The Sins Of Society In Ayn Rand's Anthem

The Sins of Society The seven deadly sins are lust, greed, gluttony, laziness, wrath, envy, and pride. All in which people indulge in to some extent. Some work to be more wealthy and others take pride in things they excel in, these sins both seem harmless when in small doses. However, few individuals let greed and wrath drive them to much greater sins such as burglary, theft, and murder. It’s an obvious difference between taking pride in oneself and taking another's life, but where does humanity draw the line between wrong and right. In the dystopian world of Anthem, written by Ayn Rand, none of these problems are existent due to lack of individuality. This makes Equality 7-2521’s need to be an individual seem all the more drastic, no matter how innocent it may seem to readers. Equality’s need to be his own person and motivation to follow his childhood dream of being a

This is shown in early in Anthem, when Equality discovers the wires and knows that they’re something special, “We forget all men, all laws and all things save our metals and our wires” (54). He shows no problem with going against everything he’s been told within a split second to be able to continue his pursuit. Going even further than just breaking the law, Equality’s willingness to put his discovery before himself is a recurring event. He goes a bit mad after making his discovery and will protect it at all costs, “We care not about our body, but our light is...” (61). Equality follows through with this statement not much longer after he makes it. He gets lashed repetitively instead of risking the chance his light gets destroyed “But we jerked our head away, hid our face upon our tied hands, and bit our lips” (65). If all of Earth’s societies were willing to break laws and take cruel punishments on their bodies in order to get their goal, then who’s to say they won’t perish or kill for it