ipl-logo

Theme Of Altruism In Ayn Rand's Anthem

514 Words3 Pages

“If civilization is to survive, it is the morality of altruism that people must learn to reject.” -Ayn Rand. To be compassionate and unselfish seems to be a noble and magnanimous pursuit. Altruism is admired, it is beautiful, and it is praised. And yet, it goes against our very natures. There is no reason we should sacrifice ourselves to save a dying child. Our instincts tell us to keep ourselves alive, that we are important. Thus, altruism is a beautiful conquering of our savage animal instincts. Ayn Rand disagrees. In her book, Anthem, the protagonist, Equality 7-2521, heroically conquers the evil Collectivist ideas by discovering the idea behind the word, “Ego.” She argues against brotherhood and altruism through her loveless, beautiless society. Selflessness is not in human nature, so by replacing egotism, the society replaced art, love, and all of the things that used to be paired with altruism as beautiful. Selflessness must be balanced with egotism, lest we lose the things that make us human. …show more content…

Friendship, for example, goes against altruistic ideals. On page 30 of Anthem, Equality 7-2521 said, “International 4-8818 and [I] are friends. This is an evil thing to say, for it is a transgression, the great Transgression of Preference, to love any among men better than the others, since we must love all men and all men are our friends.” Friendship means that you are fond of some people more than others. This would make it extremely difficult to make selfless choices. Imagine a man faced with the choice of killing five strangers or killing his best friend. The altruistic choice would be killing your best friend. However, no man would kill his best friend, and he would not be condemned for this decision. This display could be described as a heartwarming example of human emotion, even though it is not by any means

Show More
Related
1043 Words | 5 Pages

Ayn Rands novella, Anthem, displays the influence a collective society has on an individual while bringing attention to the flaws of a system where individualism is forbidden. The main character, Equality, exhibits freethinking and curiosity, which is dangerous in a community that strives for uniformity and passiveness. In Anthem, Equality’s assessment of his transgression is justified because the council used his “sin” to contain his desire to learn in order to maintain a balance in their collectivist society. Equality is deeply passionate about gaining and spreading information, which goes against the status quo of conformity and one mindedness, because of this he is isolated from others in his community. Intelligence is restricted in this

Read More
1128 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
1560 Words | 7 Pages

Every person has some kind of flaw; no one is completely perfect. One of humanity’s biggest flaws is that people would do anything to help themselves. I have been in many situations where I saved myself by sacrificing someone else. For example when my parents caught me coming home after curfew, I also ratted out my brother in order to lessen my punishment and take all the attention away from myself. Everyone is selfish in one way or another, always trying to do what is best for themselves.

Read More
594 Words | 3 Pages

Selfishness and selflessness can be balanced, and this balance is crucial to a functioning

Read More
1078 Words | 5 Pages

Being selfish is only part of who we are and what we need to flourish according to virtue ethicists; Aristotle,

Read More
802 Words | 4 Pages

The society regulates names, work, and even friendships. Here, originality is brought to shame, as no one can be better than the other. At first, Equality is seen writing, which is against the rules, and yet, he does not feel guilty. Rand highlights humanity’s innate propensity to rebel and to fall into their own desire. The society that Rand has created in Anthem is a clear reflection of what she thinks is a destruction to humanity.

Read More
1214 Words | 5 Pages

Growing up in the early 1900’s Ayn Rand had to deal with social conformity from a young age. At 12 years old the communist revolution began in Russia. Her family's business was raided and the once hard working prosperous Rosenbaum family was stripped down to be just like everyone else. In Ayn Rand's 1938 “Anthem” she depicts when social conformity goes far by letting us inside the mind of young and rebellious Equality 7-2521 opposing his corrupted and distorted society.

Read More
1560 Words | 7 Pages

This violates the principles of Objectivism by mankind being taught to be irrational, although rationality is a natural quality of any human. In addition, “‘... he must work for his rational self-interest, with the acheivement of his own happiness as the highest moral purpose of his life.’ Thus Objectivism rejects any form of altruism- the claim that morality consists in living for others or society” (Rand 261). So, Rand’s opposition to altruism is shown by the beliefs of Equality’s society by them also violating her philosophy.

Read More
919 Words | 4 Pages

Browne mentions that, “In fact, we can’t avoid a very significant conclusion: Everyone is selfish. Selfishness isn’t really an issue, because everyone selfishly seeks his own happiness” (Browne 154). He then goes on to state that, “The unselfishness concept is a merry-go-round that has no ultimate purpose” (Browne 155). In

Read More
1215 Words | 5 Pages

The book Anthem depicts a society where it is forbidden to think for one's self, but one-character breaks free from this dictatorship and lives a life thinking only for himself, and the author, Ayn Rand, shows that that is the purpose of life, and according to her, our morality will teach us to do so, and this is the key to happiness. The society depicted in Anthem defined morality as a system of conformity to ideals of right human conduct. This society believed that things done in in groups prevails over things done individually. At the beginning of the book Anthem, Equality 7-2521 states that, “… there is no transgression blacker than to do it alone” (Rand 17).

Read More
685 Words | 3 Pages

Compassion and good intentions can often lead to the cruelest, harshest actions. Despite this, people still strive to do what is best for others and be selfless, even if it means making a decision that nobody wants to

Read More
273 Words | 2 Pages

In this set of materials, the listening passage challenges the points made in the reading passage. The reading passage basically states that altruism is a behavior type which presents sharing a food or other type of feature with other members of the group without expecting any reward for it. The passage points out that an example of this type of phenomena in human’s society is a donation of an organ. This behavior is seen in the animal’s reign as well.

Read More
1119 Words | 5 Pages

Even the good people can be selfish too. The bad people are doing bad things, but the good people are too selfish to even help. In the story “The Diary of Anne Frank” the family has been hiding from the Germans for a long time. They have little food and little amounts of everything. Mrs.Frank catches one of the VaanDaans stealing.

Read More
283 Words | 2 Pages

Thesis: Acts of altruism and philanthropy have been praised and condemned by literary titans for centuries. The author Ayn Rand quotes “It is altruism that has corrupted and perverted human benevolence...”. This assertion is not only erroneous, but naive and a detriment to human kind. Selfishness and greed are the downfall of humanity. But it is love and compassion that redeems us.

Read More
829 Words | 4 Pages

The professors nod in agreement. “Phil, altruistic actions occur without intentionality or concern of others welfare, maybe even just for the sake of our own wellbeing. And Bio the routine behavior proves a mutually beneficial cycle therefore more of a cooperative behavior that you call reciprocal altruism”. Behave goes on “ I’m not sure why Altruism is in your vocabulary Bio, but I digress, I think you both are right in a way. I believe altruism to be a common casual relationship with strong reciprocity.

Read More

More about Theme Of Altruism In Ayn Rand's Anthem

Open Document