The Meaning And The Curse Of Equality's Society

The book Anthem by Ayn Rand is a very interesting book. At first it is confusing to the reader because of the use of the words we and us instead of I. The main character, Equality 7-2521 introduces himself in the plural form. The reader takes a while to figure this out. The era that Equality is in, is after the Great Rebirth.

We say to ourselves that we are a wretch and a traitor. But we feel no burden upon our spirit and no fear in our heart” (Rand 37). Because he disregards the council's laws with no remorse, Equality exhibits his narcissistic

We exist through, by and for our brothers who are the State” (Rand 21). These repetitive and seemingly consolidating chants are often used to infuse societies with a feeling of pride, which can be used for control. Dictators can also inject their subjects with guilt and debt to the system, as an abstract form of

Vonnegut says in his Political and Social Critique that he based his ideas on the egalitarianism and share the same principles of the America’s Declaration of Independence. If we continue reading, we will reach to the following conclusion: people must be forced to be equal to one another in their appearance, behavior, and achievements. However, “Bergeron”, says that the ideals of egalitarianism can be dangerous if they are interpreted too literally, but

Rules and Subjectivity Society is fundamentally built upon rigid structure and control using rules to attempt to maintain order amongst a society comprised of many individuals. Inherently rules put at expense the freedom of individuals to achieve personal happiness in order to build a society comprised of more equally achieving individuals. Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem builds a society in which rules restrict all individual freedoms and force a more collective ideal. The rules put in place by the society are meant to make everybody collectively more happy and prevent inherent human subjectivity; however, inherent to human nature, rules can be subjectively interpreted. In contrast to the pre-existing society presented by Rand, Equality 7-2521 seeks

With Ayn Rand’s story starting off with the world building through the main characters' eyes. This said main character's name is Equality 7-2521, he introduces us to how he lives in this dystopian world. As Equality 7-2521 describes how he lives, we see many errors about what is wrong in this dystopian world. We also see how much he breaks the rules just so he can actually experience true happiness. As Equality 7-2521 breaks rules he understands that he is and so do others like Liberty 5-3000 when she states “Such thoughts as these are forbidden, Golden one” (Rand 56).

What genre of literature would you say teens are into the most? Turns out teens tend to turn to dystopian societies, now do you know why? Teens these days are just getting darker in all types of ways one of the ways they are getting darker is they are starting to enjoy darker genres of literature and movies. One of the ways to show you why they can relate to these stories is by talking about the movie The Giver based off the book by Lois Lowry directed by Phillip Noyce and the book Anthem written by Ayn Rand. Now teens these days like dystopian societies and one reason is because of how they can relate to them and for there darker nature.

Anthem is a dystopian story, it is a story about how society itself is the antagonist; it is a society that is working against the people to benefit the society and not them as individuals. “ We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever.” The society sees that the people 's purpose is to solely serve the needs of the society. Equality 7-2521 wants to be an individual but he will not betray the values that are important to him even though he will be punished.

Equality 7-2521 can free himself from collectivism because he was independent. In the novel Anthem Ayn Rand makes us comprehend that Equality had and inner struggle and

"We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever’”(Rand 19). In Ayn Rand’s dystopian novel, Anthem, the citizens are trained from birth to think only in the plural, to the point where they cannot even conceive of individuals, but only see each other as part of the whole group. Rand’s protagonist, Equality 72521, begins the novel as a street-sweeper who is devoted to the group, but begins to move towards individuality as he progresses towards pure selfishness, as Rand believes we all should. Rand uses the words “we” and “I” to represent Equality’s journey from being dependent on the group, to being utterly independent of everyone.

The critical flaw in the collective state that Equality capitalizes on to escape lies within its very foundation. Anthem best exemplifies this flaw through Equality’s escape from the Palace of Corrective Detention, as he describes “It was easy to escape the Palace of Corrective Detention. The locks are old on the doors and there are no guards about. There is no reason to have guards, for men have never defied the Councils so far as to escape from whatever place they were ordered to be” (66-67). The Council believes the fallacies it espouses, making it easy for Equality to escape.

Judging the morals in life regarding different societies expectations quickly became the focus of Equality’s thoughts, exactly as Ayn Rand had made it the importance of her own efforts. Objectivism is different from what many people live by, but it worked for Equality by the end of Anthem. It is important to realize everybody needs different things, which leads to thinking diversely. Some need self-respect to be able to give respect, and others live their life following instead of leading. It is impossible however, to say objectivism needs to vanish when it never has before, more so, the world would be unbalanced with only equal thoughts from all; there would be no innovation if all thoughts were for the same narrow concept.

Obstacles of Advancement In Ayn Rand's Anthem, we encounter a very unstable future society. Totalitarianism has overtaken this culture. This means that one group of people rules over society and tolerates no variation of opinion. We find the people in Anthem's society to be slaves to the god "We" and individuality eliminated as much as possible.

The story reads, “It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see” (Rand 17). Men in Equality’s society are not allowed to have their own thoughts, instead their thoughts must be the same as everyone else that is in their community. The rules set in place stop people from thinking for themselves and fighting back against the government. If people began to think and realize that all the strict commands they were forced to follow where unnecessary they would revolt. The rules limit Equality from discovering new inventions and growing to be himself.

There's so much emphasis on putting others before oneself that people often forget to look out for their own needs, as shown in this book. Ayn Rand successfully captures the negatives of an overrated ideology and presents an unorthodox perspective on the matter. In conclusion, Equality's true motives behind his work are much more selfish than they first appear to be. Equality strives to fulfil his own personal desire rather than contribute everything to society, and this isn't necessarily a negative thing.