Individuality And Freedom In Ayn Rand's Anthem

Individuality lets every person be different from each other. It is shown in the Ayn Rand novella Anthem, the people in this society are taught at a young age that it is not okay to disobey the set rules. If they do not follow the way the society’s rules were supposed to be followed, they are punished. The main character, Equality, feels guilty for having the thoughts he has. These rules exist in this society to strip human individuality to achieve total equality.

It is a struggle for anyone to not be allowed the right to think freely. The Council has forbidden the idea of individual thoughts. They worked to create a society where everyone is defined as equal. These rules cause the main character, Equality, to think he is evil because he could not find anything in him to fight these thoughts. He lives in constant fear that the Council will find out about him letting his thoughts run freely in his mind, therefore breaking …show more content…
Equality decides to give himself, and his precious Golden One, a unique name each to fit them. The purpose in giving them their own names, was to give them both more individuality and freedom. He reads about the Greek Gods, and he comes to two names that had stood out to him. The names are “Prometheus” and “Gaea.” Equality chooses these names because Prometheus took the light of the gods and brought it to humans, which Equality brought the thought of a new invention to the Council. It did not turn out as planned, which was the reason he ran away so frantically. The reasoning for the Golden One is that the Goddess Gaea is described as the mother of Earth and Gods. For the Golden One, she is given the name “Gaea” because she is to be the mother of a new different type of God. This represents the start of a new society, and he will allow names to be given in a unique way, and not just as a way to keep everyone