Are you currently bombarded by rules set by your parents or boss’? Imagine all the rules you currently have and then times them by ten! It might seem like it’s hard to imagine but the book Anthem by Ayn Rand takes place in a very controlling city. In the city of Anthem, they have a numerous amount of rules and controls set on the city and the people. Anthem has put multiple rules into action so that everyone is “equal” and there are “less” problems.
Unlike during the Unmentionable Times, when men created “towers [that] rose to the sky,” it is an affliction to be born with powerful intellectual capacity and ambition in Ayn Rand’s apocalyptic, nameless society in Anthem. Collectivism is ostensibly the moral guidepost for humanity, and any perceived threat to the inflexible, authoritarian regime is met with severe punishment. The attack on mankind’s free will and reason is most evident in the cold marble engraving in the Palace of the World Council: “We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever” (6). Societal norms force homogeneity and sacrifice among all people.
By juxtaposing her works together, her novella and her opinionated essay, correlation unfolds and similarity shows between the “evil” force of complete assimilation in Anthem and the complete disregard of wrongdoings being denoted as evil in How Does One Live a Rational Life in an Irrational Society. It does not come as a revelation that Equality would find strong personal relation and belief in the opinions of Rand. His resolution that the Council promotes practices of with which he disagrees and finds morally repulsive presents itself in a manner that is agreeable with any morally sound individual. Rand is extremely skillful in effectuating Ethos into her work, weaving together sentences with both beauty and
In the book “Anthem” by Ayn Rand there is a society where everyone is the same. The book starts out by introducing Equality 7-2521, a young man who doesn't understand why he can’t follow the same rules as others. In “Anthem” people were never taught the word “I” but “we” because they should not care about anyone than the people around them. In the book it explains many different characters that break the rules for their friends. Having friends, looking at girls, talking to girls is not allowed.
Individuality allows every person to be themselves and be different from each other. However, In Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem, Rand describes a society where the people were not allowed to openly be themselves, or else they would be punished for being different. The main character, Equality, notices he is different slowly throughout the novella, but kept continuing to be like everyone else for awhile. These rules exist in this society to strip human individuality in order to achieve total equality.
Anthem by Ayn Rand is the story of how a man broke free from a society where singularity and being different was evil. Anthem deals with the topic of communism and how everyone is supposed to be equal and the same. This is shown in the book where in Equality 7-2521’s society, the use of the word “I” is non existent. Instead they use the word “We”. This is because that in this world, no man is alone and does everything alongside his brothers.
The dystopian novel Anthem by Ayn Rand takes place in a totalitarian world of the future and focuses on the primitive society that Equality 7-2521 lives in. Equality is a street sweeper who portrays divergence between his intellectual desire and his society’s collective ideology. As his desires reach their peak, Equality embraces individualism and withdraws from his society, escaping to the Uncharted Forest, where he sets out to produce a new race of man defined by individualistic ego. Rand develops Equality into the connotation of her fundamental principle that, “One must never fail to pronounce a moral judgement” (“How Does One Lead a Rational Life in an Irrational Society?”) where Equality establishes this belief with the action of denouncing
The city’s strict schedules prevent the people their freedom to be in charge of themselves. The Saint of the Pyre had “a thin thread of blood running from the corner of their mouth” when being punished to death for speaking the Unspeakable Word (Rand). In the city a word spoken gave a man his death showing that the collective government controls the people’s choice of words and prevents the people of the city to speak freely. Ayn Rand’s use of imagery portrays the fact that individualism is a right that all humans should have.
How could losing individuality affect a society? The novel Anthem by Ayn Rand is about a guy named Equality 7-2521 who is trying to find himself in a society where everything is controlled and different. Later, he finds himself even though he will have to go through many obstacles to get there. The process behind losing individuality in an Anthem’s society are in forcing strict laws, brain washing of their citizens, and removing of family. The Anthem society in forcing of strict laws made it easy for everyone to lose their individuality.
The book Anthem by Ayn Rand is a book with many strict rules and consequences. The City was very particular in how they do things. If you lived there, you never made one decision for yourself. They had a set group to decide your job for you and everything else for your life. You was not allowed to say certain things or even talk the way you want.
The rules in Anthem include the word I being destroyed and erased from history being replace by us and we. Anyone who says I will be killed. The government was made with good intentions but eventually it was corrupted. The government originally wanted everyone to be completely equal means that they took the will of the people. Other rules include men not being allowed to be alone, two people not being allowed to be alone, Men and women not being able to speak with each other on a personal level, You can’t have any friends The word ego is the most important word, Writing stuff is not allowed unless the consul allows it and everything that is not listed is forbidden.
Collectivism and Selfishness in Anthem Imagine living in a world where everybody's lives are completely mapped out by the government. Where every decision is made without the input of the citizens it affects. In the novella Anthem, Ayn Rand depicts a completely collectivist society, where every idea, action, and invention is purely for the benefit of society as a whole. Everything is done with the entire population in mind, and individuality is extremely frowned upon.
The Virtue of Mortality Ayn Rand’s story of Anthem takes place in an oppressive, Communist-like society of the future, where there is no individual - only the great “WE.” Subjects of this dreary civilization have no rights - existing solely to serve the state for a lifetime in their assigned position. The protagonist of the story, Equality 7-2521, is a gifted young man who is different from his fellow brothers. Equality desires to be a scientist, but instead, the government commands him to be a Street Sweeper out of fear of his mind and curiosity.
Rules, some people follow them, others do not. Many people ask why these rules exist, or what they even mean. In Anthem, the rules of their society were created to assure that society would not have another catastrophe, like the one before the Unmentionable Times, when the Evil Ones wreaked havoc on the World, destroying everything in their path. Many of these rules limit one 's capabilities to think independently. Failure to follow these rules result in harsh punishment.
´….´We´ll have rules! ´ he cried excitedly. ´ Lots of rules! Then when anyone breaks em-´¨(Golding 33).
