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Individual in literature
The importance of identity and individuality
The importance of identity and individuality
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ethical egoism is the position that moral agents ought to do what is in their own self interest. Ayn Rand a woman seen with a sense of apparition, who believed in ethical egoism and used her fictional stories as a way to alert the population of what the government could do was indeed a women with more knowledge and mind than most as it would seem. Her vocabulary included words such as “moochers’ and “looters” as she referred to people that were dependent on the government, and were appropriate because it made her point a lot more true. Rand may had been a person seen as an “apparition” but her views on a population dependent on government, her ethical egoism, and her life story are the reason to why she describes people in a way that most
Anthem is a science fiction novella written by Ayn Rand and is a story about finding one's individuality, which is important because it allows a person to stand out in a crowd and teaches one to not just follow someone else. A person needs to learn that it is acceptable to be different and once one realizes that, they need to use it for good and positive reasons. Society broadcasts that it is unacceptable to be different and that there is a specific way to live; however, Ayn Rand writes about how one can defy this standard. Equality used to think that he had to be equal to everyone else and follow the rules in order to survive in society. In the book it says “We are one in all and all in one.
Anthem is a story written by Ayn Rand as a propaganda piece portraying the evils of communism. The book takes place in the future in a undisclosed city surrounded by forest. In this city a collectivist society dwells. The conflict of Anthem is character vs. society where one man by the name of Equality decides to go against his broken government. Equality took a stand against his broken society, he has defied the council of scholars and his government, had a relation with a women, and escaped the city to The Uncharted Forest.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a collectivist society. Ayn Rand lived through communism and she saw nazisim,in her book she gives an example of a collectivist society, she uses this novel to warn people about what could happen if we lived in a society like that. Ayn Rand uses her novela ANTHEM to explore the theme of individualism by having Equality discover light, by defing society, and discovering that ones self respect is the most important thing in the universe.
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.
The society regulates names, work, and even friendships. Here, originality is brought to shame, as no one can be better than the other. At first, Equality is seen writing, which is against the rules, and yet, he does not feel guilty. Rand highlights humanity’s innate propensity to rebel and to fall into their own desire. The society that Rand has created in Anthem is a clear reflection of what she thinks is a destruction to humanity.
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 .
Everything in the world is unique, no two things are the same no matter what. Whether it be mass-produced clothing, snowflakes, twins, or handmade jewelry none of it is the same as another. Yet it is expected for them to be different, after all, it’s impossible to have an exact copy of something. Imagine though if people did expect things to be the same. No not something but people, imagine if everyone was to be the same, and if not you would suffer for it.
"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.
Near the end of the novel, Anthem, the protagonist discovers the concept of “I” and says, “ I shall call to me all the men and the women whose spirit has not been killed within them and suffer under the yoke of their brothers”(Rand 101). Society is in need of individuals who know what is right, who show others to free and self thinking. Without the right leaders society can potentially be that of Anthem’s where everyone has no free will. This demonstrates how leadership is necessary in society in order for it’s citizens to be led properly. Finally, individualism is needed in society since it gives people the chance to be creative.
