The Giver Vs Anthem Research Paper

The idea of a utopia, a state or place where everything is perfect, is one that has been fantasized and described by many authors in several different ways. Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, a perfect society can appear very different to different people. Two books that both attempt to illustrate the idea of a perfect society but with stark contrasts are Anthem by Ayn Rand and The Giver by Lois Lowry. Both encourage the idea of prioritizing one’s community, and duty to said community, over oneself in order to maintain a perfect and peaceful society. However, utopian societies are usually shown to not be as perfect as they seem when analyzed in literature. The Giver illustrates a utopian society with groups of individuals working

As in The Giver, there is a specific and uniform upbringing that everyone must go through. However, in Anthem, part of this upbringing includes everyone being stripped of any sense of self or individuality. Instead of anyone having names, every person is given a noun and a number by which they are identified and are required to wear on their left wrists. All citizens start out in the Home of Infants with those born in their year until the fifth year; they are then transferred to the Home of the Students, where they stay and learn for ten years. Once they are fifteen, the Council of Vocations gives each child his or her “life Mandates”(24). No one is allowed to switch occupations or complain about his duty, or even to prefer one duty to another, and all citizens are required to keep their jobs, and to do them dutifully and well, until they become forty and are to be put in the Home of the Useless with the Old Ones. Although everyone has the ability to feel pain, agony, love, etc., no one is allowed to voice any of these feelings if they are felt. No one of the male gender may take notice of women, nor may women take notice of men. Everyone is to be selfless in all that is done, only doing it for the sake of the community and not for any type of personal pleasure. There is no knowledge of singular personal pronouns, such as “I”, “he” or “she”, but every person calls themselves “We”, and when talking about anyone else, calls that person “they”. Everyone is expected to be happy with the life that they have been given, whether they actually enjoy it or not. There are no choices or decisions to be made by any individual for himself, and as far as anyone is concerned, everyone is completely satisfied with their duty and their life. There is one man, however, who is not too pleased with where the Council of Vocations decided to put