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The Pressure Of Conformity In Ayn Rand's Anthem: Equality

520 Words3 Pages

The heroes, leaders, doctors, writers, teachers, inventors and everyone virtuous in our world exist with an ego allowing for their creation and achievement. Yet, those who are vain and take pride in themselves are shunned in modern day society. To be fully humble and willing to serve others at the drop of a dime is nearly impossible, nor desirable. So why does society have the tendency to teach selfless behaviours, when everything good on earth has come out of pride? Thomas Edison created the light bulb with dignity, knowing his invention would better mankind, exactly as Equality from Anthem did. Furthermore, Ray Land creates all of her characters this way, portraying her bias towards the greatness of objectivism. Her novels indicate how vital self-centered people are to our world for their own success and everyone else’s. The pressures of conformity in …show more content…

The extreme collectivist community potrayed shows the polar opposite of egoism. Equality immediately gets set appart by his intellectual abilities leading to his substantial discoveries. Evidently his ideas are rejected and he’s shunned for his intelligence and creativity. Nevertheless, this is for the better, for it is then that he perhaps has his greatest thought: “To be free a man must be free of his brothers. That is freedom. This is nothing else.” (Rand, 101) All along he knew his happiness came from being alone, yet it wasn’t till now he realized the great burden of constantly serving others. His great epiphany derived the question, “What is my life, if I am but to bow, to agree and obey?” (Rand, 97) At this point he realizes his curse of exising as inquisive is actually his “greatest virtue.” (Rand) The thought of existing for others becomes repelling and Equality instead makes his goal to fight for the freedom on man and for the welfare that comes from

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