Throughout Anthem, Equality works on his box of glass, and discovers light. Light symbolizes truth and runs throughout the novel. For example, “We blew out the candle, darkness swallowed us. There was nothing left around us…in that moment nothing existed save our two hands over a wire glowing in a dark abyss.” (59-60)…
“They whisper many strange things, of the towers which rose to the sky, in those Unmentionable Times, and of the wagons which moved without horses, and of the lights which burned without flame. But those times were evil” (20). In Equality 7-2521’s society, the technology and advancement are drastically behind the level we are today; however, this world is set to take place in the future. This situation is strictly caused by the sense of “we” in Anthem’s world. This society lives by “What is not thought by all men cannot be true” (73).…
By the end of the story, Equality 7-2521 has changed his mind and become very critical of the leaders of his society, denouncing them in moral terms. Do you think he is correct to do so? Why or why not? In the story Anthem, by Ayn Rand, Equality 7-2521 is growing away from the life he was brought up living like, now he’s starting to figure out what life really is.…
Equality’s final assessment of his sin is correct because he learns about how the City Council is wrongfully running the city, learns about new things, and learns about his freedom.…
Finding Freedom in the Forest Living in a world that is brainwashed, Equality is trying to find his way beyond the city. When Equality finds himself in the forest that the Council warned them so much about, he learns that the forest is in fact not dangerous at all, but instead finds himself in the forest. The forest represents an opportunity for growth, change and freedom. With everything that Equality experiences in the forest, it might just change his view on the life that the Council has set up for them. This might be true for Equality but for the rest of the people living fear is what holds them back, the uncharted forest symbolizes the opportunity for growth, change, and freedom.…
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.…
Anthem Essay In Anthem there are a lot of things that are misconstrued, including the wording in the book. Once you get past the wording it turns out to be a fantastic book. Ayn Rand has thought everything through and Anthem has been very well put together. Though, there are some questions that I have, and I am going to break the questions down.…
Symbolism in Anthem This story is about how the future could look like in communist Russia, it basically explains in detail what the people in the society are living and how they think of everyone as their brothers and how men can’t look at women and can’t keep their children with them, basically no one knows who their real family actually is in this society. Ayn Rand uses symbolism to show that Anthem truly belongs to dystopian literature by discussing light, names and freedom. As we have seen in the book Anthem, the light basically completed Equality’s life.…
He mentally couldn’t believe that the Council had hid so many things from them and preferred it much more if it was a society like today's. Several readers of Ayn Rand’s Anthem believe that Equality would create a society including love, freedom, morals, many emotions, and aspects of life that his past society was missing. His past society was missing a true meaning to life. In Equality’s world, there would be…
Anthem by Ayn Rand is written as the journal of Equality 7-2521. Equality 7-2521 lives in a society where Individuality does not exist and differences are evil. He has been taught since he was a child, “… If you are not needed by your brother men, there is no reason for you to burden the earth with your bodies” (Rand 22). Equality has been cursed since birth because he is smarter and taller than his brothers (Rand 21). Because he enjoys science, and wants to be assigned to the Home of the Scholars; he is guilty of the Transgression of Preference.…
A Journey Through Choices Imagine looking at a mirror and seeing nothing but a blank gray image;there is no character and no difference from one person from the next. From several works of art, individuals form their identity and gained control of themselves. Equality, the triumphant of the dystopian novel, Anthem, escapes his collectivist society and becomes the king of his own mind and body. Ayn Rand, the author of this novel, details how Equality overcomes the regime and forms his own identity. Similarly, the children from the article, “Don’t!…
Does something as simple as a book have the power to change a society? Can a change of rules morph the North Korean culture into a more liberating society? Just as books changed Equality 7-2521 in the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand? As readers dive into this communist and totally controlled society that takes place in Rand’s novel, their minds can’t help but be completely intrigued by such an intense life that our main character, Equality 7-2521, is forced to live. A place where the words “I”, “me”, “myself”, etc. are completely vanished and people act as if they were never words at all. Is that life all that much different from the ones that North Koreans are now living?…
Power and Politics President Bill Clinton, once said: “In our hearts and in our laws, we must treat all our people with fairness and dignity, regardless of their race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. ”(Stephanie Sarkis Ph.D). This defines that we should treat everyone around us equally and fairly even though equality isn’t always fair. In Anthem the scholars have the right to tell everyone what they will do with the rest of their life and when they will eat or when to go to sleep. I stand in my position believing that equality isn’t always fair because every society has different ranks, abilities are being limited, and ethnic groups getting treated differently.…
Ayn Rand had written a story called Anthem as her way to warn that depending on others will be our downfall, but I disagree. Her ethical egoism outlooks on life is what drives her to believe that man should be self reliant, using others makes you a “looter,” and accusing conservatives of being, “Futile, impotent, and culturally dead,” (Ayn Rand’s Long Journey to the Heart of American Politics, paragraph 7). This idea is, to me, flawed because this country and it’s developments have come from sharing ideas.…
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.…