Meaning Of Man's Ego In Anthem By Ayn Rand

Anthem is a book written by Ayn Rand, who was a Russian novelist and philosopher, she was born in Russia during the Socialist revolution. This novel was first published in 1937 in England. This book was Rand’s political manifesto of what she experienced in her life in Russia during the revolution. This story is in a society which did not believe in individualism and told everyone what to do. It is about a boy named Equality 7-2521, who wanted to look beyond of what society imposed on him. He decided to go and look around. Then found a tunnel in which he started doing research secretly of how everything began and later on created the light bulb. He found love and escaped from the society with a girl that believed in him. This story shows the theme of the meaning of man’s ego. The meaning of man’s ego in Ayn Rand’s perspective is that man should be allowed to develop all of their potential and not be …show more content…
“The Council does not know of this hole, so it cannot be forbidden” (Rand Ch. 1 P. 31). This shows that Equality 7-2521 had the desire to find or discover new horizons of the world unknown to him before. This tunnel served as his own new world. This is where he created, out of his own initiative and talent, a light bulb. “We made it, we created it. We brought it forth from the night of the ages. We alone. Our hands. Our mind. Ours alone and only… Yet there was light, light that came from nowhere, light from the heart of metal” (Rand Ch. 5 P.59). This demonstrates that Equality 7-2521 made the light bulb alone in the tunnel were he used supplies that he found there. This is a way of explaining that he found the reason, the reality about everything that surrounded him that he didn’t know. In the meantime, back in the community people stay following orders and being unproductive for