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The Role Of Collectivism In Ayn Rand's Anthem

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In the novel, Anthem by Ayn Rand, conveys a deep understanding of collectivism. Collectivism is when you give a group priority over yourself as an individual. The main character, Equality 7-2521, does not have an identity and cannot express himself as an individual. In Equality’s world they can not be self-centered and always have to think about others. Anthem takes place in the future, and the citizens are unaware of the past. Equality 7-2521 is unique and different than everyone else. He believes there are greater things in the earth yet to discover. Ayn Rand focuses this book towards the future, but makes connections to the past.
Equality 7-2521 can think and process faster than other citizens he is surrounded by. It is a sin to have quick brain and be intelligent, that can lead to extreme punishments such as; being sentenced to ten years in the Palace of Corrective Detention. He always tried to be like the other …show more content…

He is always curious what is hidden or yet to discover in the world. It is forbidden to ask questions to the teachers or the councils, but Equality 7-2521 cannot resist from them and is pondering for answers. The teachers always despised him for being intelligent and curious. Equality found out about electricity, but wasn't sure if he should tell the people he did not want to risk getting punished. In the novel “Anthem” by Ayn Rand it states, “ And the questions give us no rest. We know not why our curse makes us seek we know not what, ever and ever. But we cannot resist it. It whispers us that there are greater things on this earth of ours, and that we can know them if we try.”(Rand,24). Equality 7-2521 is trying to point out that if we just try to discover things they might find out about the truth. “ The truth is ugly in itself, is always curious and beautiful to seekers after it.” If the whole society tries to figure out about the Great Truth they can know why individuality is a

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Equality 7-2521 doesn’t like what the council of vocations assigned his job for the rest of his life. He was always different from his brothers and people look at him like. Equality 7-2521 always wanted to be apart of the home of the scholars and learn more things. While doing his job equality sees an a dark tunnel that lead to thing from the unmentionable. He sneaks off to the tunnel to mess with this box that he found while roaming the tunnels one night.

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In Ayn Rand's story Anthem, the protagonist Equality 7-2521 has a power unlike no other within their collectivist society. One day when Equality was working as a street sweeper, he finds an old abandoned underground railroad tunnel from the Unmentionable Times long ago. This is where he conducts his experiments that fill him with pride and joy. Equality dreams how his new invention that he brought into existence can change the world, but helping mankind is not his true motivation behind his passion to create. Throughout the story, Equality's true motivation is him trying to find his inner self and his identity as an individual.

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“IT IS A SIN TO WRITE THIS”(17), as Equality 7-2521 said when he was in the dark damp cave of blackness where he went to be alone so he could concentrate on his ideas that he wasn’t allowed to have. Anthem, by Ayn Rand, portrays a primitive way of life that describes a depressing future only consisting of rule and the unknown. Throughout the book there is one main thought made by all the characters and they all wonder what had happened before “The Great Rebirth” and why the Council wanted to hide it from them. It is like all their minds were wiped from the face of the earth and the clock of all time had started from zero. They had forgotten science and everything invented by it.

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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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Equality 7-2521 is very proud as to what he invented, so Equality 7-2521 decides Equality 7-2521 wants to come clean and admit to the crimes Equality 7-2521 did. Equality 7-2521 was motivated because he wanted to become one of the smart people. Equality 7-2521 would also have more independence if he joined the World Council of Scholars. Equality 7-2521 is motivated because he has always wanted to try and find his inner self and his identity as an individual. In chapter 7 of the novel Anthem it shows that Equality 7-2521 feels unimportant to everyone around him and that he is just another person just like everyone else.

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Escaping Communism Ayn Rand depicts a communist world in her book Anthem, where the citizens live day to day identical to the one before. Equality 7-2521, a struggling man in the society, is set apart for his strive of wanting more than what the society gives him. Rand shows that in a world carried on in such a communistic matter, it leaves some struggling and at a loss to make do with what they have and to fit in. The book, Anthem gives a grand example of how others react to one’s differences, shunning them or giving a punishment. Equality 7-2521 has a compelling ambition to learn things which then helps him escape the society.

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In the novel, Anthem, Equality 7-2521 invents a new source of light. And after a couple days equality 7-2521 gained the courage to go show the World Council of Scholars what he had made. The motivation he gets to show the World Council of Scholars is he wants everyone else to find their happiness like he did. Equality 7-2521 wanted all his brothers to experience what he experienced with the light.

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“We wished to know… about all the things” (23). He has asked so many questions- unlike the others- which the teachers forbade it. According to the council, curiosity is selfish- since it cannot give rest and once answered, more questions come. The Council does not like curiosity; it could lead to the revelation of the Unspeakable Times. Equalitys intelligence was also one of the reasons why he was given the job he did.

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What makes one person different from another? Is it height, weight, and color of skin, or is it personality, family, and attitude? These differences can define a person and separate them from those around them. These differences make a person an individual; however, in Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem, Equality 7-521 is anything but an individual. He spends his days sweeping the streets and his nights sleeping in a white room with ninety-nine of his brothers.

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Those who stood out, like Equality 7-2521, were frowned upon because they thought differently. Equality always addressed his different ways as a sin; “It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil,” (Rand, 1). Even though it is a sin to do those things, that is exactly what Equality did. The entire book is him writing about what is going on in life and his thoughts and feelings.

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Equality 7-2521 declares, “We, Equality 7-2521, were not happy in those years in the Home of the Students. It wasn’t that the learning was too hard for us. It was that the learning was too easy… We wished to know. We wished to know about all the things which makes the world around us.

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Through recounting his life, Equality 7-2521 is able to recognize how he always had an inner voice that was suppressed by his society because it was telling him to be an individual and put his personal wants above the wants of his fellow brothers. In a world where no one is able to think privately, Equality 7-2521 breaks away from the only moral belief system he has ever been taught and

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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.

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Ayn Rand’s novel Anthem depicts a collectivist society in which members are shunned for being different, and are not allowed to act or think as an individual. On a stage set many years in the future, Rand gives the reader a unique insight into her individualistic views in which she highlights the dangers of this collective society through the leaders in Anthem using propaganda, fear, and the restriction of knowledge in order to enslave the minds of their subjects. Through this, Rand is also able to share her insight on collectivism in which she believes that collectivism is evil, nonsensical, and impractical. First of all, Ayn Rand’s novel exemplifies the ridiculousness and evil contained in a collective society by showing how the leaders of

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Imagine growing up without parents or siblings, and still being the smartest person in society. That was exactly how Equality 7-2521 lived in his society, Equality was a young man who belonged in the wrong generation, and born at the wrong time. Yet his was smart enough to holds his own head in a black and white society that demands that everyone in must it be obedient to the higher class. To comprehend this character, one must to understand the most important factor, his bravery to be independent. Putting aside the agonizing pressure from the peers around him to behave according to socially acceptable standards, he is still loyal to the values that matter to him.

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