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Similarities Between 1984 And Anthem

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In both Anthem by Ayn Rand, and 1984 by George Orwell, the individual sacrifices personal freedoms. Both novels talk about how the protagonists and people around them react and live in their societies. The difference between the two is that 1984 is about the willingness of people to forfeit complete control of all aspects of the individual, while Anthem is about not having one. In Anthem, the population accepts that there is no choice. One’s jobs are chosen, their schedule is chosen, and it is an absolute moral sin to expect otherwise. Even while committing these “sins of preference”, Equality doesn’t stop talking about how he is doing something that he sees as morally wrong. “We knew this well, in the years of our childhood, but our curse …show more content…

It is made clear that this is a belief shared by everyone in the society; Equality is not an outlier or an extremist. This differs from Orwell’s society, which is based on fear. Winston buys a diary, and is about to break the rule and write. He is terrified of the punishment he will endure if caught. “This was not illegal (nothing was illegal, since there were no longer any laws), but if detected it was reasonably certain that it would be punished by death, or at least by twenty-five years in a forced-labour camp. ”(9). Winston makes a choice. He is allowed to make choices, …show more content…

Equality truly believes in what he is told, and he accepts it. He talks about how he feels that he is cursed, and that he is a bad person, “Such would have been our life, had we not committed our crime which changed all things for us. And it was our curse which drove us to our crime. We had been a good Street Sweeper and like all our brother Street Sweepers, save for our cursed wish to know. We looked too long at the stars at night, and at the trees and the earth.”(29). He doesn’t like what he is doing, but because of a strong inner feeling, he has no choice in the matter. This is different from Winston, who sincerely despises Big Brother, “‘I hate him [Big Brother].’”(355). Winston hates Big Brother, he hates the way his life is being lived, and he wants to live in freedom. Winston takes action on this, he tries to join the resistance, he has an affair, and he wanders among the free proles. Winston sees the injustice that is prevalent in his society, and he knows that something is wrong. However, Equality is blind to the faults of society, he truly believes that what is wrong is his own desires, not the

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953 Words | 4 Pages

In the books Fahrenheit 451 and Anthem, by Ray Bradbury and Ayn Rand, the societies displayed are very different from modern day societies. In Anthem the main character, Equality 7-2521, is a young man who lives in a society where there is absolutely no individuality personality wise and it is basically considered a sin to be different than others. In Fahrenheit 451 the main character, Guy Montag, lives in a society where no one thinks independently, it is illegal to read, and no one really cares about anything. Both societies restrict free thinking, but both do it in ways different than the other. In both books the main characters meet someone who changes their lives for the better.

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Prompt: Explain the following quote: “To be free, a man must be free of his brothers.” How does this quote exemplify a theme of Anthem? In the novel “Anthem” by Ayn Rand, the main character Equality 7-2521 expresses his own individuality. Through the challenges that he was faced with, he learned many way to express himself differently.

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681 Words | 3 Pages

By the end of the story, Equality 7-2521 has changed his mind and become very critical of the leaders of his society, denouncing them in moral terms. Do you think he is correct to do so? Why or why not? In the novella Anthem by Ayn Rand, Equality 7-2521 has changed how he views the leaders of his society, and now is very critical of the leaders, referring to them in moral terms.

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446 Words | 2 Pages

As dystopian novels, Anthem by Ayn Rand and Unwind by Neil Shusterman are bound to have similarities within their driving forces. Despite taking place in disparate societies, what links these two novels together is the concept of insubordination and resilliance. Within Anthem, the protagonist, Equality 7-2521, blindly walks through a post-modern, underlying oppressive society where individualism is bracketed off with evil or selfish ideas and commodities that led the previous world to crumble; thus leading to a civilization lacking self-awareness. A place where all citizens of the society refer to themselves as "we", are given names which lack much personality, and are indistinguishable to one another. "We are one in all and all in one.

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1033 Words | 5 Pages

Comparisons and Contrasts of Fahrenheit 451 and Anthem The novel Fahrenheit 451 is written with aspects of a society similar to that of Anthem in relation to their futuristic governments and dynamic characters. Montag in Fahrenheit 451 is faced with multiple challenges comparable to those of Prometheus in Anthem. Although each character plays a different role, they are both striving to achieve freedoms and happiness. The wellbeing of themselves and others is predominately the main concern for both Montag and Prometheus.

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957 Words | 4 Pages

“We were born with a curse. It has always driven us to thoughts which are forbidden. It has always given us wishes which men may not wish. We know that we are evil, but there is no power or will in us to stop it” (18). Equality 7-2521 is born into a society in which individuality is a crime.

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111 Words | 1 Pages

Equality has the right to change his mind about the law because it isn 't a far law to everybody. It 's ironic that Ayn Rand called equality 7-2521 because he actually never really finds equality. From the being, he never understood why he was different and why he always got in trouble. He changes his mind about how society is wrong because at the end he learns in self-rights, much more technology, and the meaning of life should be. When equality was assigned with street sweeper he figured it was from his sins.

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720 Words | 3 Pages

Anthem and The Time Machine both have many themes to them, but there are two prominent messages that stuck out in the pair of books. I found the way in which they had the same moral, except in different ways. In my sense of the writings, an idea of the stories is that individuality is human nature. In Anthem and The Time Machine, it shows in that Equality 7-2521 and The Time Traveller are both unlike everyone else, but in their own ways. Neither of them could help their individuality, they just were particularly special.

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There's so much emphasis on putting others before oneself that people often forget to look out for their own needs, as shown in this book. Ayn Rand successfully captures the negatives of an overrated ideology and presents an unorthodox perspective on the matter. In conclusion, Equality's true motives behind his work are much more selfish than they first appear to be. Equality strives to fulfil his own personal desire rather than contribute everything to society, and this isn't necessarily a negative thing.

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Both 1984 and Anthem have very oppressive governments, but their laws are completely different from one another. In 1984, the government is strange when it comes to rules, there is nothing that is illegal, the people are allowed to do whatever they want, but if they do anything or even look slightly suspicious, the “Thought Police” will kidnap, torture, and kill anybody who has gone against the government. The government believes that if people are allowed to have emotions, they will become angry at the government, and revolt, and that’s why emotions are illegal (I will call it illegal because even though there are no laws, doing certain things will get you in trouble, so to avoid confusion, I’m going to continue saying it’s “illegal”), including emotional attachments to other people. People having sex for the purposes of procreation is perfectly legal, but having sex because you love the

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792 Words | 4 Pages

In response to the choice of Street Sweeper, Equality thinks, “We knew we had been guilty, but now we had a way to atone for it” (26). With his intelligence and curiosity, Equality would do much better as a Scholar. The government punishes him for being different, and as a result, they can’t see him become advantageous. They are blinded by their beliefs on

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1219 Words | 5 Pages

However, since the council fails to recognize this idea, Equality has two options: either face imminent execution or flee. By choosing the latter and fleeing into the Uncharted Forest, Equality finally is, in a physical sense, free from the rule of collectivist society. Now he is alone in the forest, alone with his thoughts. He decides where he goes, when he sleeps, what he eats. However, he is still not fully

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559 Words | 3 Pages

With all of his experience that nobody has known in at least a century he is extremely capable of deciding whether of his choices are right. His personality keeps him from giving up hope and giving up on his society and his companion but keeps him curious enough to keep searching for something better in life. Equality has aged to the point where he thinks he needs to change the world and will try to do so. Most would believe that Equality’s actions were righteous and could not contemplate that his actions were

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Equality can only think of himself, at the beginning

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“When men saw the Great Truth which is this: that all men are one and that there is no will save the will of all men together.” Equality 7-2521 lives in a world where the government bans all forms of individuality. For instance it is a sin to “think words no others think and to put them down upon paper no others are to see.” Equality was born with a curse “It has always given us wishes which men may not wish. We know that we are evil, but there is no will in us and no power to resist it.

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