Examples Of Collective Society In Anthem

Anthem: A Collective Society

Throughout their lives, the residents of the society described in Anthem, written by Ayn Rand, would be separated and meticulously moved according to their ages, gender, and jobs. The most prevalent example of this is the separation of the ages. The collective society in Anthem chose to meet the demands that came with the issue of aging by creating a very controlled and organized environment for the citizens to live in. “We remember the Home of Infants where we lived till we were five years old, together with all the children of the City who had been born in the same year,” Equality reminisces about his first childhood home (20). Once a child reaches the age of five, they move to the Home of the Students, where

Once that has been done, they move into the Home of their career. For example, Equality “wished to be sent to the Home of the Scholars when [his] time would come,” (23). On the contrary, he ended up being sent to work as a streets sweeper, therefore causing his next residence to be the Home of Street Sweepers. In this society, the people worked until they turned forty, where at that time they would be moved to the Home of the Useless. “At forty they are worn out,” and they become an Old One (28). There is not another Home past the Home of the Useless. However, there is another step that follows becoming an Old One because “when a miracle happens and some live to be forty-five, they are the Ancient Ones,” (28). These divisions of the citizens into careful categories suggests that ideas like structure and order are most likely valued in this society. Everyone of one age lived in the same home from birth until they received job, at which they lived with everyone with the same job. Simplicity also seems to be a value of this society because the system is very basic and straightforward. At a glance, everything seems to be in black and white with no gray area to be seen at all. In addition, it appears that youthfulness holds

Similar to the structure and order of the aging process in Anthem’s society, the education system presented is also very organized. At five years old, every boy goes to live at the Home of the Students until he reached the age of fifteen. During these 10 years, they gain a variety of knowledge taught to them by Teachers that “had been appointed by the Councils”, including information about the earth and their society’s history (22). Such an amount of time and energy is put into their educations, despite the fact that their lives would vary from that point on depending on their jobs. This suggests that the community values education, but only the education that they want to provide the citizens because the citizens should only have knowledge of certain things. At the Home of the Students, Equality was taught an oath or prayer of some sort. As a part of their education they learned that, “We are nothing. Mankind is all. By the grace of our brothers are we allowed our lives. We exist through, by and for our brothers who are the State. Amen,” (21). This pledge teaches them that individuality is wrong, on top of all their other beliefs. It is also considered wrong to be smart, because it is “a great sin, to be born with a head which was too quick,” (21). Equality struggled with this especially because “learning was too easy” for him