battle Royal, will be discussed, applying African American literary criticism can still be accomplished. As a young intelligent black male, the Invisible man is portrayed as undeniably naïve, which made him unknowing to his own oppression. Incapable of recognizing his place within society, he relied heavily on what he was labeled as or told. However, on the surface he believed that with intelligence he could achieve equality, but internally aware of the impossibility.

The play Oedipus Rex was written by Sophocles and adheres to Greek Tragedy conventions. It tells primarily about the legendary Oedipus, King of Thebes, whose flaw in character contributes to his downfall. Oedipus’ fate was already pre-determined by the gods. This play demonstrates the part that Oedipus’ arrogance plays in the fulfilling of his destiny, and the self-realization that emerges as he struggles to deal with his calamity. In the tradition of Greek tragedy, the protagonist is an admirable, but not perfect character.

Jadara University Faculty of Arts and Languages Department of English Language and Literature Thesis Title Tennessee Williams: The Struggle between Illusion and Reality in The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire Submitted By Issam Yousef Khalaf Al- Hijazeen Supervisor Dr. Tareq Mosleh March 2016 Introduction

with Equality’s reputation. The author tries to grasp the reader’s attention using this technique, to help the reader to finish the book until the end. Above all, in Anthem there is many different thoughts that can determine your reputation, and with those thoughts come actions. Equality chooses to make the wrong actions determined by his thoughts and it causes him to think the society’s rules are not how Equality thinks that they should be.

In Anthem Equality 7-2521 he makes friends. He ends up finding a tunnel and visiting a forest in the middle of a book. During the book Equality starts being disrespectful towards the council after meeting International. He also meets Liberty and makes her his girlfriend. He does not like the fact of being controlled.