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Summary Of Ayn Rand's Anthem

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The possibility of an Anthem-like future is very possible. In the novella, Anthem, by Ayn Rand, the world is reset after a great destruction called The Great Rebirth, which causes everyone to have to start from the beginning and discover the importance of identity. Without identity, we have no society. Ayn Rand wrote Anthem to convey how without identity, society will fail. An article in Britannica explains how collectivism works. The article provides many examples of collectivism and it is very similar to the anthem society. In the book Anthem, identity and collectivism are the reasons for the failure of the society. In our world, there are countries with communist beliefs that are very similar to collectivism. The story Anthem is a possible …show more content…

In the book he talks about his experiences and how he is just supposed to live to serve the council who is in charge of him. If collectivism was spread throughout the world our society would end up like Anthem, on page 21, Equality says, “We are nothing, we exist through and for our brothers who are the state”. Equality and all the people in this society are so easily brainwashed to think like this it makes it seem possible for our world to end up like theirs too. Equality 7-2521 is just a number to the people in charge, he is nothing more than a slave of the collectivist world. In Anthem no one can have a preference or that would mean they have an identity which is a sin, “We wished to know about all the things which make the earth around us, we asked so many questions that the teachers forbade it”(23). When you like something more than something else, it helps you discover your identity and personality. In our world, we all have different interests but in Anthem you are not allowed and if you do you are punished which helps the government stay in control because of the fear of being

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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.

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Society tends to disagree with Ayn Rand’s political views regarding the concept of how a government should be controlled. Despite people contradicting with her beliefs, some politicians recognize her perspective and utilize her logic in debates. Of the politicians that support Rand’s political views, most derive their logic from one of Rand’s widely known novels, Anthem. This particular dystopian novel emphasizes a collective society where the simple thinking of individual choice is prohibited. Rand Paul, a Kentucky senator of the republican party, was influenced by Anthem in such a way that he utilized this book in a debate he took part in back in 2007 which lasted until 2013.

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This society in “Anthem” doesn’t let people use their own names or words to describe themselves. This makes everyone feel the same, and it is not fair because people should be allowed to be themselves. In “Anthem” people can’t follow their dreams because the leader says it’s bad. “It’s a sin to think words, no others think and put them down upon a paper, no others are to see. It is base and evil.”

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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

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799 Words | 4 Pages

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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If Equality 7-2521 would have stayed, he would be executed. He wants a fresh start in which he can make his own rules. The first rule Equality 7-2521 made was, “For the word ‘we’ must never be spoken, save by one’s choice and as a second thought. This word must never be placed first within man’s soul, else it becomes a monster, the root of all the the evils on earth, the root of man’s torture by men, and of an unspeakable lie” (97). All of Equality 7-2521’s life he has called himself “we,” but now he realizes that he is his own individual.

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In Ayn Rand’s novella, Anthem, mankind is a philanthropic machine. The brotherhood nobly works together to achieve a common goal. In doing so, each man is asked to disregard his own personal means and goals. For every decision must be a collective thought and every advancement, a joint action. However, one man in this machine malfunctions.

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Luke Quinn Ms. Bonica Banned books. 2/11/15 In the book Anthem by Ayn Rand a major theme is oppression. In the book everybody in the society are extreme followers and take the Councils laws as absolute truth, they do this voluntarily not by force. Many few are exceptions to this obeying this tyrant council, who preach extreme communism, and that no one person matters at all, but only the survival of mankind matters.

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775 Words | 4 Pages

The First chapter of the book, Anthem states,“It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil.” In the collectivist society Equality 7-2521 lives in, there are many rules put into place. In this society all must live as one and one must function as all.

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The quote symbolizes that when applied to life, Equality 7­2521 has free will ­ a choice in how he lives, his own destiny and the path that he wants to follow. In Anthem, the society is one in which everyone is equal and no one is superior to anyone else. However, society comes with a price as no one is able to think or speak for themselves. When Equality 7­2521 realizes that he can think and speak for himself in his “new world” then his new reality stems from

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570 Words | 3 Pages

The novel Anthem by Ayn Rand is set in a collective society. Collectivism by definition from Merriam Webster is, "emphasis on collective rather than individual action or identity”. Ayn Rand Was Very against Collectivism She shows this by making the main character, Equality 7-2521 an independent thinker. though he starts out being Compliant to Society's rules he always knew he was different.

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A Paradoxical Sin Think of Divergent, except worse. In Ayn Rand's twisted dystopian Anthem, it illustrates a diary of a boy, called Equality 7-2521, who looks and thinks different than his peers, also known as his “brothers”. His 6ft nature and obscure curiosity leads him to some rather odd but refreshing discoveries. In this sort of community, reading, writing and thinking freely is taboo and forbidden. “It is a sin to write this”, begins the very deep-seated novel, through the course of his pilgrimage, Equality detects that doing what is prohibited is undeniably not a sin and his appraisal of this is appropriate.

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753 Words | 4 Pages

In Anthem it is a sin to have individuality, Equality lets us know this by stating, "We are six feet tall, and this is a burden, for there are not many men who are six feet tall. Ever have the Teachers and the Leaders pointed to us and frowned and said: "There is evil in your bones, Equality 7-2521, for your body has grown beyond the bodies of your brothers""(Rand 18). When his teachers say this they are saying you can 't be an individual, you have to be a collective person with your other brothers. The book also states that, "It was not that the learning that was too hard for us. It was that the learning was too easy.

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1067 Words | 5 Pages

"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.

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725 Words | 3 Pages

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

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