Individualism In Anthem

Well-known author Ayn Rand in her short novel Anthem introduces individualism in a post-apocalyptic world. Ayn’s purpose was to show how to be unique in an environment that is forced to be the same. She creates a tone of pity for most of the humans in the book while still showing respect to the two main characters. Likewise, English author E.M. Forster in his novella “The Machine Stops” uses futuristic ideas to portray a life unlike today’s world. Forster’s purpose was to show the harmful effects of a technology dependent world. He creates a tone of caution through the characters in the novella. Rand starts the novel with Equality 7-2521 being a street sweeper when he was actually an intelligent man who should have been a teacher or scholar. On page 26, Equality …show more content…
In her fantasy world, she showed what would happen in the world if individualism was lost. In this world, Rand constructs a strict government that the whole society must obey or penalties will come. For example, when Equality creates his light box, he brings it to the Scholars because he wanted to share it. However, the Scholars wanted the box destroyed and Equality killed. Rand also makes a world on the surface of the Earth with underground tunnels. Accordingly, Forster in “The Machine Stops” also creates a dystopian society. However, his new world lives underground, and tunnels are used to get to the surface of the Earth. Also, Forster shows what would happen to a world too dependent on technology. The machines start taking over the world, and human contact is rare. The people in the book mostly see each other through video calls such as Vashti who becomes attached to the machine and worships it. Eventually, the government created a rule to worship the machines. However, in the end, the machines end up attacking the people who rely on them, showing that too much reliance is not a good