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Rules And Freedom In Ayn Rand's Anthem

798 Words4 Pages

Everywhere people go there is always the basic need for rules, yet no matter who the person is, they want the right to be free. What we need to learn is how to balance rules and freedom. In Anthem, harsh rules exist due to the World Council having so much power. In the U.S, rules exist to help people. On the other hand, in Anthem rules exist to control people. In Anthem, the World Council took away Equality 7-2521’s right to show the world his craft. When Equality 7-2521 presented his creation known as the light bulb as a gift to the World Council, the World Council wanted to destroy it. There are many reasons why the council wanted to destroy the electric light. The main reason was the electric light showed power, of which the council could not control. If Equality 7-2521 were to show the world what he created, it would lead to more and more inventions. That would be a problem for the World Council. Inventions could possibly show people what they are capable of …show more content…

For instance, in Anthem, Equality 7-2521 met a girl named the Golden One. Equality 7-2521 felt something about her that he has never felt. Equality 7-2521 saw her as a beautiful young peasant girl in which he would go to many extremes for. Equality 7-2521 knows it is extremely wrong and against the rules to speak to this girl peasant known as the Golden One, but he does so anyways. After he speaks with her a few times he instantly falls in love. Equality 7-2521 starts to think about her. He thinks about this place where adult citizens go to have sex once a year. This place is known as the Mating palace. Equality 7-2521 is so in love, and he is willing to break the rules by talking to Golden One. This goes to show when someone loves or feels good about someone or something they will break the rules no matter what the consequences

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428 Words | 2 Pages

In the opening pages of Anthem, Equality 7-2521 gives much background knowledge of the society he lives and the horrible details of the laws and regulations they have created. Along with that he explains that he has committed a grave sin already which is writing and that in doing so it doesn’t allow him to live, tagged with other misdeeds in which is labeled as “transgressions.” Being categorized as a Street Sweeper he has unwinded the discovery of a hidden tunnel that once existed during the Unmentionable Times.   "Since the Council does not know of this hole, there can be no law permitting to enter it.

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234 Words | 1 Pages

In Anthem by Ayn Rand International 4-8818 agrees to keep Equality 7-2521’s secret of the tunnel under the ground because much like Equality 7-2521, International 4-8818 is different than the rest of the people in the place they live in. This is because while Equality 7-2521 explains how he found the hole that led to the tunnel he talks about International 4-8818 and explains that, “they are a tall, strong youth and their eyes are like fireflies, for there is laughter in their eyes. We cannot look upon International 4-8818 and not smile in answer. For this they were not liked in the Home of the Students, as it is not proper to smile without reason. And also they were not liked because they took pieces of coal and they drew pictures upon the

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1006 Words | 5 Pages

What the society doesn’t know is that there are problems in Anthem. Equality sees these problems and will not implement them in the world that he envisions. Rules, regulations, and controls all have a purpose and a reason as to why they exist. No matter how outrageous and unethical they might be, there is always a reason to put rules into action. There are probably many reasons or excuses as to why the city of Anthem had placed a countless number of rules over their city.

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1196 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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299 Words | 2 Pages

with Equality’s reputation. The author tries to grasp the reader’s attention using this technique, to help the reader to finish the book until the end. Above all, in Anthem there is many different thoughts that can determine your reputation, and with those thoughts come actions. Equality chooses to make the wrong actions determined by his thoughts and it causes him to think the society’s rules are not how Equality thinks that they should be.

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333 Words | 2 Pages

Anthem by Ayn Rand is about a young boy named Equality 7-2521, age 21. Who had recreated electricity, and wanted to show the council to get himself into the home of the scholars. He terrified them all and ran off into the uncharted forest. Where he sees a house full of books. It all finally leads him to believe that you are not free, if you’re not free of your brothers.

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283 Words | 2 Pages

For my collage, I chose individualism as the big idea for “Anthem,”by Ayn Rand. The reason I chose individualism is because throughout the story Equality expresses individualism in everything he does. Some of the pictures I chose would single out one particular thing, making the one that was different an individual. I also chose a zebra to represent individualism, because not one zebra has the same pattern, though they may not be trying to be unique, they are. Individualism does not have to be represented with only pictures, but it can also be represented through many quotes.

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335 Words | 2 Pages

Anthem is writing as a journey of Equality 7-2521, a young man living in the future in which people have lost all knowledge of individualism, for not even knowing the word "I" and can only speak of himself as "We." Everyone lives and work in collective groups and he is assigned to a Street Sweeper of the city by the Council of Vocations. However, Equality 7-2521 try to lead himself to recreate electric light and how it can be harnessed to human benefit. He has been taught that it is a sin to harbor secret ambitions, and so he believes he is guilty. Equality 's struggle to be free and to reach an individual life/ When he presents his discovery to the Council of Scholars, they punish him for daring to act as an individual and threaten to destroy his creation.

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459 Words | 2 Pages

Tohniiya Yazzie per 1 Be unique in your own way, do not let other people tell you what to do. Anthem is a dystopian society. No one thinks for themselves, and there is no individuality, everyone has to think like a group. The leaders are called Council of Scholars and they tell everyone in the society what to think and do. No one is allowed to be different, and everyone is supposed to be the same, which is expected to make the society equal.

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1004 Words | 5 Pages

Equality 7-2521 is very pleased with his performance and is very confident that the Council would also be as pleased as he did. Equality 7-2521 then goes back to the society and gets caught by the Council because he has been missing. The Council then is more curious on where he’s been but he refuses to tell them because he knows what he did was against the rules. He is then beat so that he would tell the truth of where he was. Equality 7-2521 then escapes from the Palace of Corrective Detention by doing things by himself, as an individual.

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999 Words | 4 Pages

The interactions between Equality and The Golden One show this. Together they live free of the collective mindset, living as individuals free to pursue personal happiness; however there is flaw in the interactions between the two. Equality strives to build a society upon the individualistic ideals of seeking personal happiness with a positive form of selfishness that does not detriment of as for the self sacrifice of others. Unfortunately, The Golden One falls victim to long held collectivist ideals of self sacrifice, having followed Equality into the uncharted forest and claiming to him that she shall follow him forever even “if danger threatens [him]” and that if he is faced with death she “shall die with [him] ” (82). She even claims that she wishes to “share [his] damnation”(82).

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590 Words | 3 Pages

Both Equalities world and ours have laws to keep us in order. For many years we have emphasized on not judging others and having equal or the same rights for all people that live on this earth. In the book Anthem, no law shall be broken and everyone is kept in order and equal that's how they live. Their laws have many different purposes from not being able to think that others don’t and no man shall be alone. All brothers should live for all of their brothers and continue to stay equal this law has a big purpose throughout the entire book.

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149 Words | 1 Pages

To fully control a man, dictators must not only enslave his body, but also destroy his mind. The leaders in Anthem seek to accomplish this tyrannical end by putting the new born generation in schools where all of there education and freedom are limited. Those who are old enough to have there own opinions are either convinced to agree with the council are are punished for opposing the council. Equality is an example of a person who gets punished for being to smart and also being taller than the others. When Equality discovered electricity he was punished for it.

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419 Words | 2 Pages

Equality and The Golden One have a relationship despite society forbidding it. Knowing fully about this rule does not stop the two's love. This love was strong enough that when Equality ran from the city she followed. This is another felony. Equality has taken stands against his society for his own personal thoughts and agenda.

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749 Words | 3 Pages

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

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