Anthem is a good book about the future and their own versions of a Utopian society. This novel is all about independence and how options are limited. The question asked is if you think Equality’s eventual assessment of his sins is correct. My answer to this question is, he felt as if his sins taught him more.
In this society, one of the major rules in this book made by the council is you are not allowed to go anywhere unless told to by the society. Equality finds a subway tunnel from the unmentionable times this is a crime in their society. He comes to this tunnel daily for 3 hours. “Sitting in the tunnel for three hours each night and studying.” (Rand 35) If he is caught going to this tunnel every night for three hours he will be sent to prison.
Anthem begins by introducing what is immoral in the dystopian society written before the reader. This type of world the main character resides in is intricate and far too uniformed for modern life. Equality 7-2521 is the turning point for this civilization -he is the outlier of the painstakingly ordered community that was made. However, before this, he was just another ordered and uniformed pawn in the eyes of the Council. He exists in a world where everyone is raised in collectivism- Equality maneuvers his will to contrast the rules of which he has always lived by and toils against his own mind with feelings that he has against his own society, Ayn Rand creates a character that carries a prominent personality to advance the unchanging world
Imagine a world that has lacked in society and acted as if no one should be given freedom or opportunities. Placed in the future, is a community full of people who have been beaten by the word “we”, has been taught as if freedom does not exist, and has been stuck in the ways of the past. The place with such limited amount of imagination is Anthem. Anthem has many rules to follow and to obey, such as to not favor one person over another, and those who dare to disobey any of the rules will be beaten or sent to Palace of Corrective Detention. The people are to wear a bracelet that has their name carved on it and are to call themselves we instead of I.
Science fiction authors have been hinting about modern day problems in all their stories. Many times this is because of Societal Commentary. Typically in science fiction stories, writers incorporate social commentary, which critiques issues in society. Social commentary affects everyone. Some examples of this idea are in Anthem by Ayn Rand, where equality 7-2521 goes though the journey of individualism.
Bildungsroman, is a novel dealing with one person's formative years, or spiritual education. Such as, Anthem, a dystopian fiction novella by Ayn Rand, written in 1937. Anthem, is written as the diary of Equality 7-2521, a young man living in a futuristic time, in which people have lost all knowledge of individualism, to the point of not even knowing the word “I.” Throughout the story, Equality longs for individuality in a collectivist society, knowing that it is a sin, he still strives to be who he wants to be, without any care of the government's rules. Throughout the novella, Equality consciously seeks individuality.
The Road to Individualism Every great heroin will face a plethora of conflict in their journey. For Equality, it is not any less. Equality faces internal and external conflict in his path to heroism, faces conflict with others, but also himself. As his desire for a new life grows, more problems arise.
Which is worse: failing or never trying? That question is the one we all ask ourselves. I think that never try it is worse because you lock yourself in your comfort zone and in the end when not intending it you fail because you lose the opportunity know what will happen, you stay with the doubt and do not know if that could have been the best experience or a great achievement in your life. On the other hand, if you try and fail, you learn and if you learn improvements.
The word “I” has a significant impact on our society. Its absence gradually lowers our society to have unjust expectations of people, and allow those expectations to influence our government. The book Anthem, by Ayn Rand, is an example of this occurrence. There is no use of the word “I”, “my”, or any word that implies individuality, as it has been prohibited by the government.
Setbacks of this future Science and technology is an extensive part of our modern lives. What if we had all our technology taken away from us? Then, we were told that no one can be alone and you can't think on your own like in the story Anthem, by Ayn Rand. We wouldn't be able to read p, or choose where we wanted to work. In fact we would not have many of the great things we have today.
The book Divergent takes place in a "post-apocalyptic Chicago" and the book is set in future time so the technology has a big improvement such as the government injecting serums to people and controlling them the way they want to and they can even get into someone's mind by injecting the serum again. So from that we understand that this book is set in the future time. The world has been into a big war which got everything messed up. So people left there, decided to build a big wall to separate the two sides.
From the beginning to the end of the story Anthem, written by Ayn Rand, Equality is limited to any type of freedom in his strict society. He was limited to writing, interacting with others, and even self expression, for they are looked upon as sins. Although Equality believed he sinned at the beginning of the story, he realized his society was limiting him to any type of discovery, this including the Unmentionable Times and the Unspeakable Word. This gave him the push to be his own person and take a stand against the people whom he calls “his brothers.” Equality’s final actions are correct, for his actions speak more as an act of curiosity, rather than a sin.
Robert Frost once said, “If society fits you comfortably enough, you can call it freedom”. Most people can relate to this quote, but what if an individual does not agree or feel comfortable in his or her social system? In the novella Anthem, Ayn Rand shows her willingness to leave an unjust society through Equality leaving his community, purposefully breaking laws, and pursuing his discoveries. The first way Rand proves that she does not agree with her society, is through the main character of the book, Equality, running away from his society. Rand states that Equality’s actions that she will do what it takes to leave her society.
"We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever’”(Rand 19). In Ayn Rand’s dystopian novel, Anthem, the citizens are trained from birth to think only in the plural, to the point where they cannot even conceive of individuals, but only see each other as part of the whole group. Rand’s protagonist, Equality 72521, begins the novel as a street-sweeper who is devoted to the group, but begins to move towards individuality as he progresses towards pure selfishness, as Rand believes we all should. Rand uses the words “we” and “I” to represent Equality’s journey from being dependent on the group, to being utterly independent of everyone.
