Cato Institute

The phrase “rules were meant to be broken” has held true for rebellious teenagers throughout time. But what if breaking the rules meant death or banishment? In the book Anthem by Ayn Rand, the protagonist Equality 7-251, lived in a “utopian” society. This society had many rules and inhibitions implemented in it in order to prevent individuality and selfishness and promote collectivism and unity. After Equality escapes into the forest, he sees himself creating his own society. The society…

Many times throughout the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand, Equality 7-2521 goes against the rules and regulations of his community. In the final chapters of the novel Equality 7-2521 finally goes against all of the laws and runs away from the community. Although he goes against rules in his community, it brings out the best in him. Throughout the entire novel he progresses and changes into the characters he has become in the end. Equality 7-2521 learns many things including self worth, individuality,…

As Glenn Woiceshyn illustrates that “... individuals does not mean looting others to satisfy one’s desire...Individualism, not collectivism or altruism, is the root of benevolence and goodwill among men.” Ayn Rand philosophically declared these two distinct fundamental ways of living - individualism and collectivism- in her novel, The Fountainhead, as her themes. In Ayn Rand’s words, the theme is “individualism vs collectivism, not in politics but in men's souls”(708). The Fountainhead contains…

There are many reasons that I want to attend Archbishop Mitty. For me it's not just because you can get a very good education but also because it's a great community. Mitty is a great school and I believe most schools in the bay area are. I think many people want to go to Mitty because of the great education but that is not the only reason I want to attend Archbishop Mitty. The people there are really nice plus I Play ice hockey so when I heard that Mitty have a ice hockey team my first thought…

The famous story “Anthem” written by Ayn Rand and the true stories of North Korea really have great similarities but also have big differences. Both governments have a strange way of controlling their people,disciplining and also rewarding them for their good and the bad. Plus their branches of government are a little different from the U.S and other countries. These countries, both show a little of selfishness a no care for the people whatsoever besides profiting off of them in different ways.…

In Ayn Rand’s novel Anthem , Rand discusses issues of Individualism and the problems that lie within it. A young man named Equality is curious about the world around him. He battles the society around him and tries to discover his own individuality. He is threatened with death by the society who now despises him. In the end, Equality finds his happiness and justifies that personal happiness is the goal of life. Just like Rand’s Equality trying to rediscover individuality, John Stuart Mill in…

Before this painting he was all but ignored. None of Wood’s other paintings were ever as successful as American Gothic. Soon after he submitted American Gothic into the Art Institute of Chicago for a competition and the painting won the Norman Wait Harris bronze medal. The Institute then purchased the painting for $300. This was Wood’s first big art sell and his first prize for any work he had done. American Gothic was soon being copied in newspapers but Wood received a hostile…

Anthem Not many of the people in the book Anthem’s society have courage to express their individuality or to rebel for their freedom; Equality realizes his identity is important and he needs to respect himself. The world does not define you, you do and you need to let your individuality show and let people be inspired by it. "'Your eyes,' they said, 'are not like the eyes of any among men"'. (Rand 44) This part of the book is telling that The Golden One is noticing that he is different from the…

In Ayn Rand’s novel Anthem, the world she describes has each freedom taken from the characters and all they have is hardship and hard work for all their fellow brothers in the cities. Forced to follow the world council's rules, Equality 7-2521 tries to fit in with his fellow brothers, but when finding a tunnel from the unmentionable times he fails to follow the rules of his brother men and creates a great gift to man before getting run out of the city to the uncharted and unexplored forest. A…

“We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever.” On page 19 of Anthem, Ayn Rand informs the readers of a chant or saying that the people of this time have to read to themselves whenever they feel tempted. In the society within the story, the forbidden word was “I”. Nobody was allowed to speak in the first person, they had to refer to themselves as We. The main character, Equality 7-2521, was a little different than the others. He had “a…