Individual Rights And Freedom In Ayn Rand's Anthem

In the novella Anthem, individual rights and freedom do not exist. The word “I” is prohibited to be spoken by men. Equality 7-2521 is a street sweeper of the city and he is different from the others in the society. Equality is more intelligent, taller, learns quicker, and he enjoys learning about science; especially how things move and work. Since the word “I” is the unspeakable word, Equality uses the word “We” to resemble that he is doing these actions . While sweeping the streets, Equality discovers a dark tunnel that was made during the Unmentionable Times. He sneaks into the tunnel every night to perform scientific experiments. In his experiment of dissecting a frog, Equality discovers that metal draws the power of the skies and that

No one has gone against the city’s laws of doing things alone and Equality 7-2521 is the first to do so. Even though doing things alone and conducting experiments not as a scholar are against the law, Equality still takes pride in his invention and continues to discover new phenomenons of nature. “We made it. We created it. We brought it forth from the night of the ages. We alone. Our hands. Our mind. Ours alone and only ours” (59) In this statement Equality takes all the credit for his new invention and says that the invention was made alone. Equality is right to be motivated this way because for once someone who is not a scholar has invented something that the scholars have never thought of. The scholars even rejected his invention because they said it would decrease the production of candles, but truthfully they rejected his invention because they were in fear of his knowledge and intelligence. The idea of Equality’s invention came from the experiments he conducted and the days of work he tried to discover this so called “electricity”. “We forgot all men, all laws and all things save our metals and our wires. So much is still to be learned! So long a road lies before us, and what care if we must travel it alone!” (54) In this statement all Equality cares about is his invention and he is still trying to expand his

His primary motivation was making his invention alone even though it was against the law. Equality is right to feel motivated this way because he has put the time and effort into his light bulb and he has invented something that the House of Scholars fear. He takes pride and joy for the work he has done. The world would not be the same if everyone had the same motivation! There will be no competition, you will not be able to motivate yourself to achieve your goals, the world would turn into a dictatorship, and people will not be unique and different from their