Placing “Me” before “We” in Anthem During the 20th Century, communism was the main source of government in Russia. Ayn Rand opposed everything that Communists stood for. She believed in individualism and wanted to express her own thoughts. She based her book, Anthem, on her life in Russia and the struggles she endured. When she came to America she wanted to show people what life in Russia was actually like. She parallels her life to the life of her character named Equality. Throughout the book Equality and his love Liberty, have multiple names each representing how they progress from collectivism to objectivism. These names change from being standard names that represent a society that is based fully on the idea of collectivism towards names …show more content…
She needs to have a name that would separate her from the society and show she is different. Knowing she is flowing with life, he names her The Golden One. Brothers in the society are not supposed to interact with sisters, but both The Golden One and Equality do. They commit many transgressions and Equality starts to develop feelings for The Golden One. When the two finally speak Equality tells her that he 's bestowed her with the name The Golden One, and she admits she has been calling him The Unconquered. These new names show the progression of independent thought because they are giving each other names that represent individualism. She gave him the name The Unconquered because he is not going to follow in the footsteps of his brothers and is not afraid to break the rules. So when The Unconquered unearths the great power of electricity he wants to share it with his brothers and show it to the Council of Scholars. Just like Equality, Ayn Rand wishes to write and express her personal thoughts, but her society in Russia will not allow her to. The council is taken back by by Equality’s discovery. They believe he is trying to prove he is superior to the brothers. As soon as The Unconquered is placed in jail, he knows that this society does not truly want to advance or learn. They want to stick to their old ways and continue a society where every man is unfamiliar with individualism. The Unconquered takes matters into his own hands and shows he has not been conquered by the society when he decides to run into the Uncharted Forest. He proves that his new name was a good fit for him and finally went after his freedom to a place where he can express his own identity and