Collectivism Vs. Individualism In Ayn Rand's Anthem

In today’s world, people who are egoists are often thought of to be self-centered and selfish. Egoism is the theory that one should use himself to motivate and to achieve goals. Ayn Rand confronts egoism differently in Anthem. She views egoism as an extension to Individualism. Throughout the story Prometheus discovers that ego is not a bad thing and becomes an egoist. By the end of the book Prometheus uses his own self interests to drive himself, putting his own motives above those of his “brother’s” motives which is a primary focus in The Soul of the Collectivist. Anthem primarily features collectivism versus individualism. Ayn Rand believes that individualism is the more important of the two traits as is shown in most of Ayn Rand’s novels. …show more content…
Anthem Primarily focuses on one man’s journey to become an individualist while The Soul of an Individualist focuses on mankind as a whole. Even though they focus on different things, both agree that Collectivism as inferior to Individualism. The Soul of an Individualist agrees that Individualism is not about being selfish, but about giving yourself cause to work.. “The creators were not selfless. It is the whole secret of their power - that was self-sufficient, self-motivated, self generated.” The reason this is important is to show how both believe that being an individualist doesn’t mean that you just care about yourself.It means that you drive yoursself when no one else will. It is how Prometheus discovered the light. He pushed himself to discover it. There was no other reason than his own curiosity. Every individualist also has one thing that a collectivist does not. That is ego. People think that an ego is bad and one should try to avoid having one, but Ayn Rand says otherwise. “And here, over the portals of my fort, I shall cut in the stone the word which is to be my beacon and my banner. The word which will not die, should we all perish in battle. The word which can never die on this earth, for it is the heart of it and the meaning and the glory. The sacred word: EGO” (105) And when brought up in The Soul of an Individualist it is used in the same sense. “Men have been taught that ego is the synonym to evil, and selflessness the ideal of virtue. But the creator is the egoist in the absolute sense, and the selfless man is the one who does not think, feel, judge, or act.” Both talk about ego, but Anthem talks about ego as a whole while The Soul of an Individualist talks about ego in relation to man. Both, however, have the same idea when it comes to ego. One should not be embarrassed to have an ego for ego is the core of