Dictatorship In Anthem, By Ayn Rand

A dictatorship is the everyday life of Equality 7-2521 and Liberty 5-3000. In Anthem, by Ayn Rand, Equality 7-2521 lives in a society in which equality is enforced in the laws of the dictating society. No one can be different from anyone else, nor can one person spend more time with one person than another. Equality 7-2521 is dictated by the leaders of his society though he increasingly does not believe in his leaders morals. His morals and ethics follows the advice Ayn Rand offers in her essay “How Does One Lead a Rational Life in an Irrational Life?” Equality 7-2521 learns through his journey in Anthem, to be able to be free, everyone needs to be an advocator of the protection of rights and to be themselves, not conforming to society, so

“We seized our box, we shoved them aside, and we ran to the window. We turned and we looked at them for the last time, and a rage, such as it is not fit for humans to know, choked our voice in our throat” (Rand, Anthem 74-75). The expert from the text shows Equality is deposed to do anything that would save his box from destruction. He is protecting his right to own property as a citizen. Equality is willing to oppose his leaders to enunciate everything that he believes in; being oneself and staying true to all one’s rights and morals. He is unequivocally denouncing his leaders by going against everything that his society believes in, like creating inventions as a whole and not by oneself. Rand’s statement, “But in no case and in no situation may one permit one’s own values to be attacked or denounced, and keep silent,” substantiates Equality’s actions in trying to defend all of his rights (Rand, “How” 84). Both Rand and Equality are elucidating that people have to fortify everything that they believe in or it can all be appropriated. Equality and Ayn adage that if people don’t protect their rights then someone will come along that will confiscate people of all virtues and standards. Citizens will wholeheartedly follow anyone that will give them a sense of purpose though once a leader shows unethical morals, citizens should

Equality 7-2521 and Liberty 5-3000 find their freedom in the Uncharted Forest. They came onto a house in the middle of the forest from the Unmentionable Times where they are able to live their lives the way that they want to without anyone criticizing them. Equality is denouncing the leaders of his society when he says, “But I am done with this creed of corruption. I am done with the monster of ‘We,’ the word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery, falsehood and shame. And now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the earth, this god whom men have sought since men came into being, this god who will grant them joy and peace and pride. This god, this one word: ‘I.’” (Rand, Anthem 97). Equality is proclaiming that he no longer believes in having an entire society equal. Everyone in a society needs to be different by being themselves and protecting their rights and morals. By doing this everyone can find freedom from a society. Rand’s statement, “Nothing can corrupt and disintegrate a culture or a man’s character as thoroughly as does the precept of moral agnosticism, the idea that one must never pass moral judgement on others, that one must be morally tolerant of anything, that the good consists of never distinguishing good from evil” shows that if citizens want to find freedom it is competent to judge because then one is emphasizing the differences between citizens (Rand, “How” 82). Equality and Rand found