Summary Of Ayn Rand's Anthem

Ayn Rands novella, Anthem, displays the influence a collective society has on an individual while bringing attention to the flaws of a system where individualism is forbidden. The main character, Equality, exhibits freethinking and curiosity, which is dangerous in a community that strives for uniformity and passiveness. In Anthem, Equality’s assessment of his transgression is justified because the council used his “sin” to contain his desire to learn in order to maintain a balance in their collectivist society. Equality is deeply passionate about gaining and spreading information, which goes against the status quo of conformity and one mindedness, because of this he is isolated from others in his community. Intelligence is restricted in this

They attempt to suppress human nature, so that a balanced system can be achieved. this is apparent when Equality automatically assumes he was not assigned to the Home of the scholars because of his sin, The Transgression of Preference. Although is it obvious to the reader, that the council cannot control all desires of all people, Equality’s collective mindset causes him to believe “we had been guilty, but now we had a way to atone for it” (26). Equality‘s connects his disappointment to consequence because the council has established the expectation that all men should be consistently happy. The Council goes so far as to forbid men not to be happy which in turn, scares the population into categorizing all emotion other than satisfaction as foreign or out of the ordinary which are traits they strive to exterminate. Therefore, negative emotions are not identified with how a person feels but with what a person has done. Because of this, when Equality feels pain for the first time he is overwhelmed. He states, “For the first time did we know

In order to keep ego from developing throughout society, the council only made unanimous decisions so that all men agreed on the same thing and remained happy. This was a way for the council to maintain a balanced collective society. However, society would never advance because when new ideas are introduced, “the majority of their brother scholars voted against them, [so] they abandoned the their ideas” (73). This one negative component of a collectivist society that Equality began to realize when the Scholars refused to accept the light. The irony in the Scholars reaction to Equality’s discovery was the moment in which he recognizes the flaw is not in himself, but in the council.Equality began to cherish his individuality and the independence that comes with it. When he states how he “wept in deliverance and in pity for all mankind” (98) he calls attention to the fact that him being ahead of his brothers is not a bad thing for him, but for the people who are still oblivious to the power of the word “I”. This also displays Equality's good intentions for society. He is not angry or rash about the information he has