Freedom is perhaps the most sought after concept of the modern world, yet no one in today’s society has ever been able to fully possess it. What many people fail to understand is that freedom is not something that can be obtained simply by wishing for it. Along with this, people fail to understand that they must be willing to sacrifice everything they have ever known in order to obtain the liberty they so strongly desire. The fact of the matter is that a person can only begin making steps toward attaining true freedom by first freeing him- or herself from the oppression that surrounds him or her. In Ayn Rand’s 1937 novella Anthem, freedom is portrayed as an almost unattainable dream that the main character, Equality 7-2521, must go
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Equality 7-2521 lives in a dystopian world where society is governed by the collective, and individualism has almost completely ceased to exist. In his world, “what is not thought by all men cannot be true” (Rand 73). This idea, in essence, makes it impossible for independent thoughts to exist, because only what is thought by all can be regarded as true and noteworthy. The concept of collectivism is portrayed to the extreme, and Rand even goes so far as to completely obliterate the pronoun “I” in her fictional society, forcing the hero Equality to refer to himself as “we” and “us” throughout the majority of the novella. The primitive government depicted in this world, which is actually set in the future, believes that “the individual is such an evil … that people must be trained to think of themselves only as members of a society and as subordinate to the needs of that society” (Weinacht 1). Consequently, the challenge of being himself is something that Equality 7-2521 must learn to hide from the eyes of his brothers, as well as from the eyes of the governing Council. Equality is an intelligent, science-oriented man whose intellect is being completely wasted simply because the government he is living beneath assigned him the occupation of street sweeping without a second glance. Despite the fact that he is required to live with his brethren among the Home of the …show more content…
“He flees to the wilderness” (Cox) and finds sanctuary in the Uncharted Forest, which soon becomes the only place where he is free to think and to do as he pleases. The Uncharted Forest becomes Equality’s home, far more inviting to him than his life among the street sweepers ever was. Just as it is illegal to fall in love with a person, it is illegal to venture into the territory known as the Uncharted Forest. Despite this, Equality 7-2521’s brave ambition urges him to find solace in a place that is extremely lacking in people. He does not live in such solitude forever, though, because “when Equality 7-2521 flees in to the unknown, Liberty 5-3000 follows him, leaving the only life she’s ever known and risking death to pursue her highest value” (“Anthem”). Once he is joined by the Golden One, Equality is free to become his own man, and to start work on creating a society based on the belief that every man is born as an individual and possesses the right to think rationally and to value his ego highly. The decision to leave his home in exchange for the solitude found within the Uncharted Forest is yet another example of the challenges that Equality 7-2521 is willing to face in order to attain his
Equality 7-2521 lives in a dystopian world where society is governed by the collective, and individualism has almost completely ceased to exist. In his world, “what is not thought by all men cannot be true” (Rand 73). This idea, in essence, makes it impossible for independent thoughts to exist, because only what is thought by all can be regarded as true and noteworthy. The concept of collectivism is portrayed to the extreme, and Rand even goes so far as to completely obliterate the pronoun “I” in her fictional society, forcing the hero Equality to refer to himself as “we” and “us” throughout the majority of the novella. The primitive government depicted in this world, which is actually set in the future, believes that “the individual is such an evil … that people must be trained to think of themselves only as members of a society and as subordinate to the needs of that society” (Weinacht 1). Consequently, the challenge of being himself is something that Equality 7-2521 must learn to hide from the eyes of his brothers, as well as from the eyes of the governing Council. Equality is an intelligent, science-oriented man whose intellect is being completely wasted simply because the government he is living beneath assigned him the occupation of street sweeping without a second glance. Despite the fact that he is required to live with his brethren among the Home of the …show more content…
“He flees to the wilderness” (Cox) and finds sanctuary in the Uncharted Forest, which soon becomes the only place where he is free to think and to do as he pleases. The Uncharted Forest becomes Equality’s home, far more inviting to him than his life among the street sweepers ever was. Just as it is illegal to fall in love with a person, it is illegal to venture into the territory known as the Uncharted Forest. Despite this, Equality 7-2521’s brave ambition urges him to find solace in a place that is extremely lacking in people. He does not live in such solitude forever, though, because “when Equality 7-2521 flees in to the unknown, Liberty 5-3000 follows him, leaving the only life she’s ever known and risking death to pursue her highest value” (“Anthem”). Once he is joined by the Golden One, Equality is free to become his own man, and to start work on creating a society based on the belief that every man is born as an individual and possesses the right to think rationally and to value his ego highly. The decision to leave his home in exchange for the solitude found within the Uncharted Forest is yet another example of the challenges that Equality 7-2521 is willing to face in order to attain his