...One very prominent area of a society is its technology. The technology of a society can determine a lot about it, including its way of life. In Ayn Rand’s novel, Anthem the technology is very primitive. There is no electricity, so they live by candle light. There are strides made by the character Equality 7-2521 to improve this. After much hard work, Equality is able to recreate the light bulb. By the way this story is written, you can gather how Rand feels about science, technology, and advances in these areas. From her writing, you can presume that Rand is for technology, science and its improvements. In Anthem, Equality represents technological advances and those who seek them. He sees a lightning bolt and tries to recreate it so humans...
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...Anthem takes place in a unknown time in the past or future where technology nor science comes to the mind of the society. “A street sweeper walking in upon the world of scholars / It is against all the rules and laws”(69). Ayn Rand’s book Anthem takes place in a dystopian society that the council of vocations control. throughout the book there was not any change in technology over time other than equality discovering electricity. Also the candles that the entire society use took a long process of getting approved and confirmed. The council and scholars disagreed with Equality’s creating which could have been a revolutionary change in technology in Anthem. Technology in Anthem have not been moving forward and have not been improving in fact it might just be forgotten to the society. “We can give our brothers a new light, cleaner and brighter, than any they have ever known” (60). No one under the class of scholar have ever tried to make an invention. Even in the book the scholars aren't even making inventions for the society...
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...In Ayn Rand’s Anthem, a worldwide totalitarian society of the future is depicted. The society of Anthem is extremely primitive, and lacks inventions that are commonly used in modern society, such as electricity, vehicles, and such. Many seemingly simple objects were reinvented in Anthem, such as glass and the candle, which is the “. . .newest [invention]...[and] was found only a hundred years ago…” A quote from Plato’s Republic was believed to be the inspiration of the English proverb, ”Necessity is the mother of invention.” In Anthem, the reason there are no new inventions is not that there are no necessities, but rather the lack of an individual to feel something is necessary, lest the needs of their brethren. Individuals do not do...
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...In Ayn Rand’s Anthem, mankind destroys all traces of their materialistic and individualistic past to form a utopia. This so-called utopia is actually more of a dystopian society. Dystopias are defined as an imagined place that is usually totalitarianistic and environmentally degraded. Anthem’s society is one of these societies, due to the tyrannical leadership, lack of technological advancements, the indoctrination of people, beginning at birth, and the loss of individualism. The tyrannical leadership is shown through the ruthless enforcement of unreasonable laws. People were “burned alive in the square of the City” (Rand 49), and theft was punishable by “ten years in the Palace of Corrective Detention” (Rand 18). Technology was also severely...
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...In Ayn Rand’s Anthem, a society is built on the ideology of “Brotherhood” and togetherness. One man, Equality, defies this ideology and threatens the “perfect” society built by the councilmen. When Equality discovers the word “I”, he explains the word “‘we’ must never be spoken, save by one’s choice and as a second thought”. Rand, with this quote, wants one to understand the collectively as a group is harmful and restricts one’s freedom. The communist society is unequal and suppresses one’s freedom. While the people are brainwashed to believe everyone is “equal”, there are still those with higher power and control. In the community the council is the “voice of all men”. Even though the community is thought to be equal, the council...
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...A free market economy is an economy where most means of production are privatized and guided and where income is distributed largely through the operation of the market. To many people, it is seen as ultimate freedom and true economic liberty. Others, however, think that it is corrupt. Ayn Rand, the author of the novella Anthem, strongly believed that in order to have a progressive and stable economy, a country must have a free market. This belief is supported by the history of many post-communist countries. The Russian federation is one of the most well known post-communist countries. This is because once a free market was introduced, the countries scientists and scholars had a chance to develop innovations and advance society. With the freedoms...
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...Ayn Rand’s Anthem portrays a collectivist-minded and totalitarian society (also referred to as a dystopian society) where freedom is limited. The dystopian society strongly believes in the idea that everybody is equal and that everybody should only care about the each other and not about themselves. The society had created different councils, each with its own job, and people were not allowed to choose their job, but it was chosen for them. The society believed in one quote that summarized all their beliefs. Ayn Rand talks about this in the following quote: “Everything done by many is good. Everything done by one man is evil (Rand, 77).” The main character of Anthem, Equality 7-2521, was born differently, according to his society, because he had different features than the others. Accepting his difference, he started to separate himself from the society. He did this becuase his 7-2521's real passion was science and just wanted to understand the world, but sadly, in Equality 7-2521's society, he was forbidden from asking questions. Though he was supposed to be a street sweeper. he did not...
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...The society ‘Anthem’ takes place in is based solely on the collective, no individualism allowed. This limits the people in the community greatly, and since all the people of the world live under a select group of rulers, in similar communities, new technology is severely limited and must go through 50 years of tests in order to be approved (Rand 74). Any new technology proposed by the council of scholars must be agreed upon by the others, and only the scholars can make new discoveries. Equality had to learn that he could not make discoveries on his own the hard way, and running from this harsh society nearly cost him his invention, as well as his life. Ayn Rand’s short novella tells the story of his illegal discoveries, the people he meets along the way, and how he is changed as a person by the end. The nature of technology here is to be scared, and the conditions for technological advancement are for people to be knowledgeable, risk-takers, and to not be afraid of advancing....
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...Have you ever felt like someone was watching you or knew what you were going to do next? This is how Equality 7-2521 was treated when he was assigned to the Home of the Street Sweepers in Ayn Rand’s book, “Anthem.” In the communistic society that Equality was living in, there was someone in society that had to try to make sure that the system kept its order. While Equality was growing up, his instructors saw that he was smarter than his fellow classmates and didn’t always like to follow the rules. This is why Equality got assigned to the Home of the Street Sweepers, because they knew that he was going to revolutionize the society too fast. This is a problem because if too many people resided behind him and he decided that he did not like something...
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...herein lies the world of Anthem, an atypical yet discomforting dystopian world. Like most dystopias, the government is oppressive and tyrannical, hiding behind a false veil of fairness and equality. Different is the retrogressive development of technology, which can be described as primitive at best. The stark contrast between this portrayal and portrayals in other dystopias highlights the impact individualism has on the progression of technology in society. Ayn Rand’s Anthem implies that invention inherently encourages the development of the individual and technology thrives when independent thought...
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...Anthem by Ayn Rand Author's Foreword |F.1 |This story was written in 1937. | |F.2 |I have edited it for this publication, but have confined the editing to its style; I have reworded some passages and cut | | |out some excessive language. No idea or incident was added or omitted; the theme, content and structure are untouched. The| | |story remains as it was. I have lifted its face, but not its spine or spirit; these did not need lifting. | |F.3 |Some of those who read the story when it was first written, told me that I was unfair to the ideals of collectivism; this | | |was not, they said, what collectivism preaches or intends; collectivists do not mean or advocate such things; nobody | | |advocates them. | |F.4 |I shall merely point out that the slogan "Production for use and not for profit" is now accepted by most men as | | |commonplace, and a commonplace stating a proper, desirable goal. If any intelligible meaning can be discerned in that | | |slogan at all, what is it, if not the idea that the motive of a man's work must be the needs of others, not his own need, | | |desire or gain? ...
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