...Compare and Contrast Anthem with Night Even though books come in many genres, they can still be compared and contrasted. This applies to almost all books. For example, Eliezer Wiesel’s Night and Ayn Rand’s Anthem are different genres. However, the similarities and differences between these author’s works are definite and deserve analysis. Such similarities include how the societies handle the executions of criminals. In Anthem, Equality has to stand “...in the great square with all the children and all the men of the city, sent to behold the burning” (Rand, 38). During Elie’s experience in the Holocaust, he and everyone else in his camp has to walk “...past the hanged boy and stared at his extinguished eyes, the tongue gaping from his mouth. The Kapos forced everyone to look him squarely in the face” (Wiesel, 63). Also, both Elie and Equality receive messages from watching a public execution. When the pipel is hanged, Elie thinks that God is no longer with the Jews and takes it to...
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...The popular phrase, “curiosity kills the cat”, represents a natural feeling that can be fatal. In Ayn Rand’s Anthem, a similar theme can be shown, like how rebellious and curious are both natural and inevitable. The theme of Anthem is that rebelling is natural against an oppressive collectivist government, which is shown through the main character, Equality 7-2521, who rebels by breaking laws and revolts against their way of life. Anthem proves that rebelling is natural because Equality 7-2521 breaks multiple laws that go against the collectivist beliefs of the government. The society and government in Anthem have laws in place to make individuality illegal and they brainwash the society to make it seem like a “sin”(Rand 17). Equality 7-2521...
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...what is and is not allowed in the totalitarianistic society pictured in Anthem, by Ayn Rand, and proceeds regardless. While the outright and truthful account is being given at the beginning, the reader comes to understand that Equality is unsure of what the response will be to his purposeful fracture of the law. But something more subtle is apparent following the conclusion of the book: Equality’s underlying carelessness with the law. Though acknowledging his refusal to adhere to every law set forth by the Council, he still maintains his sense of apprehension. The arc Equality undergoes throughout the course of Anthem...
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...Ayn Rand, a Russian-American novelist and philosopher, is known for her belief in ethical egoism which is showcased in her dystopian novels, including the fictional novel Anthem. She expressed her political views within her many novels and developed her philosophy of “objectivism” which proposed ethical egoism. Her strong belief in her philosophy demonstrated how morality should only be based on one’s self-interest, even if it may benefit or harms others. One of her dystopian novels, Anthem presents her version of an awful society while featuring her political views. Many other works have used her novel as a resource as a connection as well as some locations around the world. Some societies have been experiencing similarities to the actions...
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...What is the meaning of love? Love is a complex concept that can mean different things to different people. However, in general, love is defined as a deep affection for another individual, creating a strong bond between them which can range to various emotions, emotions that have influenced and inspired many famous poets, movie directors, artists, etc for centuries. In Ayn Rand’s novella, Anthem, Equality 7-2521, a young adult man living in a dystopian society set in the future has to face the conflicts of the lack of individuality and self-expression. He will then later on rebel against these policies which will lead to the discovery of his true self and the power of a romantic love between Liberty 5-3000. At the beginning of the novella,...
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...A Sinful Society An act regarded as a serious or regrettable fault, offense, or omission defines a sin. Ayn Rand’s novel, Anthem describes the journey of Equality 7-2521 who retaliates against his collective and communist government. The idea of individualism does not correlate in a communist society that Equality lives in. However, he harms nobody within his society. Freedom and individualism should not be considered sins. Equality commits a sin when he discovers new ideas, commits multiple transgressions of preferences, and writes his actions down in his journal. Equality creates his own ideas and inventions and begins to realize how to become an individual within himself. He works alone in a tunnel he discovers for three hours each day and working alone defines a sin in their society. Ironically, with the name of Equality, he does not believe that everybody should be equal to one another. He believes this when he ponders, “The secrets of this earth are not for all men to see, but only for those who will seek them” (Rand, 52). Equality gathers items from the streets and other houses and takes them down to the secret tunnel continuously. He continues to do so due to the lack of yearning from all of his brothers to explore and discover. International discovered the tunnel with Equality but he did not want to return due to the consequences that would occur if they were caught. After he escapes the community and the Uncharted Forest, he discovers a house with his soon to be wife...
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...Unlike during the Unmentionable Times, when men created “towers [that] rose to the sky,” it is an affliction to be born with powerful intellectual capacity and ambition in Ayn Rand’s apocalyptic, nameless society in Anthem. Collectivism is ostensibly the moral guidepost for humanity, and any perceived threat to the inflexible, authoritarian regime is met with severe punishment. The attack on mankind’s free will and reason is most evident in the cold marble engraving in the Palace of the World Council: “We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever” (6). Societal norms force homogeneity and sacrifice among all people. Laws and rules are crafted to prevent advancement and preserve relentless...
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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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