Similarities Between The Anthem And The Handmaid's Tale

Improved Essays
Freedom and individual rights are essential for living a joyful life. Unfortunately, in the novel The Anthem by Ayn Rand and The Handmaid 's Tale by Margaret Atwood, people live in a close and controlled society. In neither novel, the protagonists have no right of deciding on what they want to do with their lives. For example, Equality 7-2521, the protagonist of the Anthem yearns of becoming a scientist, but is commanded to be a Street Sweeper by a government that fears his independence of mind. Both societies live in a nonexistent freedom world where society is deprived from knowledge and their own identity. In The novel Anthem society lives in a totalitarian way where humanity is born to live a life full of regulations. At the age of five, people are sent to a Home of Students where they had to stay until the age of fifteen. During their stay at the Home of Students, men had to follow the sound of a bell at their beginning of their day as well as the end. Before they …show more content…
In the Anthem, everything started after a catastrophic event. Their society was destroyed by the leaders, which thought that the problem was the individual. This belief was so severe that the word "I" had to be deleted from their vocabulary. In The Handmaid 's Tale, there was a catastrophe which made men sterile. In order to solve this catastrophe, all women 's rights were taken away and were forced to bear Commander 's children. Another difference is their naming system. Even though in both novels their identity were stripped away, in the Handmaid 's Tale, women adapted their Commander 's name preceding them with "Of". Meanwhile on the Anthem, individuals have no identity of their own. They are name Equality followed by a number such as 7-2521. Anything that might allow individuals to develop their own identity- whether name, a mirror, or the first-person singular was

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    They say, “We are one in all and all in one. There are no men, but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever,” (19). This emphasizes the fact that in Anthem the individual does not matter to the society. The government in Anthem has made it their mission to control one’s individuality by making “I,” the Unspeakable Word. The society in Anthem does not see individual lives as unique because everyone is “WE,” so all is one.…

    • 1058 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Giver Vs Anthem Essay

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In Anthem they live how they're suppose to with their brothers in their job housing units. In these two stories both Anthem by Ayn Rand and The Giver by Lowis Lowry they have dystopian theme. In conclusion they have a similarities and differences. In ways they're different with the society and people, Anthem is strict and The Giver’s strict and has some bendable rules that almost everyone in that community had once before.…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Individuality in Anthem Society influences the way people think and behave throughout their entire lives. However, the dystopian novel Anthem by Ayn Rand presents a society that controls the behaviors, actions, and even thoughts of their citizens. Rand’s two main characters Equality 7-2521 and Liberty 5-3000 represent common archetypes found in many other literary works. These archetypes help Rand develop the theme that suppression of individuality depletes peoples’ happiness because it is an essential part of humanity.…

    • 958 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Prompt #1 - Point of View In the novel, Anthem, the author wrote in first person major which provided many merits in the development of the novel. Using the diary as a medium helped develop an understanding of how Equality 7-2521’s life was like and how he changed and grew throughout the novel. At first, Equality 7-2521 did not feel proud of what he was doing until the end of the novel where he found pride in his individualism.…

    • 1208 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Formation of a Collective Society “Totalitarianism begins with using the word “we” without every I’s permission” (Wiśhiewski). In Anthem, Ayn Rand gives a glimpse of what it is like to live in a collective society. Equality 7-2521 is unlike his brothers and is “cursed” because of those differences. Throughout the story, Equality goes on various adventures such as finding light and leaving his society along with its collective nature. The process behind creating a collective society in Anthem requires the burning of the past, the regression of technology, and the removal of choice.…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many people view the society in Anthem as a dystopian society, where each individual’s life is controlled by the government. If the question, “Is the world in Anthem more like today or in 1776?” was asked to a group of students who have read the book, a good majority of that group would answer 1776, including me. To illustrate my point, the people of the United States in 1776 wanted to find ways to survive through the nation as a whole. The thought of independence did not delight them, nor did it ever come to their mind. Everyone was so into the idea of using “We” instead of “I”, therefore, avoiding individualism.…

    • 356 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand, the main character Equality’s society is built on strict rules and guidelines. These rules are enforced from the time they are born. They are taught never to love, have any self motivation, or individuality. Equality breaks free from these rules, and lives in the Uncharted Forest with Liberty, someone who also broke free from The City. Equality envisions creating his own society, one far different from the society he has raised in.…

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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.…

    • 886 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Anthem is a book that was written by Ayn Rand in 1938. The setting is in a communist community in the future where man has entered another dark age. One man in the community, Equality 7-2521, is different from all his brothers and tells himself that he is cursed because he speaks unspeakable things and wishes for things no men wish for. The community they all live in has many rules and nobody has any freedom. The new society that Equality will create will have three main rules that are free agency, anyone can think anything, and you can refer to yourself as “I” and not “We”.…

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Two stories that are alike Anthem Ayn Rand and Giver Lois Lowry are alike and different in many ways. Anthem is about a boy named Equality 7-2521 and how his life is controlled, but that does not stop him from doing the things he wants to achieve. Giver is about a boy named Jonas becoming the next receiver he is controlled by his parents, and the Giver. Jonas realizes that through his dreams the giver is giving him, that life should be like those loving, and caring. Both of these stories are controlled by one, these two boys have no say in anything someone else makes the decisions for them.…

    • 746 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Hunger Games Essay The novel Anthem is the first Dystopian society story and the book was written by Ayn Rand and Her writing this novel inspired many people to also create dystopian stories. Such as Francis Lawrence, He is the Director of the movie series “The Hunger Games.” In this essay I’m going to compare the Movie series “The Hunger Games” with the novel “Anthem.” First, In the book Anthem it is a society of Men and Women that don’t really have any choices and live their whole lives in a lie, a life chosen for them.…

    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Anthem and the Concept of Free Will Anthem by Ayn Rand’s “hymn to man’s ego,” The story is about a man’s rebellion in regards to an authoritarian, communist society. A young man by the name Equality 7-2521 craves to comprehend “the Science of Things.’’ The problem is that he exists in a desolate, dystopian future in which sovereign thought is an offense and whereby science and technology have reverted to primeval levels. All terminologies of individualism have been stifled in the world of Anthem: personal belongings are a myth, individual inclinations are viewed as evil and romantic love is outlawed. Furthermore, compliance to the collective is so profoundly deep-rooted that the very term “I” has been obliterated from the language.…

    • 1454 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    88% of the people feel threatened when other drivers use cell phones yet 67% of people continue to use cell phones. In Anthem there is no high technology like now days and they do not have any family. In Harrison Bergeron everyone is “ Equal ’’. They do have technology and family. There handicaps keep them from unfair advantage of their brains.…

    • 371 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout history many people have seen how governments change and those changes affect the citizens. Some believe in democracy, others in communism and because of this different believes wars have been made. The novel Anthem by Ayn Rand is a symbolic representation of the author’s beliefs towards Communism. Rand’s childhood experiences influence the plot and structure of the novel. The main character Equality 7-2521 struggles for self-determination in a collectivist society.…

    • 913 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the story The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, the United States has fallen apart. It is now the Republic of Gilead and women have lost everything. They are stripped of their money, freedoms like being able to read, family, and they can no longer work. Fertility rates have decreased, and women are blamed for it. Women who are fertile are taken to the Red Center, where they are trained on how to be a handmaid.…

    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays