The Collectivist Society In Ayn Rand's Anthem

In the novella Anthem, Ayn Rand portrays the collectivist society as the antithesis of a Utopia. Collectivism Is the belief in the interdependence of all beings and stresses the importance of the group over the importance of the individual. Rand realizes the theoretical good in collectivism, but illustrates how the downfalls are far greater than the advantages. Rand uses the protagonist, Equality, to demonstrate how the ideas of collectivism, though with good intention, ultimately sacrifice morality and rationality even if it is believed it is for the “good of the people”. In the eyes of the collectivist society in Anthem, it is better for citizens to use their actions for the many rather than to do things for themselves. To the society this …show more content…
They want each person to conform to society, all as equals, dependent upon each other. There is something inherently wrong with taking a child from its mother--even if the mother is not supposed to have any attachment to the child. The child is something that she alone has nurtured, and thus, she alone deserves the reward. It is ironic that in very human nature, the individual holds such an important role in childbirth, and Equality’s society completely disregards this. Though the male does play the traditional role in procreation, their role is no less immoral. There is a “Time of Mating...this is the time each spring when all the men older than twenty and all the women older than eighteen are sent for one night to the City Palace of Mating. And each of the men have one of the women assigned to them by the Council of Eugenics” (41). Selective breeding leads to the favoring of certain traits over others, and the out casting of anomalies. A preferred set of traits develops and under the wrong leadership, possibly even extermination of the outliers. Simply partaking in procreation for the sake of eugenics is wrong because it