Underlying Motives in Anthem
Oscar Wilde said, “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.” His quote explores how a person's personality is shaped by the personalities of others, and this sometimes makes it hard to find one's self-identity. Ayn Rand’s book Anthem explores this topic through the eyes of Equality, a man who was solely raised on the belief that he is to serve his fellow citizens, his brothers. But he alone discovers electricity, and he finds joy in his discovery. Even though he wants to help his brother men, Equalitie’s primary source of pride and joy from his work is caused by his discovery of how self motivation and perseverance can pay off while …show more content…
Facing extreme challenges along the way, Equality had only himself to create his new light and be willing to face the world council on his own. In Equality’s own words, ”We alone, of the thousands who walk this earth, we alone in this hour are doing a work which has no purpose save that we wish to do it.”(36). Although the impulsive, ambitious lifestyle of Equality worked out for him, how would that work for people of the real world? According to Ayn Rand, it is best for everyone to strive to work like Equality does. “But the only things which taught us joy were the power we created in our wires, and the Golden One. And both these joys belong to us alone, they come from us alone, they bear no relation to our brothers, and they do not concern our brothers in any way”(85) is an excellent example of how for Equality, the only things which made him truly happy were things that belonged to him and him only. Quite ironic because this is the complete opposite of what the Society wants for people to be happy. Especially since Equality had just recently conversed with a member of the World Council debating this same topic, “‘And if this should lighten the toil of men,’ said Similarity 5-0306, ‘then it is a great evil, for men have no cause to exist save in toiling for other men’"(74). The World Council believes that the only only purpose in being happy or just living in general is to toil, and today humans know that the purpose of science is to better the human race by understanding nature and making tasks