Looking at Contrast between Equality and the Council, by the end of the story, it’s found that their beliefs are close to polar opposites. For example, Equality values himself and his possessions over the need for ‘the best for the whole’ mentality much like his life under the Council along with their disagreement with the individual and making decisions by one’s self more so than what’s good for the city. Secondly he begins to influence his peers and others around him to change and begin to value themselves like the his female companion did near the end of the story. Additionally, when looking into his views more thoroughly, it is seen that his morals resemble that of an individualist, more so than the futuristic dictators that are ruling
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Then, when he’s in the house of students Equality figures out that he hold preferences for jobs as seen here “We preferred some work and some lessons to the others. We did not listen well to the history of all the Councils elected since the Great Rebirth. But we loved the Science of Things” (23 Rand). This is also against the rules of the society whom hold collectivist standards and believe that the good of the group is more important than the good of a single person. Equality, when he gets chosen for a job, accepts being a streetsweeper because he thinks that he should be punished and that he’d rather just take the job to do the best for his society in the lines “We knew we had been guilty, but now we had a way to atone for it. We would accept our Life Mandate, and we would work for our brothers, gladly and willingly, and we would erase our sin against them, which they did know know, but we knew” (26 Rand). In Ayn Rand's excerpts on the topic of selfishness, she believes that “In popular usage, the word ‘selfishness’ is a synonym of evil...Yet the exact meaning and dictionary definition of the word ‘selfishness’ is: concern with one’s own interests’ (The Virtue of Selfishness vii). …show more content…
After Equality receives his job, he finds a tunnel in the woods in chapter one , and the other he was working with immediately wants to report it to the Council. “‘We shall report our find to the City Council. We shall not report it to any men.’ They raised their hands to their ears, for never had they heard such words as these… ‘This place is ours. This place belongs to us, Equality 7-2521, and to no other men on earth”; However, as seen here Equality persuades him to keep the secret between them, and to the death at that. This shows Equality’s influence on others as he begins to develop his own morals and ideals. Equality also mentions near the end of the book he wants to help the people he saw that were different like him and let them into his new society in the Uncharted Forests. In contrast, the Council soon discovers he’s been staying out late, and asks him where he’d been going. Equality didn’t answer, and in response, he proceeded to be lashed. After this, he had fled. The Council wants to discipline Equality, his right not to speak is taken away as he is part of a whole and should confess to where he was demonstrating that they are trying to force obedience onto their people. He then believes that he will be forgiven when he brings something to contribute to the society, which will benefit the whole. Equality is still punished however and decides to run
Then, when he’s in the house of students Equality figures out that he hold preferences for jobs as seen here “We preferred some work and some lessons to the others. We did not listen well to the history of all the Councils elected since the Great Rebirth. But we loved the Science of Things” (23 Rand). This is also against the rules of the society whom hold collectivist standards and believe that the good of the group is more important than the good of a single person. Equality, when he gets chosen for a job, accepts being a streetsweeper because he thinks that he should be punished and that he’d rather just take the job to do the best for his society in the lines “We knew we had been guilty, but now we had a way to atone for it. We would accept our Life Mandate, and we would work for our brothers, gladly and willingly, and we would erase our sin against them, which they did know know, but we knew” (26 Rand). In Ayn Rand's excerpts on the topic of selfishness, she believes that “In popular usage, the word ‘selfishness’ is a synonym of evil...Yet the exact meaning and dictionary definition of the word ‘selfishness’ is: concern with one’s own interests’ (The Virtue of Selfishness vii). …show more content…
After Equality receives his job, he finds a tunnel in the woods in chapter one , and the other he was working with immediately wants to report it to the Council. “‘We shall report our find to the City Council. We shall not report it to any men.’ They raised their hands to their ears, for never had they heard such words as these… ‘This place is ours. This place belongs to us, Equality 7-2521, and to no other men on earth”; However, as seen here Equality persuades him to keep the secret between them, and to the death at that. This shows Equality’s influence on others as he begins to develop his own morals and ideals. Equality also mentions near the end of the book he wants to help the people he saw that were different like him and let them into his new society in the Uncharted Forests. In contrast, the Council soon discovers he’s been staying out late, and asks him where he’d been going. Equality didn’t answer, and in response, he proceeded to be lashed. After this, he had fled. The Council wants to discipline Equality, his right not to speak is taken away as he is part of a whole and should confess to where he was demonstrating that they are trying to force obedience onto their people. He then believes that he will be forgiven when he brings something to contribute to the society, which will benefit the whole. Equality is still punished however and decides to run