Similarities Between Anthem And Fahrenheit 451

Through the novel Anthem, Ayn Rand portrays a dystopian world similar to that of George Orwell’s 1984 or Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. There is an aspect that is prevalent in each of the books and it is the brainwashing of the general population and a government’s absolute power. Each realm uses its own unique way of controlling their citizens, and all of the people either live in fear or ignorance and apathy of the government’s unbridled control. The society in Anthem show no opposition to their captors because of the laws set by the leaders and the dreaded consequences followed by those who stand against it. To start off, the chapter begins with Equality 7-2521 writing and knowing that “It is a sin to think words no others think” (17).

There are two instances in which Equality 7-2521 experiences these punishments, both as a bystander and as a victim. The first time, he watches the Transgressor be burned alive at the pyre. This act is to set an example and show what happens to a person who commits the “crime of speaking the Unspeakable Word” (49). Other than just being burnt alive, “they had torn out the tongue of the Transgressor, so that [he] could speak no longer” (50). This tactic definitely worked on the general population because there is no incident about any other Transgressors. In contrast, making the Transgressor a martyr only sparked another flame in Equality 7-2521 as a young boy. The Transgressor had stared at Equality 7-2521 “trying to tell us something through the flames” (51). This newly found spark leads Equality 7-2521 to follow a similar path of the Transgressor. This also leads us to the punishments Equality receives. After being late to the Home of the Street Sweepers, he does not give his explanation of tardiness. Equality 7-2521 does this to keep secret of his newfound light, but he is led to the Palace of Corrective Detention. There, he receives a brutal whipping comparable to punishments in the time of the Roman Empire. When he was whipped, “the pain struck [him] in [his] throat and fire ran in [his] lungs without air” (64). Just like the Transgressor, he is unmoved

This could only have been achieved through the strict laws set forth by the Council and the unhesitant consequences that are followed by defiance of the law. As with all dystopian future based novels, it is a prediction of the some worst case scenarios that our world can fall into. As with George Orwell’s 1984 and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, both feared severe censorship in the future. In the case of Ayn Rand’s Anthem, it is the fear of collectivism and no sense of individuality. All three author’s prediction of the future are somewhat true in each and every way, but not to the extremes of the books’ depictions. Nonetheless, it is important to be wary of the possible threats that could create a dystopian society, and to continue to express the freedoms that are currently in