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Ayn Rand's egoistic argument
Ayn Rand's egoistic argument
Ayn Rand's egoistic argument
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Ayn Rand's egoistic argument
Ayn Rand's egoistic argument
Ayn Rand's egoistic argument
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
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.
Equality 7-2521 just wants to be different from everyone else. In chapter 6 of the novel Anthem Equality 7-2521 hopes lie on
“We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever” (Rand 19). How can an individual be a hero in a collectivist society? In The Anthem, a novella by Ayn Rand, the protagonist, Equality 7-2521 is portrayed as an archetypal epic hero. Equality 7-2521 exhibits the characteristics of an epic hero because he is capable of great deeds, he has a nemesis, and he experiences an event that leads to a quest.
The book “Anthem” written by Ayn Rand is a book that deals with many topics within the main idea of the perfect world. The only problem is the word “I” is forbidden. “We” is the only acceptable word, there is no distinguishing yourself. The book takes place in the future, when all human rights are taken away and you live to your government's standards. No one has any individual rights anymore.
Oppression The society in Anthem, by Ayn Rand has many oppressive rules that control the people living in it. These rules exist to repress people from feeling anything special for someone else, to cover up the past world, and to keep everyone completely equal. These horrible rules would certainly not exist in the world that Equality envisions creating at the end of the story. Clearly the rules put in place by The Council decrease the quality of life for everyone living in that society, and can give someone a new appreciation for the freedoms they have as individuals.
Equality within the similar actions indicates in the novella Anthem, how his focus being on ways of changing his city and the thought process the council arranges for the city’s structure. Throughout the novella Equality begins putting himself first and letting his ego drive
Rules and Subjectivity Society is fundamentally built upon rigid structure and control using rules to attempt to maintain order amongst a society comprised of many individuals. Inherently rules put at expense the freedom of individuals to achieve personal happiness in order to build a society comprised of more equally achieving individuals. Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem builds a society in which rules restrict all individual freedoms and force a more collective ideal. The rules put in place by the society are meant to make everybody collectively more happy and prevent inherent human subjectivity; however, inherent to human nature, rules can be subjectively interpreted. In contrast to the pre-existing society presented by Rand, Equality 7-2521 seeks
These rules are set in place to help the society help function as
Who would want to live in a world where there is no freedom? A world where people cannot learn on their own, or even use the pronoun “I” all in an effort for world peace and equality. No one would, except for those who do not know anything other than that lifestyle. Even then though, there is always a few outliers that strive to learn, feel, and stand out in society where people frown upon being different. In the stories Anthem and Fahrenheit 451, the authors Ayn Rand and Ray Bradbury, focus on explaining the future in a dystopian world to reveal that true world peace is miserable and not always what is best.
The Road to Individualism Every great heroin will face a plethora of conflict in their journey. For Equality, it is not any less. Equality faces internal and external conflict in his path to heroism, faces conflict with others, but also himself. As his desire for a new life grows, more problems arise.
Equality started a family with his beloved, The Golden One and lived happily ever after (Rand, n.pag.). These two characters saw the issues in the equality of the government. When a society is ruled in a communistic fashion, like “Harrison Bergeron” and Anthem, pleasing everyone is nearly impossible. These dystopian worlds attempting to live in a community where equality is the focus, have failed. They have failed using their manipulation over the entire society and had rebellion.
In Anthem, Equality says, “For men are forbidden to take notice of women, and women are forbidden to take notice of men. But we think of one among women…”(Rand 38). Equality is thinking about someone of the opposite gender, which is prohibited by law in his society. This community controls everyone but Equality is straying from the rules they have enforced. In Harrison’s community, the government keeps handicaps on people who are more advanced.
Ayn Rand taught the principle, “One must never fail to pronounce moral judgment.” The grade of morality fluctuates depending on the time, place, and society. While today’s society will compose the portrait that we are continually growing stronger and improving, the politics of men cannot overcome simple flaws such as controlling the people of their society. This is no different in the novella Anthem. The ironic name given to Equality gives the indication that perhaps society is not as equal as they would fancy.
"We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever’”(Rand 19). In Ayn Rand’s dystopian novel, Anthem, the citizens are trained from birth to think only in the plural, to the point where they cannot even conceive of individuals, but only see each other as part of the whole group. Rand’s protagonist, Equality 72521, begins the novel as a street-sweeper who is devoted to the group, but begins to move towards individuality as he progresses towards pure selfishness, as Rand believes we all should. Rand uses the words “we” and “I” to represent Equality’s journey from being dependent on the group, to being utterly independent of everyone.
Equality has changed from a collective to an individual having the knowledge of realizing what he can do to change himself in the environment. Anthem has shown how the society works. The main character Equality has proven the allegory when he realizes there's more than just a collectivism society. From start of the novel Equality has been able to grow from a part of a collectivism to learning about individualism to becoming an individual. Equality conquers the battle of collectivism and individualism for