The Symbol Of Equality In Ayn Rand's Anthem

Ayn Rand’s Anthem depicts a collectivist society where no man is allowed to be an individual. Due to this society making the people believe that there is no “I” but only a “we” the people of the community blindly believe what the higher power tells them. The people in the society of Anthem live with jobs that the head of the government give them and emotion is pushed to the side, all leading to Equality questioning and eventually breaking the law. Equality is a symbol of identity within Anthem who rebels against the system secretly. The ideals and rules of a collectivist society represented in Anthem by Ayn Rand show that collectivism is not an efficient way to create peace and order in a society. The society that Ayn Rand created was only

The Society of Anthem has many rules and ideals that the people have to follow, but this community is only loosely connected to the society residing today. In their society the main goal is for every person to be one “We strive to be like all our brother men, for all men must be alike”(pg.19). While in the society today the main goal is to strive to be different and to be oneself. Fountain head’s “The Soul of a Collectivist” thinks that if you “ Kill the individual. Kill man’s soul. The rest will follow automatically.”, but it’s hard to persuade a whole generation that collectivism is now suddenly a good thing when individuality is praised and that being different is ultimately favorable. To do so “I” would have to be taken from vocabulary and “We” implanted as the only way to mention oneself or others around them. The connection between Anthem’s community and the one lived in today is barely even slightly similar and also a little bit of an impossible feat. Even in Anthem not everyone is equal. There has to be someone to govern, to take charge. “The Soul of a Collectivist describes it as “A world with it’s motor cut off and a single heart, pumped by hand. My hand- and the hands of a few, a very few other men like me.”. These “very few other men” are still placed higher in the social order than the rest of the

Reading Anthem and “The Soul of a Collectivist” can lead the reader to think that as a general public, many take individuality for granted. Even though in today’s culture many strongly support individuality, some still seem to not use their specific character to their potential. When Equality found the unmentionable word he mentions “I am. I think. I will. My hands . . . My spirit . . . My sky . . . My forest . . . This earth of mine . . . .” (pg 94) Since Equality has never been able to be an individual or say these words, he makes sure that he uses these words to their fullest, with meaning, while in contrast people live everyday with these words, just throwing them around. Our public has had our freedoms and our individuality for either all or most of our lives, making it seem less or not that important at all. Individuality is used in everyday life. We think,