Living on My Own What government is so cruel that their people lose the right state of mind? Well, in Anthem by Ayn Rand, the government is terrible and unstable, which causes Equality to lose his freedom and individuality. Anthem the main characters live in a dystopian society. This a society where the government laws and code are unfair. The laws are unnecessary because for a small crime, there are big consequences. These strict laws in the society made the main characters lose their individuality and freedom. Individuality is lost due to the meaningless laws and lack of education. One of the laws is “for writing this or even reading this is 3 years in prison” (Rand ch.1, page 14). This is saying that the people in the society all have to be equal. No one is stronger than anyone else, smarter than anyone else, or better than anyone else. The reason no one is more powerful is because they are all equal and treated the same. The reader of the book can tell that that equality is scared. Equality is in a hiding spot in a little tunnel. He is afraid that he would go to jail or get killed by government for being too smart and inventing a new thing. The new thing that he invented was the light bulb. The book states, “I found these boxes with wires in them…” (Rand ch.3, page 4). This is stating that the he found electricity while hiding from …show more content…
When he was on the run, he saw his reflection, and he cried because he has never seen his reflection before. Equality has never seen his own face, “Our face was not like the faces of our brothers, for we felt no pity when looking upon it. Our body was not like the bodies of our brothers, for our limbs were straight and thin and hard and strong” (Rand ch.8, page 7). This means that he was never able to leave his society and see the real Him. Equality has truly found the power behind becoming a real