Bradley Forcier, Ms. Cooper, Intro to Western Language and Literature, May 21, 2024. Individualism, Collectivism, and the Nobility of Equality 7-2521 What is nobility? This is a question that could have many answers depending on the person. Many different things can be noble to many different people. This is apparent in the book Anthem, by Ayn Rand. In the story, you witness somebody struggle to escape their ultra-collectivist society while, at the same time, trying to discern their own individual identity that they have lacked for so long. The protagonist of Anthem definitely begins the story with a very agreeably noble goal, but his goals become significantly more questionable as the story continues on, this is due to the change of situations he finds himself …show more content…
Everybody refers to themselves as “we” or “us”. Rather than living for themselves, everybody lives for the collective as a whole. This is even exemplified by one of the first pages of the book, which says that the following message is carved into the World Council’s Palice: “’WE ARE ONE IN ALL AND ALL IN ONE. THERE ARE NO MEN BUT ONLY THE GREAT [WE], ONE, INDIVISIBLE AND FOREVER. (6)’” However, even though he lives in this world and this is all he knows, he still has a sliver of individuality, as he still follows through on his own wants and desires sometimes, such as when he finds a train tunnel and uses it as a hiding place from the shackles of society. He seems to do this for no apparent reason other than just being born differently than everybody else, at least at the beginning of the story. The conclusion to be drawn here is that, although he was still sheltered during the commencement of the story, he had a great sense of individuality and self that both made him an enemy of society and the one to save it. Although he starts out as another brick in the wall of society, by the end of the story he develops an almost