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Theme Of Collectivism In Ayn Rand's Anthem

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In the dystopian novella Anthem written by Ayn Rand, Prometheus is used to show why collectivism is harmful, how egoism affects society so much, and how it contributed to the society of Prometheus. One of the firstthings we notice about the society in Ayn Rand’s Anthem is “We are one in all and all in one There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever.”(Rand 19) .This proves that we also learn that the collectivist that society presented in the novella or story and contributions any who as on alone one and with the thoughts of one and not of the many” ( Rand 72). Throughout this novella that explains how Equality 7-2521 Prometheus displays many which directly oppose the standards of the society that Prometheus goes …show more content…

Despite his teachers warning to dare not choose in your minds the work you would like to do when you leave the Home of Students,Equality longs to be a Scholar because he Loves the Science of Things (Rand 23). Equality commits to the job that the Council Of Vocations gave him, when he sets his eyes on Liberty-3000. This becomes an issue because as men are not allowed to notice women and women are not permitted to notice men. .A collectivist society frowns upon the love of one person over another because all things are meant to be equally loved by all.”It is a sin to write this. 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. It is as if we were speaking alone to no ears but our own. And we know well that there is no transgression than to do or think alone.”.Equality 7-2521 begins Anthem with this writing of his sins, indicating that which he has broken a law to which his society has influenced the development of his thoughts and on what he shouldn't be doing but Equality does the unthinkable instead of persuading his thoughts . As the quote suggests, he is a persistent human who has been doing the unthinkably to deny the thoughts of his society and who will reliably go further on the road to a great person in building a great society but, significantly, he suffers a great deal of responsibility as a result. At the same time, the reader disregarded with him on this because his "sin" of thinking alone and writing out his own thoughts on what he thinks about the society is almost cruel because he doesn't wanna share on what he's thinking but he does the opposite of doing that he

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In the book “Anthem” by Ayn Rand there is a society where everyone is the same. The book starts out by introducing Equality 7-2521, a young man who doesn't understand why he can’t follow the same rules as others. In “Anthem” people were never taught the word “I” but “we” because they should not care about anyone than the people around them. In the book it explains many different characters that break the rules for their friends. Having friends, looking at girls, talking to girls is not allowed.

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What exactly inspires people to create great things? Because they are doing it for their own benefit. In the novella written by Ayn Rand titled, Anthem, Equality 7-2521 is motivated to experiment and discover, but not because he is intending to assist his brothers and all of the population. Equality, although he had hoped to join the Home of the Scholars, works as a street sweeper trapped in a collectivist society where all of forms of individuality are banned. At the beginning of the story, Equality discovers a secret, underground tunnel where he slowly starts to discover technologies from the unmentionable times.

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Ayn Rand’s Anthem starts by Equality 7-2521 saying “It is a sin to write this.” Throughout the story, Equality’s views and mindset changes, he realizes that he is different from his brothers and its ok to be different. He discovers that if something is legal it is not certainly right. His eager for knowledge taught him the word “I” abandoning the word “We”.

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Throughout the novella Anthem the society disregards citizens having thoughts of their own. Prometheus, who has always been a free thinker, has always felt out of place in this society. As the novel progresses Prometheus comes to appreciate his trait of independent thinking. At the ending of the novella Prometheus comes to understand that what society sees as unethical is actually a valuable trait to have. Prometheus writes that he finally recognizes ‘why the best in me has been my sins and my transgressions; and why I had never felt guilt in my sins” in the concluding chapter of Anthem (Rand, 98).

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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.

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Anthem’s opening line, “It is a sin to write this,” creates a significant theme of guilt within Equality’s own mind, and it injects the theme of the importance of purity and morality by provoking Equality’s eventual assessment and recognition that society’s view of sin does not reconcile with his

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In Anthem, Equality finds it difficult to come to terms with

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In our society, people are motivated in lots of different ways. This can create both positives, such as putting a man on the moon, and negatives, such as war and starving people. Anthem is a story about a man who is going against his collectivist society in his search for individuality. Equality’s main motivation is to discover new things and new ideas in the world around him, as well as to try to figure out who he is as an individual. His motivation is correct because he enables the thought of free will, and the world could become a better place if everyone was motivated like Equality.

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How could losing individuality affect a society? The novel Anthem by Ayn Rand is about a guy named Equality 7-2521 who is trying to find himself in a society where everything is controlled and different. Later, he finds himself even though he will have to go through many obstacles to get there. The process behind losing individuality in an Anthem’s society are in forcing strict laws, brain washing of their citizens, and removing of family. The Anthem society in forcing of strict laws made it easy for everyone to lose their individuality.

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Title Michel Foucault once said, “There are forms of oppression and domination which become invisible. . .” The government, in Ayn Rand’s Anthem, is long since corrupt and has perverted their original idea of equality. Even though true equality will never be, this government has completely taken over all aspects of their citizens’ lives and the people do not acknowledge anything wrong. Oppression has become the normal reality for the citizens crushing their spirit until someone started to break the mold. Equality 7-2521 slowly confronted the injustice in his pursuit for knowledge.

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“It is a sin to write this,” so begins Anthem. But by the end of the story, Equality 7-2521 has a different moral assessment of his action. Do you think Equality’s eventual assessment of his sin is correct? Why or why not? Explain with evidence from the story.

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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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Anthem is a novel that was written in 1937 by Ayn Rand, about a dystopian society that only believes in the word, “We”, and its only most exciting resource is a candle. To this society they have no clue what it means to be an individual because their leaders take away their individuality whether that is by, eliminating the way they allow their citizens to communicate with each other or even by not evolving the society from using candles to using lights. In this novel the protagonist, Prometheus is a rare citizen because he has a sense of individuality and he is able to realize heta his community is doing is not right. As the novel goes on the reader is able to see that Prometheus becomes an individual as he falls in love for a girl, Gaea that he met while working. This girl helped Prometheus become an individual because believed in his creation and that belief pushed Prometheus to show his invention to the world council.

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641 Words | 3 Pages

Ayn Rand, in her critically acclaimed novel Anthem, creates the image of a society driven by a perverse need for the common good. She uses this society, and her character, Equality 7-2521, to illustrate her point that selfishness is not always an inferior value to altruism, and can even be used for good. Pope Francis, on the other hand, shares a different point of view in his speech to a joint session of Congress; he believes that all people have a common responsibility to their country or continent of origin, a responsibility to the ideals of community and working for the common good. I personally fall in the gray area between the two most extreme versions of their beliefs, because I believe that, above all others, one has a responsibility to themselves; however, I also believe

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Equality has changed from a collective to an individual having the knowledge of realizing what he can do to change himself in the environment. Anthem has shown how the society works. The main character Equality has proven the allegory when he realizes there's more than just a collectivism society. From start of the novel Equality has been able to grow from a part of a collectivism to learning about individualism to becoming an individual. Equality conquers the battle of collectivism and individualism for

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