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Summary Of Anthem By Ayn Rand

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From the past to the present, society has struggled with the concepts of conformity and individuality. Often times, people find comfort and safety in being like everyone else because they don’t feel alone. On the other hand, individuality seems to be encouraged by society by telling everyone to be themselves, yet people are ridiculed for standing out. In the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand, the conflict between conformity and individuality is present in Equality’s quest for freedom when he convinces International 4-8818 not to report their discovery of the tunnel, when Equality meets the Golden One, and when he presents his invention to the house of scholars.
The internal struggle International 4-8818 faces when having to choose whether or not to …show more content…

conformity because he displays more love to one person, when he is supposed to love everyone equally. When Equality spots the Golden One for the first time, he feels immediate attraction which he cannot explain. Equality describes the way he feels about Liberty 5-3000 after he meets her, “We wish to write this name…to speak it, but we dare not speak it above a whisper. For men are forbidden to take notice of women, and women are forbidden to take notice of men” (Rand 18). Equality is experiencing feelings for the Golden One which challenges his society’s rules. He is forbidden to be attracted to another person because then he is not showing that he loves all his brothers and sisters equally. Nonetheless, Equality ignores this law, and pursues this budding relationship. This exhibits how Equality and the Golden One are facing the conflict of conformity vs. individuality because each of them struggled with knowing that they were blatantly disobeying the law. Both show their hesitance to break away from everyone else in the society when they exchange words with each other; each of them know that their thoughts and feelings are forbidden, and they feel anxious about having them. However, they ultimately decide to keep seeing each other, which causes their relationship to grow. Their relationship also benefits Equality because the Golden One follows him …show more content…

conformity is present in Equality’s quest for freedom is when he presents his light to the Council of Scholars. When Equality shows the scholars his invention, which is presumably a light bulb, they are terrified of it and start to insult him out of fear. During this, Equality tries to explain his invention and reason with them, and one of the scholars says, “‘How dared you think that your mind held a greater wisdom than the minds of your brothers? And if the Councils had decreed that you should be a Street Sweeper, how dared you think that you could be of greater use… than in sweeping the streets?’” (Rand 41). A scholar scolds Equality for creating his light and not sticking the job that was assigned to him. He desires to be a part of the House of Scholars and he believes he is not fit to live in the House of the Street Sweepers. This is an example of how Equality will not conform because he refuses to accept the fate society assigns to him. On the contrary, Equality must take into consideration the consequences of not conforming to society. He knows he could potentially be killed for performing an occupation that is not his assigned one. However, in his eyes, no punishment is great enough for him to stop his experimentation, even if it means death. In addition, Equality will not allow the scholars to take his invention from him. Disobeying the House of Scholars is a major sin in the world in which Equality lives, and his

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Equality is willing to oppose his leaders to enunciate everything that he believes in; being oneself and staying true to all one’s rights and morals. He is unequivocally denouncing his leaders by going against everything that his society believes in, like creating inventions as a whole and not by oneself. Rand’s statement, “But in no case and in no situation may one permit one’s own values to be attacked or denounced, and keep silent,” substantiates Equality’s actions in trying to defend all of his rights (Rand, “How” 84). Both Rand and Equality are elucidating that people have to fortify everything that they believe in or it can all be appropriated. Equality and Ayn adage that if people don’t protect their rights then someone will come along that will confiscate people of all virtues and standards.

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Ayn Rand’s Anthem starts by Equality 7-2521 saying “It is a sin to write this.” Throughout the story, Equality’s views and mindset changes, he realizes that he is different from his brothers and its ok to be different. He discovers that if something is legal it is not certainly right. His eager for knowledge taught him the word “I” abandoning the word “We”.

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From Equality’s point of view, his desires and fulfillment are of more importance than the society’s excessive restrictions. Individuality, Rand claims, is necessary for one’s contentment; thus, the individual must always weigh themselves greater than all else. By emphasizing his independent priorities, Equality is able to rebel against the regulations he believes are

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Equality also shows a significant amount of selfishness which is his third sin. Throughout the book he puts himself above others in unnecessary ways. He openly admits “We do not care. We forget all men, all laws and all things save our metals and our wires.” (54).

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Someone needs to arouse Equality’s primal instinct that has been buried by his camaraderie, and her name is Liberty. “Their body was straight and thin as a blade of iron. Their eyes were dark and hard and glowing, with no fear in them, no kindness and no guilt. […] They threw seeds from their hand as if they deigned to fling a scornful gift, and the earth was as a beggar under their feet” (49). For the first time Equality feels desire and knows pain.

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Equality lives in a collectivist society, which is a society that believes, “that man must be chained to collective action and collective thought for the sake of what is called “the common good.” Therefore, Equality being the person he is, struggles with being an individual. He knows it is against the law but he enjoys knowledge so much, it confuses him. He states, “And in our heart-strange are the ways of evil! - and in our heart there is the first peace we have known in 20 years.”

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Even though he knew if he got caught for the things he was doing, he still took the risk because his choice to learn and invent was up to him and only him. He came forward with his invention because he thought he would make it in with the scholars. Equality didn’t have to come forward with it but he did, it was his choice. He also chose to break the rules.

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He searches for development of individual morality, but is struck dry by the restrictive society, by which he is forced to be, think, and live like everyone else, average and accepting. However, throughout, Anthem, by Ayn Rand, Equality’s view of morality transforms from group mentality and collectivism to individualism and independence due to the discovery of his true purpose for living; himself. Through the control of their citizens, Equality’s initial society forces him to feel guilt and loneliness through his differences, but as he discovers the rationalisation of his independence, he begins to develop a moral existence. In the beginning of the novella, Anthem, Equality is bound to his “brothers”, in a society of total equality, for which he is forced to sacrifice his intelligence and curiosity to fit the ideal of the equal being.

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The Deeper Meaning Of Anthem In some countries the citizens have no say in what they do, how they do it, or when they do it. This can be collectivism, and the opposite of it is individualism. In Ayn Rand’s novel Anthem, her character Equality 7-2521 is battling between his “utopian” societies ways of collectivism and his desire of individualism. His crave for individualism leads him to care only about one person, create a light source without his “brothers” and runs into the Uncharted Forest.

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“Equality 7-2521 always displayed a keen intellect and pride. Equality 7-2521 has ambitions to join the Council of Scholars. The Scholars, however, fear what Equality 7-2521 is capable of. To break his spirit and discourage his intellect, Equality is relegated to the menial position of street sweeper.” (gradesaver.com).

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The Path Towards Equality In Anthem, Ayn Rand creates a world where unbroken laws erase individuality and displays the plea for control against anarchy in the world. The laws created prohibit individuals from standing out from one another, prevent individuality, and create a uniform “we” in order to keep people from thinking about themselves. Equality envisions a society that will not only destroy this “we” but it will also create a world of choice from the individuality gained with the word “I”. The pride that Equality grained throughout the story and his numerous transgressions will help direct his society in the direction he wants it to go.

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Rand uses the the relationship between Equality and the Golden One to represent Equality’s journey from being obsessed with the Golden One when he feels he has to be apart of the group, to being ignorant to the Golden One because he has become utterly independent and selfish. At the beginning of the story when Equality felt he had to belong to a group, he noticed the Golden One and fell in love with her. In Rand’s novel, she states, “They raised their hand to their

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Equality wants nothing more than to be an individual, think his own thoughts, and live without constraint. He wants to be able to love Liberty 5-3000 without being slashed or sent to the Palace of Corrective Detention. Outside of the city limits they’re individuals and live by no law, what they’ve always wanted. Equality states, “I shall live here, in my own house. I shall take my food from the earth by the toil of my own hands.

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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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In the final chapters of the book, after Equality and The Golden One have discovered their new house and proposed to build a new life, they read books in its intact library and so discover the forbidden word, “I” (94). This discovery prompts Equality to radically overhaul his entire way of going through life, aligning it to Rand’s Objectivist philosophy. His focus on himself, illustrated through his obsession with the word I is show in the last two chapters of the book, where he latches on to the idea that devoting one’s life to only oneself is the only appropriate way to live life. Rand shows this with statements from Equality such as, “I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them”(96). Equality is proclaiming that his life will be best lived in a purely selfish manner, where he will not take care of anyone else, but will not ask anyone to take care of him either.

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