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The Importance Of Individualism In Ayn Rand's Anthem

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Friedrich Ludwig Jahn said, “The secret of living in peace with all people lies in the art of understanding each one by his own individuality.” To find peace and live in harmony, people need to know and embrace each person’s individuality. Although the people in Anthem are supposed to be happy and peaceful, they are not permitted to have a sense of individualism. Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem illustrates the importance of each person in society having an individual identity to true peace and happiness. Rand expresses this philosophy through the main character Equality who discovers freedom and self-worth for himself. Freedom allows for characters to acknowledge their own person and to ultimately achieve happiness and peace. The society in Anthem
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In the book Anthem their society is way different from ours. They are not allowed to be individual or say the word “I”. They can’t have names, instead they are in groups and have group names. They all have a part in society like their jobs and things they do. For example the equality group belong to the street sweepers.

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1196 Words | 5 Pages

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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1043 Words | 5 Pages

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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705 Words | 3 Pages

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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1128 Words | 5 Pages

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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452 Words | 2 Pages

The Road to Individualism Every great heroin will face a plethora of conflict in their journey. For Equality, it is not any less. Equality faces internal and external conflict in his path to heroism, faces conflict with others, but also himself. As his desire for a new life grows, more problems arise.

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530 Words | 3 Pages

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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767 Words | 4 Pages

The novel Anthem by Ayn Rand is set in a dystopian society where the idea of collectivism is prevalent. Collectivism is the idea of a group having more priority than any of the individuals in it. Throughout the novel, the characters refer to themselves as “we” instead of “I” and refer to each other as their brother men. Equality 7-2521 tells the reader that whenever they feel tempted, they are to repeat the phrase “We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great, WE, One, indivisible and forever.”

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594 Words | 3 Pages

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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1094 Words | 5 Pages

In the novella, Anthem written by Ayn Rand, the protagonist Equality 7-2521 emphasizes the importance of the many dystopian themes within the story. After the destruction of the Unmentionable Time, all knowledge was lost and a new society has sprung where individualism is banned. In their society, the government is in control of the population and people are conformed to uniform expectation. Since many of characteristics of individualism was stripped away from people, it is described that they live in a dehumanized state, where names are unspecified and decisions are made by the councils. In doing so, many of what was lost remained in the Uncharted Forest where all of mankind dare not to talk about it since they developed a fear the outside world.

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749 Words | 3 Pages

In the novella Anthem, individual rights and freedom do not exist. The word “I” is prohibited to be spoken by men. Equality 7-2521 is a street sweeper of the city and he is different from the others in the society. Equality is more intelligent, taller, learns quicker, and he enjoys learning about science; especially how things move and work. Since the word “I” is the unspeakable word, Equality uses the word “We” to resemble that he is doing these actions .

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1219 Words | 5 Pages

Victory Over Collectivism “I”, one of the only one-letter words in the English language. Yet its power and meaning do not match its quantitative value. In the collectivist dictatorship found the in the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand, this word has disappeared and consequently, society has fallen into a dark age, all because of the loss of a single-lettered word. However, the hero of this time, Equality 7-2521, breaks down the barrier of the collectivist society and allows him to make advances that show him the power of the word “I” and the idea of individualism in government and in society. Although the word “I” has vanished from society, Equality is able to free himself from the collectivist government through the use of science and free thought,

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529 Words | 3 Pages

Have you ever wondered what the fine line between egoism and self esteem is? What is the meaning of egoism? What makes you an egoist? How can someone be an egoist. I think that Prometheus is a perfect example of an egoist because he only cares about his happiness, he is miserable working for others, and because he thinks he owes nothing to everybody.

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1071 Words | 5 Pages

“The greatest crimes in the world are not committed by people breaking the rules but by people following the rules. It's people who follow orders that drop bombs and massacre villages.” -- Banksy, Wall and Piece. A civilization cannot function without a system of rules to create order and morality. However, the creators of the nameless, collectivist society in Anthem took this concept too far with the complete removal of individualism—the root of ego.

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1162 Words | 5 Pages

Judging the morals in life regarding different societies expectations quickly became the focus of Equality’s thoughts, exactly as Ayn Rand had made it the importance of her own efforts. Objectivism is different from what many people live by, but it worked for Equality by the end of Anthem. It is important to realize everybody needs different things, which leads to thinking diversely. Some need self-respect to be able to give respect, and others live their life following instead of leading. It is impossible however, to say objectivism needs to vanish when it never has before, more so, the world would be unbalanced with only equal thoughts from all; there would be no innovation if all thoughts were for the same narrow concept.

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