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Anthem and individualism
Ayn rand book essay
Anthem and individualism
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Anthem and individualism
Ayn rand book essay
Anthem and individualism
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
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.
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.
In Ayn Rand’s Anthem, the idea of egoism is addressed. Is it wrong to be an egoist? The philosophy is a controversial subject; however, I believe that is acceptable to be an egoist. It is acceptable to be an egoist because it is the only way you will get anywhere in life, happiness will be more prevalent in our society, and the technology of our society would progress significantly. The Soul Of An Individualist will be analyzed as well to add validity to my opinions.
Anthem by Ayn Rand is about a young boy named Equality 7-2521, age 21. Who had recreated electricity, and wanted to show the council to get himself into the home of the scholars. He terrified them all and ran off into the uncharted forest. Where he sees a house full of books. It all finally leads him to believe that you are not free, if you’re not free of your brothers.
Happiness is a rite of passage to everyone no matter what cost. It can be extremely difficult to take someone’s happiness away, but it can be done. For example, in the book “Anthem” by Ayn Rand, Prometheus’ happiness is stripped from him in a futuristic society focused around similarity and compliance. Similarly, this unfortunately can happen as we are currently witnessing in Communist countries. Rand describes taking away individuality by forcing everyone to use “we” instead of “I”.
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.
Anthem was written in 1937 by Ayn Rand. The story is about a young man, Equality 7-2521 who is appointed to sweep the streets and he finds a tunnel that sets off his curiosity about the unmentionable times where he invents a light bulb. Ayn Rand expresses many themes in this novella such as: freedom, identity and happiness. The government controlled the population by brain washing the people and enslaving their mind and making them think rebellion is wrong.
There's so much emphasis on putting others before oneself that people often forget to look out for their own needs, as shown in this book. Ayn Rand successfully captures the negatives of an overrated ideology and presents an unorthodox perspective on the matter. In conclusion, Equality's true motives behind his work are much more selfish than they first appear to be. Equality strives to fulfil his own personal desire rather than contribute everything to society, and this isn't necessarily a negative thing.
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 .
Moral Assessment of Anthem In Ayn Rand’s novel, Anthem, Equality lives in a communist society that believes everyone must work for and be exactly like one another. For much of the novel, he believes what the Council of Vocations tells him, despite his intelligence and independence. By the end of the book, he realizes that the idea that everyone is the same and must work for each other is flawed. He deserves to live his own life and enjoy himself.
Imagine living in a world where you are treated differently because of your born traits and personal preference, and you want freedom and justice but have no power or voice in the world to speak your mind. Equality from Anthem by Ayn Rand, it is a dystopian society told from point of view of Equality. Equality knows there is much more to life than just living and serving for his government and he goes into a journey to find it. Anthem establishes a theme of freedom and confinement and Equality reaches it with his traits of determination and curiosity. Equality 7-2521 keeps on going against his government and breaking the rules even though he knows the consequences are awful he continues with his positive state of mind for him and his people of the dystopian society.
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,
Ayn Rand’s belief of finding true happiness is for people to only be concerned about themselves and to live their lives to their own personal advantage. She explains this belief by saying, “[Man’s] highest moral purpose is the achievement of his own happiness.” Rand believes that people live only for themselves. By living their lives the way they want to, people are able to achieve the goals they set for themselves and live for their specific purpose. There are some people in the world who do live their lives the way they want to and don’t care about others, but their are even more people who believe that teamwork and working toward a common goal is the best way to live their lives.
Rand’s second point under being selfless is that in order to help someone, the most selfless act, one must evaluate the situation and determine what and how many resources they would be willing to utilize. She uses time, effort, and money as examples of what a person would need to consider while determining whether it would be in the lovers best interest to help. Her fear is that if these factors are not taken into consideration, people with Agapic love would be treated like a doormat. That is the major flaw with this objection, helping others without expectations of benefiting one’s own self is not being a doormat, it is being a right, honest, and acceptable human. Although I don’t think a person must give up everything they have for another
By this Ayn Rand means that we should only strive for our happiness and not for anyone else’s happiness. If we do this, if everybody strives for their own happiness, in the end everybody will become happy. In addition, no one has the right to prevent me from striving for my happiness. By saying this, Rand opposes selfishness - only striving for what you want- and opposes altruism - not striving for anyone else’s happiness. According to her altruism doesn’t make men self-respecting and self-supporting.