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The Ego In Ayn Rand's Anthem

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Ego, a word that has been despised for centuries. It denotes self-absorption, narcissism, and being “stuck up”. It is assumed that people with an ego are very antagonistic and always looking to put others down. While ego may have a negative connotation, it is actually an intrinsic characteristic that allows no two human beings to be completely alike. Ego was motivation for the protagonist of Ayn Rand’s Anthem. Having an ego is not a bad or evil thing. It allows you to be different, to make choices, and to stand up for yourself. In Ayn Rand’s dystopian novel, Anthem, the futuristic society has removed the concept of individualism. However, one of the citizens, Equality 7-2521, is different. While he conforms to the societal rules, he thinks …show more content…

Without an ego, men would just be blown with the winds of peer pressure. The basic values of life, liberty, and property would be non-existent. No one could trust anyone as they would just change in the blink of an eye. “Our body was not like the bodies of our brothers, for our limbs were straight and thin and hard and strong. And we thought we could trust this being who looked upon us from the stream, and that we had nothing to fear with this being” (Rand 80). In the quote, Prometheus has just been banished from his civilization because he thought for himself. Expressed perfectly in the quote is how men having egos allows for trust and bonds to occur. The issue is that people who have an ego and are vocal about it are considered selfish. This is not true. In Ayn Rand’s “The Soul of an Individualist”, the protagonist, Howard Roark, is talking about being an individual. He is also talking about having an ego. “No creator was prompted by a desire to serve his brothers, for his brothers rejected the gift he offered and that gift destroyed the slothful routine of their lives. His truth was his only motive. His own truth, and his own work to achieve it in his own way.” Through Howard Roark, Ayn Rand is stating that men are motivated by their egos to achieve and discover and that most of the time these achievements and discoveries are discounted because of the motivational

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What is the meaning of Ego? In today’s world, it means “a person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance”, it is to be self-centered and care for nothing else except for one's self or, in other terms, being an individualist. Today, people have been told to care for others instead of themselves, but that is not completely true. For example, Prometheus in Anthem by Ayn Rand- is not what one would consider to be a total egotistical person. Searching through different types of definitions and reasons about the definition of ego, the assumption is that egoism is not immoral or virtuous but the balance in between.

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For my collage, I chose individualism as the big idea for “Anthem,”by Ayn Rand. The reason I chose individualism is because throughout the story Equality expresses individualism in everything he does. Some of the pictures I chose would single out one particular thing, making the one that was different an individual. I also chose a zebra to represent individualism, because not one zebra has the same pattern, though they may not be trying to be unique, they are. Individualism does not have to be represented with only pictures, but it can also be represented through many quotes.

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Tohniiya Yazzie per 1 Be unique in your own way, do not let other people tell you what to do. Anthem is a dystopian society. No one thinks for themselves, and there is no individuality, everyone has to think like a group. The leaders are called Council of Scholars and they tell everyone in the society what to think and do. No one is allowed to be different, and everyone is supposed to be the same, which is expected to make the society equal.

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Individuality allows every person to be themselves and be different from each other. However, In Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem, Rand describes a society where the people were not allowed to openly be themselves, or else they would be punished for being different. The main character, Equality, notices he is different slowly throughout the novella, but kept continuing to be like everyone else for awhile. These rules exist in this society to strip human individuality in order to achieve total equality.

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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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In order to counteract this sociological phenomenon, the late Ayn Rand’s Anthem should be required reading for all high school students. Although I have several intellectual qualms with the book’s author, its core message is incredibly powerful: even in the midst of oppressive powers, individualism is the most important aspect of the self. The main character discovers in his brief adventure that his ultimate purpose in life can only be created by himself, not by anyone else. He learns that it is more important to be a freethinking individual with a unique personality than to become one of the many impressionable robots of which his society is

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In Ayn Rand’s book Anthem, the main character Equality finally learns the word “I.” He finally begins to think for himself after years of living in a society where the word “I” was banned. The people in the society that Equality lived in could never think of themselves, but could only think of what would benefit everyone. In an excerpt of a novel titled The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, she talks about individualism versus collectivism. Anthem deals with this topic as well.

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How could losing individuality affect a society? The novel Anthem by Ayn Rand is about a guy named Equality 7-2521 who is trying to find himself in a society where everything is controlled and different. Later, he finds himself even though he will have to go through many obstacles to get there. The process behind losing individuality in an Anthem’s society are in forcing strict laws, brain washing of their citizens, and removing of family. The Anthem society in forcing of strict laws made it easy for everyone to lose their individuality.

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Ayn Rand defines egoism as, “concern with one's own interest.” Although this may sound negative and selfish, it is the complete opposite in many cases. Ayn Rand is the author of the science fiction novel Anthem. The story is narrated by a young man who is given the name Equality 7-2521 by the council who have reformed the world into a collectivist society. In this society, they are taught that being an individual is bad, and because of this they must only live for their fellow men and never think for themselves.

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Collectivism and Selfishness in Anthem Imagine living in a world where everybody's lives are completely mapped out by the government. Where every decision is made without the input of the citizens it affects. In the novella Anthem, Ayn Rand depicts a completely collectivist society, where every idea, action, and invention is purely for the benefit of society as a whole. Everything is done with the entire population in mind, and individuality is extremely frowned upon.

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Egoism is egoism is “the theory that one’s self is, or should be, the motivation and the goal of one’s own action.” (http://www.iep.utm.edu/egoism/) Egoism is a persons self-interest. Plato’s point is that an ideal society that is made up of three main classes of people and they each must perform their appropriate function. He says every soul of every individual

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In the novella Anthem written by Ayn Rand there was a theme about individualism and collectivism which tied up together. No matter how harsh and depersonalizing conditions are being inflicted on mankind, the power of one’s ego will always triumph one way or another is the theme that ties to individualism. The theme that is presented in their society would be that of collectivism which is the belief that all humans must depend on one another. The theme that I could connect with the most would be that of individualism because I believe that all of us have an ego whether it’s big or small which makes us think of our self-importance or brings out our self-esteem. Just like Equality overcame obstacles and found his self-confidence, I can overcome

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His definition of individualism was that people are happiest when they ignore the outside world and they stay in their bubble of friends, family and domestic life. He compares egoism to individualism saying that: “Egoism is a preversity as old as the world and is scarcely peculiar to one form of society more than another. Individualism is democratic origin and threatens to grow as conditions become equal” (Page 588, Chapter 2, Democracy in America, Tocqueville). He is saying that egoism is only a few steps away from individualism and that a democracy causes men to focus more on themselves since everyone is already equal socially they want to be different within

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The philosopher Ayn Rand believed that an individual’s life is of the utmost importance, as is her well-being. She knew that altruistic ethics require individuals to sacrifice their own wellbeing and lives for the sake of others. With ethical egoism, and will value their own wellbeing above all others. So, she was for ethical egoism. Ayn Rand also had an argument against ethical egoism believing it is a mistake to treat the interest of some individuals as being less important than the interest of others.

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Psychological egoism may be a self-centered and self-motivated act but there are also theory that proves that egoism is acceptable and these are; the conditional and rational egoism. Conditional egoism was described as ethically acceptable or right if it leads to ethically satisfactory ends while rational egoism claims that the promotion of one’s own interests is always in accordance with reason. However, in relation to the counter-argument the utmost and greatest provocative protagonist of rational egoism is Ayn Rand which he claims

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