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Dystopian Societies In Ayn Rand's Anthem

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Utopian societies aren’t always as they seem. The author of the book Anthem grew up in a collectivist society and is voicing her opinion through the character Equality about individualism. The book Anthem can be classified as a dystopia, because the government is trying to force everyone to be equal, people are miserable, but don’t want to say or do anything about it, and not everyone knows the truth about the unmentionable times. In the book Anthem the government, known as the World Council, has an excessive amount of control over the people in their city. This is evident when Equality is explaining how they receive their jobs, how they go about their routines during the day and night, and how they are supposed to live and work for their brothers (Rand 25-8). This portrays the reality that whatever the government says goes and they all have been brainwashed because that’s how it's been since the beginning. Furthermore, in this society, control lowers people's happiness levels.
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This is particularly evident when Equality escaped to the uncharted forest and was shocked and stunned when he found the two story house from the times before (Rand 89-93). Obviously the government tried to start fresh and hide all the things from the old times, but Equality found clues that led him to think and believe that the people before had better lives. All in all the government can't hide everything from the citizens who are determined to be different like the character Equality.
Anthem and "utopian" societies like that don’t always show their true colors. Elements of that type of society are sometimes more dystopian. Placing the book Anthem in the category of a dystopia is pretty accurate because the government is forcing collectivism into the society even though many are not in agreeance, people aren’t happy and are afraid to speak up, and the people don’t know the history about the

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Man Can Never Be Equal “Life is about family and technology” (Mark Goddard). This quote was chosen because family and technology both play a vital part in both stories Anthem and Harrison Bergeron. A dystopia is the opposite of a utopia and is usually characterized by a totalitarian society. Totalitarian society is a society in which nearly every aspect of public and private behavior is regulated by the state.

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Flaws with Collective Governments in Anthem and Catch-22 Without systems of government or leadership, the world would crumble into an anarchic chaos, leading to a dangerous environment for its citizens. However, oftentimes governing bodies lean the other direction, with laws and enforcement so strict their people become oppressed. Ayn Rand and Joseph Heller explore the negative consequences of oppressive dystopias in their novels Anthem and Catch-22, respectively, which describe two men’s struggle against their governments. Ayn Rand, staunchly against collectivism in her own life, wrote the allegory Anthem to reflect her anti-collective sentiment. In Anthem, the central character, Equality 7-2521, describes growing up in a collectivist society

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Lily Haghpassand English 9 September 20, 2017 In the book, “The Anthem”, the government has found a way to maintain peace and harmony in society by instilling fear into its constituents. The members of this society are taken from their parents at birth and thrown into a world where differences are frowned upon and sameness is put above all other things, brainwashing each child with the notion that everything the government says is true. When children are born, they are denied bonding time with their parents and placed in the “Home of Infants” with other children their age and the idea of sameness is stressed. By doing this, they take away the emotion of love, among other things, and in turn, create a society of seemingly identical individuals.

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In several ways the novella Anthem can be compared to the modern day communist dictatorship North Korea. Although they are similar in some places they are completely different in other ways. Ways they are able to be compared and contrasted are the forms of government, the state and mentality of the citizens, and development or progress as a civilization. Although it is often said that anywhere can be better than a certain place, such as people saying that school is the worst place that exists for a relatable example, there are various different factors that play into the overall condition of something that it can be extremely difficult to tell. To finish the previous thought, school can be hated because people are put up to endure hours upon

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Anthem is a great novel written by Ayn Rand. of the Great Rebirth. That was the time that came, following a war amongst the many and the Evil ones. This story is established in and around a City in which every phase of every individual's life is token control of by the government of the word “WE. The City appears to be self-sustaining components, with its own governing Councils, own agriculture, and all of the occupations needed to withstand it on its own.

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In our society, people are motivated in lots of different ways. This can create both positives, such as putting a man on the moon, and negatives, such as war and starving people. Anthem is a story about a man who is going against his collectivist society in his search for individuality. Equality’s main motivation is to discover new things and new ideas in the world around him, as well as to try to figure out who he is as an individual. His motivation is correct because he enables the thought of free will, and the world could become a better place if everyone was motivated like Equality.

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How could losing individuality affect a society? The novel Anthem by Ayn Rand is about a guy named Equality 7-2521 who is trying to find himself in a society where everything is controlled and different. Later, he finds himself even though he will have to go through many obstacles to get there. The process behind losing individuality in an Anthem’s society are in forcing strict laws, brain washing of their citizens, and removing of family. The Anthem society in forcing of strict laws made it easy for everyone to lose their individuality.

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Anthem is a story written by Ayn Rand as a propaganda piece portraying the evils of communism. The book takes place in the future in a undisclosed city surrounded by forest. In this city a collectivist society dwells. The conflict of Anthem is character vs. society where one man by the name of Equality decides to go against his broken government. Equality took a stand against his broken society, he has defied the council of scholars and his government, had a relation with a women, and escaped the city to The Uncharted Forest.

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In the novel Anthem the author, Ayn Rand discusses the ways Equality 7-2521’s world is a dystopia because independent thought, information and freedom are restricted, the natural world was banished and distressed, a concept is worshipped by the citizens and the society is an illusion of a perfect , utopian world. To begin with, Ayn Rand explains how the Equality 7-2521’s world is a dystopian society because the freedom of think and do anything for yourself is restricted. Equality states “It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see... It is as if we were speaking alone to no ears but our own.

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Collectivism and Selfishness in Anthem Imagine living in a world where everybody's lives are completely mapped out by the government. Where every decision is made without the input of the citizens it affects. In the novella Anthem, Ayn Rand depicts a completely collectivist society, where every idea, action, and invention is purely for the benefit of society as a whole. Everything is done with the entire population in mind, and individuality is extremely frowned upon.

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In response to the choice of Street Sweeper, Equality thinks, “We knew we had been guilty, but now we had a way to atone for it” (26). With his intelligence and curiosity, Equality would do much better as a Scholar. The government punishes him for being different, and as a result, they can’t see him become advantageous. They are blinded by their beliefs on

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Victory Over Collectivism “I”, one of the only one-letter words in the English language. Yet its power and meaning do not match its quantitative value. In the collectivist dictatorship found the in the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand, this word has disappeared and consequently, society has fallen into a dark age, all because of the loss of a single-lettered word. However, the hero of this time, Equality 7-2521, breaks down the barrier of the collectivist society and allows him to make advances that show him the power of the word “I” and the idea of individualism in government and in society. Although the word “I” has vanished from society, Equality is able to free himself from the collectivist government through the use of science and free thought,

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Anthem is an anti-dystopian fictional novella by author Ayn Rand, written in 1937 and first published during 1938 in England and later published in America during 1946. Set in the distant future in a collectivist society; where words like I, me, and mine have been eradicated from their vocabulary and instead use “we”, “our”, and “they” to refer to themselves as a whole. Councils dictate all life in the society through the Council of the Home, Council of Scholars, etc. A young man named Equality 7-2521 had dreamed of becoming a Scholar, but was instead assigned to be a street sweeper by the Council of Vocations, where he will continue to search for knowledge. The definition of dystopian literature is a state in which the conditions of life are extremely bad.

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An army of soldiers march past a bread shop, monitoring the faithful citizens of Great Mother Russia. The citizens pay no attention to the troops, for this is the norm life for them and they aren't allowed to think about it. Dystopia is all around and everyone's oblivious. Dystopian literature is a genre of literature that often finds itself in the future, with a totalitarian government that controls and manipulates its unaware citizens. In the dystopian stores, "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, and, "Anthem" by Ayn Rand, the main characters each make the choice of risking their life for their beliefs, one giving it up.

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---ILLUSION OF A UTOPIA Dystopias may be illusions of a utopia, either for the readers or, more frequently, the society depicted in the book. The government uses censorship, propaganda and other forms of manipulation in order to make people believe that they are living in a perfect society. This illusion can be also maintained through corporate or mass-media control, new technologies like robots or scientific methods, religious ideology etc. Sometimes the readers may think that they are reading utopian fiction because the author intentionally did not reveal dystopian elements of the society early in the book. However, eventually a hidden truth behind the seemingly perfect society is uncovered to shock the reader how easily he or she was manipulated by the narrative.

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