Teresa Blote April 13, 2015 8B Anthem Essay In class, we recently finished reading the book Anthem by Ayn Rand. Rand was born February 2nd, 1905 in St. Petersburg, Russia. In Anthem, published in 1938, Rand writes how Equality 7-2521 is treated unfairly amongst his society starting with being assigned the menial job of a Street Sweeper. Equality 7-2521’s life was changed forever when he was assigned the job of a Street Sweeper. From the very beginning of Equality 7-2521’s schooling, he knew a specific job that he wanted. Even though he knew to accept what the Council of Vocations assigned to him, he had his mind set on being a part of the Council of Scholars. “For the Council of Vocations knows in its great wisdom where you are needed …show more content…
People who were either to weak in the society, and were useless for any other job besides a Street Sweeper, or those who were too talented were assigned this menial job of being a Street Sweeper. International 4-8818, Union 5-3992, Fraternity 2-5503, and Solidarity 9-6347 were some of the people that were also assigned the job of a Street Sweeper like Equality 7-2521. In school Equality 7-2521 didn’t enjoy it that much because he was too intelligent for his classmates. Equality 7-2521 knew that he didn’t fit in. He tried to act like Union 5-3992, but that only resulted in Equality 7-2521 being punished. Not fitting in for Equality 7-2521 meant that his differences ranged from his above-average height of six feet to his overly advanced intelligence level. Although, I don’t think that Equality 7-2521 being assigned the job of a Street Sweeper was meant to come off as a punishment, but rather as a way to make things equal. The Council of Vocations might have wanted Equality 7-2521 to realize that he wasn’t “better” than anyone else in the society. I think that the Council of Vocations just wanted to give Equality 7-2521 a job that people wouldn’t enjoy because they already knew Equality 7-2521 had the gift of being extra smart, and most people in the society didn’t have the qualities of Equality