Unlike during the Unmentionable Times, when men created “towers [that] rose to the sky,” it is an affliction to be born with powerful intellectual capacity and ambition in Ayn Rand’s apocalyptic, nameless society in Anthem. Collectivism is ostensibly the moral guidepost for humanity, and any perceived threat to the inflexible, authoritarian regime is met with severe punishment. The attack on mankind’s free will and reason is most evident in the cold marble engraving in the Palace of the World Council: “We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever” (6). Societal norms force homogeneity and sacrifice among all people.
Preventing tyranny gives people the opportunity to have some power in what decisions are being
That individuals are autonomous or separate from the political systems in which they operate are mere illusions in life writing about
Individuals are the building blocks of society, but they can’t dictate the way society flows. In the short stories “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson and “Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut, and the theories of enlightenment philosophers, individuals can not change society. Tessie Hutchinson from “The Lottery,” tried to persuade her village that the tradition was wrong, but she faced death. While, Harrison from “Harrison Bergeron,” tried to overthrow society's ideas, through atrocious actions. The philosophers believed that the governors of society should be responsive and secure rights for the people.
This individual mindset allows the lack of organized resistance to the government’s plans and wishes. While this plan could work, the way the government went about it doomed it in a way.
From a young age, humans learn that truth comes from authority. This concept is addressed in the dystopian novels 1984 by George Orwell and Anthem by Ayn Rand when they convey the possibilities of a totalitarian society. The controlling governmental figure in 1984, Big Brother, uses psychological torture to convince his citizens that life is better when he is in charge. In Anthem, the society has reverted to times before electricity and everyone is convinced through their loss of information that individual thought, even if it is to advance society, is dangerous. Regardless of both novels differing, they are unified through their author’s warning that the destruction of individualism by the government can quell the growth and progress of humankind.
This excerpt showcases the mentality the leaders of this society have and how well they've implemented it to make it seem as though collectivism and abolishing individualism is for the greater good, but just because their forefathers had the right intention does not mean to say they had the right way to do it. It's perfectly fine to have rules to keep people in line, but when it starts to kill the soul of a person and it keeps them from doing something so human as asking questions, these rules become simply cruel
When no influence is strong enough to unify people, they divide. They struggle” (91). During times of instability, the “influence” that once brought people together is long forgotten, people only look out for themselves. This stimulates the division of like people and as a result, the community struggles. She examines every person around her to make sense of her thoughts and values and to find her place in the world.
Perhaps the greatest example of this can be seen when Equality witnesses a man being burned at the stake for speaking the unspeakable word: a word that implies an individual entity of one’s self. Equality “... stood in the great square with all the children and all of the men of the city [and watching the burning of the man at the stake]” (50). Equality and his whole community witness the burning of a man who discovered true individuality in the darkness of collectivism. This burning sent a dark but fiery message to the citizens of this collectivist community because now, the people of this society can be sure that if they rebel against their collective, they will be burned to something less than waste (or suffer a fate of similar caliber). Through such punishment, Rand demonstrates that in such collective societies, leaders must extinguish acts of individualism, and go to far lengths to do so.
However, he fails to realize that collectivism still exists outside his tunnel of intellectual and individualistic refuge. Thus, the council is horrified by his invention using personal thought and they mock and ridicule him, even threatening to burn him at the stake. One member of the council, International 1-5537, points out the major issue with Equality’s invention, saying “what is not done collectively cannot be good” (Anthem 73). The Council fails to understand the basic idea that Rand proposes in “The Soul of an Individualist” in which she says that “no work is ever done collectively, by a major decision. Every creative job is achieved under the guidance of a single individual thought” (Rand).
In the 1984 society , people are purposely left to feel alone to make them fear getting caught by the Party. Although many people commit thoughtcrime, they will remain silent because they know the consequences of engaging in rebellion. This constant source of fear holds the community together and manipulates people’s thought processes. The government often leaves the people
She exists in a time when women are classified as objects of beauty and property, and her heart trouble suggests that she is fragile. Louise’s initial reaction to the news of her husband’s death suggests that she is deeply saddened and grief stricken when she escapes to her bedroom. However, the reader is caught off-guard with Louise’s secret reaction to the news of her husband’s death because she contradicts the gender norm of the 19th century woman. Her contradiction to the stereotype / gender norm is displayed when she slowly reveals her inward
Conformity is something that humans have been doing for a long time. Such conformity has lead to negative outcomes. This idea is explored through “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut and “The Unknown Citizen” by W.H. Auden. In these two texts conformity eliminates individuality and causes the society to be weakened.
If people have no place to voice their will or take part in deciding their own destiny, the community might grow disinterested and passive in their relationship with their government. Mill believes this is problematic for society because history, as he sees it, has shown that more democratic societies have more ‘energetic, and ‘developed’ societies as well as more ‘go ahead characters’ not seen in more totalitarian societies. Yet, this criticism might fail to cover a deeper problem of disinterest; it might lead to a level of moral deficiency as well. Mill fears that a loss of ability and activity, leads to a society losing its sense of communal responsibility and social justice. In their aloofness, people might be less inclined to believe that they have any responsibility to society since society has ceased to have any rights or purpose under absolute authority.
Megann Schmidt 678543 Although choosing a degree seems like a big decision, choosing biology education and biochemistry was not difficult because the decision occurred very naturally to me. I started out as just a biology major, and as I began taking chemistry classes, I very soon realized I wanted to add a biochemistry major as well. Additionally, as time went on, I realized that I think I might enjoy teaching these subjects because I’ve really enjoyed learning about them so much. However, as of right now, I do not actually know what I would like to use my degree for in the future, but I am sure I am pursuing the right degree for a number of reasons.
