The Theme Of Individualism In Ayn Rand's Anthem

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In the novel Anthem, Ayn Rand creates a society where individualism is a sin. The protagonist, Equality 7-2521 disagrees with the government’s beliefs of a collectivist society and supports the idea of individualism. Like on page 101, Equality 7-2521 realizes that "To be free, a man must be free of his brothers.” By this, Equality 7-2521 finally understands that he must be independent and different in order to succeed in his society. He displays Rand’s belief of egoism by his discovery of electricity, the way he stood up to the government, and how he shared his belief of individualism with Liberty 5-3000-also known as the Golden One-the beautiful peasant in which he fell in love with.
In the world created by Ayn Rand, it is forbidden for a …show more content…

When he couldn’t stand the destruction of the light bulb, he jumped out of a window in order to escape the council. He then ran mindlessly through the city until he realized he had traveled into the Uncharted Forest. Unfortunately, no man has ever dared to go into the forest, for it would be suicide to enter the forest. However, he then realizes that he was lying to himself. He realized that he never created the light for his brothers; he had created it for himself. And after this realization, he doesn’t regret building the light, but he does with he could see the Golden One again. His smaller transgressions like falling in love with the Golden One, preferring International 4-8818, seeking the solitude of the tunnel, and creating the light bulb could potentially be forgiven and have not cut Equality 7-2521 off irreparably from his society. But, once the World Council rejects the light bulb, all hope of reconciliation vanishes, and Equality 7-2521’s path clears. Although Equality 7-2521 doesn’t see the path before him, it’s inevitable that he will seek his own way in the Uncharted Forest. Equality 7-2521 again is promoting Rand’s philosophy of objectivism by showing how his ethics are different from the council’s and from his