Bullying In Ayn Rand's Anthem

In the book, “Anthem” by Ayn Rand she explores many different topics about our daily life as human beings. One of the characters she uses to explore these topics is a young man named Equality 7-2521. Equality 7-2521 is a young man that was raised in a dystopian society on which all men must strive to be equal, but Equality is different from them. He’s got different motivations from the rest of the men that he has grown with. He’s curious about the world around him and wants to know how everything works.

This attempt at total fairness ties the entire society to the lowest among them, hindering any innovation that might be made. When Equality 7-2125 says “To be free, a man must be free from his brothers,” he means a person who is a member of a collective before they are an individual can never be free. Equality 7-2521 considers himself to be more able than his brothers in a few ways. He is better at school work and has a natural curiosity for the ways of the world. Within his society, this is a crime.

Ayn Rand’s Anthem is a creative novel about a society limited by a dictating government that only permits certain thoughts, words, and actions for it’s people. In this society, all of the citizens are given a role from age 15 are are expected to follow that role with passion. However, Equality 7-2521 is a citizen of this totalitarian society who feels he must take action to break free. It is ironic his name is Equality 7-2521, because the society revolves around equality (Jones). The dystopian world Equality 7-2521 lives in causes great conflict (internal and external), which forces him to learn many new things and grow as a person throughout the novella.

‘‘We are nothing mankind is all , By the grace of our brothers are we allowed our lives ‘’ Ayn rand the author of Anthem wrote the book after she left Russia because of the war, she moved to New York writing Anthem a dystopia about the future of mankind In her novella there are two major themes talking about the collective society vs. individualism were every one is the same nobody has the authority to be a individual also the council of vocations determines there jobs life and future the people don’t have a choice whatever they choice they accept and that is it no discussion, the council of vocation has removed all individuality so when equality may have started to uncover the coated truth the council has another plan for him as known the council of vocations has an absolute rule when it comes to jobs and they assign equality to the home of the street sweepers because they want to keep him down. The council of vocations make equality a street sweeper because they hope to prevent him from developing his intelligence even more as they assumed that may have dumbed him down and get people to assume he is beneath them and this is achieved when the council makes a mockery of equality for wanting to join the world council of scholars “A street sweeper! A street sweeper walking upon the world council of scholars!

In Anthem by Ayn Rand the Council of Vocations assigns Equality 7-2521 to be a Street Sweeper even though he wanted to be in the Council of Scholars. They made Equality a Street Sweeper mainly because of how smart he was and the fact he was always asking questions. The teachers new that if he had been put in the House of the Scholars he would ask to many questions and might find out information he wasn’t supposed to know. Equality didn’t have the best childhood mainly because of how strict the communist society was.

“We were born with a curse. It has always driven us to thoughts which are forbidden. It has always given us wishes which men may not wish. We know that we are evil, but there is no power or will in us to stop it” (18). Equality 7-2521 is born into a society in which individuality is a crime.

Equality has the right to change his mind about the law because it isn 't a far law to everybody. It 's ironic that Ayn Rand called equality 7-2521 because he actually never really finds equality. From the being, he never understood why he was different and why he always got in trouble. He changes his mind about how society is wrong because at the end he learns in self-rights, much more technology, and the meaning of life should be. When equality was assigned with street sweeper he figured it was from his sins.

It is just as unfair if not more unfair to put a handicap on someone who has greater strengths than another. When Harrison Bergeron stood up for individuality, society shut him down. In the real world, society shuts down those who speak out for individuality by shaming them or making them outcasts. Kurt Vonnegut created a universe that put the rules of society before the life of an individual. People were willing to stand and watch another human being be killed for accepting their individuality.

When Equality was cutting a frog open he saw the legs jerk even though it was dead. After Equality explores more and runs tests he discovers “The frog was hanging on a wire of copper, and it had been the metal of the knife which had sent a strange power to the copper through the brine of the frog” (52). This discovery of electricity would not have been possible to Equality if he was the eagle to everyone else in his society and did not have the desire to explore new things. This goes to show that by making society equal in all ways it made the worst form of inequality. Not only does Rand talk about equality in her book but Kurt Vonnegut talks about making everyone the same in his short story Harrison Bergeron this would people are handicapped by the government to make everyone on the same playing field so those who had bright faster brian than others had to wear ear pieces to stop them from using their brain to much and those who were stronger than others had to wear weight to keep them from using their strength.

Though Rand and I both value freedom, she valued happiness and individual truth while I valued pets and empath instead. Firstly, throughout the end of Rand’s novel, she emphasizes the importance of individual truth. Equality’s language consistently points to this as Equality continues to find his own truth.

Moral Assessment of Anthem In Ayn Rand’s novel, Anthem, Equality lives in a communist society that believes everyone must work for and be exactly like one another. For much of the novel, he believes what the Council of Vocations tells him, despite his intelligence and independence. By the end of the book, he realizes that the idea that everyone is the same and must work for each other is flawed. He deserves to live his own life and enjoy himself.

Equality was first physically punished than he was rather than being assigned to the house of scholars he was put into the house of street sweepers. This set set him on his track to find out who he really is and what the society he was born into is really about. Equality is not old to today

Imagine living in a society where you had to be the same as everyone else, risking your life to fight for individuality. In the life of Equality 7-2521, that is exactly what he has to live through. The book Anthem by Ayn Rand, is about a young boy who goes by the name of Equality 7-2521 that is commonly referred to as just “Equality.” Equality is a little different than everyone, as he is taller than everyone else, smarter, and breaks the rules. Equality lives in a society where everyone is the same, and no one is to be different than one another.

That is freedom. This and nothing else” (Rand 101). As a ruler the ruler should not be able to take away one man’s freedom just to save another man from something that he did and punishment the rest of society because of it. Now that Equality 7-2521 is in the Uncharted Forest he feels different about himself. To show that Equality is different Rand states, “We awoke when a ray of sunlight fell across our face.

The council did everything to make him less of a danger to their society, such as leaving him Street Sweeper that requires no knowledge. As a Street Sweeper, Equality 7-2521 is restricted the resources needed in order to reach his goal of learning. The council also turned away Equality’s glass box because it is “dangerous” to the society. The council is Equality 7-2521’s biggest nemesis resorting in him escaping the