In the novel Anthem, written by Ayn Rand, the protagonist of the story struggles with the ethicality of his actions and his choice to write about the events that happened to him throughout his life. Due to the society Equality grew up in, he was under the belief that writing his personal opinions was a grave transgression that he would be punished for. This was the reason the novel began with the phrase “It is a sin to write this,”(2). However, by the end of the novel, Equality’s belief grew and changed with his perception of the world. No longer was he under the belief that writing his individual thoughts was a transgression; he understood that he was allowed to be an individual and write whatever he pleased. Equality’s eventual assessment
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One of the most important parts of Anthem was the immorality of the collectivist society in which Equality grew up. In his society, one was not permitted to choose a career, choose a lover, or choose where one lived. Everything was decided for the society and no one had a choice on most aspects of their lives. In the first chapter of the novel, Equality explained how he was told by the teachers, “Dare not choose in your minds the work you would like to do when you leave the Home of Students. You shall do what the Council of Vocations shall prescribe for you. For the Council of Vocations knows in its great wisdom where you are needed by your brother men, better than you can know it in your unworthy little minds,”(4). In the society in which they lived, the Councils chose every aspect of their lives. Without a choice in the way their lives would play out, their lives could hardly be considered their own. …show more content…
His discovery of the word “I,” as well as his new view of the world, helped him realize that his choices were not all considered a sin despite what his society informed him. Between the beginning and end of the novel, Equality had different opinions as to whether or not his writing was a sin. By the end, Equality understood that it was not a transgression to write about one’s personal opinions or events in one’s life. His understanding that his “sin” was not actually a sin was correct because the society he grew up in was morally wrong and he was an individual who had his own thought process, separate from that of his
One of the most important parts of Anthem was the immorality of the collectivist society in which Equality grew up. In his society, one was not permitted to choose a career, choose a lover, or choose where one lived. Everything was decided for the society and no one had a choice on most aspects of their lives. In the first chapter of the novel, Equality explained how he was told by the teachers, “Dare not choose in your minds the work you would like to do when you leave the Home of Students. You shall do what the Council of Vocations shall prescribe for you. For the Council of Vocations knows in its great wisdom where you are needed by your brother men, better than you can know it in your unworthy little minds,”(4). In the society in which they lived, the Councils chose every aspect of their lives. Without a choice in the way their lives would play out, their lives could hardly be considered their own. …show more content…
His discovery of the word “I,” as well as his new view of the world, helped him realize that his choices were not all considered a sin despite what his society informed him. Between the beginning and end of the novel, Equality had different opinions as to whether or not his writing was a sin. By the end, Equality understood that it was not a transgression to write about one’s personal opinions or events in one’s life. His understanding that his “sin” was not actually a sin was correct because the society he grew up in was morally wrong and he was an individual who had his own thought process, separate from that of his