...In Ayn Rand's dystopian, novel Anthem, the author shows that society or individuality is not acceptable. Neither is personal freedom and independent thinking. This is shown throughout the book as the characters are assigned numbers not names, and individualism is forbidden. They are not allowed to call each other by pronouns. The world depicted in Ayn Rand's Anthem can be seen as just a book, but not a direct production of the future. “There's nothing to take a man’s freedom from him, save other men. To be free, a man must be free of his brothers.”(Rand 92) In this quote Equality 7-2521 says that individuals are free on their own unless another man disrupts them with the man's expectations based on their life. The author sees this brotherhood...
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...Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that emphasizes the moral worth of the individual. Individualism is something thats makes a person one, giving them the right to be an individual, the freedom to equality. In the novel Anthem By Ayn Rand individualism is a central idea explored through the story. The main character Equality 7-2521 is living in a society where the concept of individuality is non existent, he is very curious about the world he lives in and the science and nature that surrounds it. But unfortunately it's a sin to think/wonder such things and that it's not good to be different from his brothers but it is evil to be superior to them. According to the text it states (Rand 6) “We...
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...In Anthem, the Uncharted Forest symbolizes everything that people are too afraid to explore. It embodies all the things people don’t do because they are fearful of stepping out of their comfort zone and/or of breaking the social construct that surrounds them. In Ayn Rand’s society, it specifically symbolizes all that is unknown to the society Equality 7-2521 lives within. It represents all the things Equality 7-2521 has been curious about throughout his life and all the things he and his brothers have left unexplored due to Council’s orders and the fear of the unknown that the Council induced in them. While reading Anthem we get a couple of glimpses at Equality 7-2521’s thoughts. These glimpses show us that he has always felt drawn to the...
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...Anthem Contest Essay Within the dystopian setting of Ayn Rand’s Anthem, the human spirit is enslaved and oppressed. Living under a totalitarian dictatorship, all people are obligated to live unselfishly. Beneath this collectivist regime, everyone lives a life of servitude and dependence on one another. There is no individuality, no identity, no sense of self, no word “I”. Taking its place is the word “WE”, emphasizing the collective body that encompasses all. In order for the State to maintain control over its subordinates, it has meticulously brainwashed all to believe that it is wrong to be different, to have a preference, to be superior, and to think or act independently from the collective. With these rules as the moral doctrine, each person is...
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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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...Throughout Ayn Rand’s novel Anthem, we see Equality grow as an individual and find the true meaning of freedom. In chapter eight, when he remembers he is the damned he laughs because he realizes he is the happy one and that his civilization is actually the one damned. The truth is he feels like he is the opposite of damned, he is blessed. It’s ironic how after Equality leaves the city he’s happier and feels more alive than ever before. He is an outcast but he’s the only one who went against the Council and stood up for himself. When he was in the city he felt like he was he was a tool of the Council’s use. Now he finally is able to see the “beauty of the earth” (Rand 94). While in the forest, Equality doesn’t feel like he’s damned, but figures out what being free is like and how there is no greater treasure. He has the gift of intelligence, to know the evil of collectivism. It ruins him every day, but with his power...
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...Imagine a world with no freedom where there is no individuality and equality. Plot of Anthem by Ayn Rand, she talks about this place where is no freedom. The citizens of this place did not even have names, they had numbers and had to do everything together no matter what it is. Equality 7-25271 one of the citizens, is a very interesting man he thinks that each one should be treated as an individual. He started to do things that he should not do like have his own project to work on, spend time with himself alone, and get caught and go to jail. “We put a piece of copper and a piece of zinc into a jar of brine, we touched a write to them, and there, under our fingers, was a miracle which had never occurred before, a new miracle and a new power.”(Rand 52-53). Equality was cutting open a body of a dead frog, the leg was moving. The frog had been hanging on a wire of copper, and it had been the metal of the knife which had sent a strange power to the copper through the brine of the frog’s body. After a lot of exploration equality discovers light which he decides to work on individually to invent a light bulb....
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...-Conformity and Rebellion: In my analysis of Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” I would tend agree that people are divided based on their roles and functions in society. This division of people may be outside of an individual’s or group of people’s control. This division of people may be driven by socioeconomic, geographic, political, ideological or technological reasons. There may be individuals in power that will dictate where classes of people should live and work. The divisions of people into classes can be seen in both the real world and fictional writings. There may be divisions of classes within the same group of people based on power and influence in that group. Some of these individuals in these groups may also consist of those rare individuals with a conscience, that Thoreau speaks of, who can influence change or incite a rebellion. If the actions of these rare individuals incites a revolution and takes down those individuals currently in power then I would agree they would be considered an enemy of the state. People can also be divided based on their roles and functions in society without force or coercion. Their culture or customs of a society may dictate roles and functions. An individual may be born into this society with fixed expectations of their roles or functions. This agreement can be the seen in the case of Changez, in the Reluctant Fundamentalist. Changez was born into a caste system where his family held some form of power and influence based...
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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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