Characteristics Of Gaea In Anthem

Andrew Mee, Miranda Mee, Alexis Schifer

Mrs. Hamm

English III

6 April 2018

Why Are They Named After Legends? In the book Anthem, Ayn Rand uses the names Prometheus and Gaea to describe the characters Equality and Liberty. Prometheus and Gaea are both characters in greek myths and also have very predominant characteristics that relate to the characters from Anthem. Prometheus is widely interpreted as a leader of mankind. Gaea is broadly described as the mother of the universe and of all mankind. The book Anthem is about a society that has a collective type of government. Many of the characters in Anthem do not have identities of their own due to their repressive government. At the end of the book, Ayn Rand gave Equality and Liberty names of

Gaea and Prometheus have significant characteristics and personalities that are portrayed throughout the novel by the characters Equality and Liberty.

In Greek Mythology, Prometheus became an inspiration for the search of scientific knowledge, similarly to Equality in Anthem. Within the novel, Equality’s life seems to reflect Prometheus’ life. According to legend, Prometheus is referred to as “the champion of mankind”, having created man with water and clay (“Prometheus”). Equality can relate to the term “champion of mankind” because of his eventual recolonization of the human race at the end of the novel. Prometheus and Equality both take part in creating or re-creating mankind. The characters are also similar because they each defy those who had raised them in order to create this new generation of beings. Prometheus defied Cronus, the father of all titans, and Equality defied the council of elders (“Prometheus”;

In Anthem, Liberty and Equality are planning to create a new generation of humans unlike their collective counterparts (Rand 101). The Greek people saw the Goddess Gaea as the mother of the new generation after coming out of the chaos before anything else existed (“Gaea”). Gaea and Liberty are both seen as mothers in the same sense. Gaea and Liberty are the first of their kind and are seen as something new to look forward to. Liberty escapes from the destructive and chaotic collective society she is living in to a safe haven with Equality (Rand 82). According to Greek Mythology, before the Earth was born Gaea came from a void of chaos and confusion. She escaped this void and created the Earth we live on today (“Gaea”). Gaea and Liberty both had to escape a destructive society in order to create the society they want to live in. The greek goddess Gaea relates to Liberty because they both have gone through similar