Influence Of Equality On The Path Of Freedom In Anthem By Ayn Rand

One of the biggest rules is you cannot try to learn to anything new or invent something. Equality decides that he wants to learn more and invent new things. In this society the council decides what you will do like a road worker or a teacher. Equality gets assigned to be a street sweeper. He doesn’t like this assignment

In Ayn Rand’s novella, Anthem, mankind is a philanthropic machine. The brotherhood nobly works together to achieve a common goal. In doing so, each man is asked to disregard his own personal means and goals. For every decision must be a collective thought and every advancement, a joint action. However, one man in this machine malfunctions.

It is base and evil. It is as if we were speaking alone to no ears but our own. And we know well that there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone.” (Rand 1.1) So ends the end of this essay, Equality’s moral assessment in his life was worth the risk he took to be independent. His name is Prometheus, and his girlfriend’s name is Gaiea.

Having a companion in a time of uncertainty gives unprecedented confidence which drives Equality’s goals of leading “Individuals to [his] fortress… [where he and his] fellow-builders, shall write the first chapter in the new history of man” (Rand 101). Equality recognizes that the greatest joys in life come from personal affairs and Liberty gives him a joy that belongs only to him. Having something unique fills him with joy which further instills confidence that leaving society was the correct choice. Equality is told throughout his life that working for the good of others is the only way to live, yet when he works for himself he no longer feels weary.

“We seized our box,we shoved them aside, and we ran to the window.”(Rand 74). Due to the shock of his idea "having many problems” according to the government equality tries to run from the truth. “Many words have been granted me, and some are wise some are false, but only three are holy I will it.”(Rand 94-95). Equality thinks these words are important because there commonly seen as signs of independence.

But we loved the science of things. We wished to know. We wished to know about all the things which makes the earth around us. We asked so many questions that the teachers forbade it.”(Rand 23). Equality wanted to know more however, he was not allowed.

Equality 7-2521’s perspective on society shifts due to his realizations. In the novel “Anthem,” all of the members of a collective society conform to a set of regulations where everyone is equal and together at all times. However, Equality 7-2521 decides to commit the most significant sin by working alone and having his own thoughts, which he never regrets. Equality 7-2521’s eventual assessment of his sin is correct because he often feels safer on his own, and isolation causes him to make incredible discoveries. While working and thriving by himself, Equality 7-2521 feels the most content compared to being surrounded by his brother men.

No one has gone against the city’s laws of doing things alone and Equality 7-2521 is the first to do so. Even though doing things alone and conducting experiments not as a scholar are against the law, Equality still takes pride in his invention and continues to discover new phenomenons of nature. “We made it. We created it. We brought it forth from the night of the ages.

“We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever” (Rand 19). How can an individual be a hero in a collectivist society? In The Anthem, a novella by Ayn Rand, the protagonist, Equality 7-2521 is portrayed as an archetypal epic hero. Equality 7-2521 exhibits the characteristics of an epic hero because he is capable of great deeds, he has a nemesis, and he experiences an event that leads to a quest.

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.

As proud homo sapiens, all too often in life, we feel as if we know it all and have all the answers. After all, aren’t we as humans evolutionarily gifted from all other creatures? But despite our hubris, we as mortal men know a minute percentage of the wealth of knowledge in the world, and much of what we think we know — primarily ingrained via socialization — is utter falsehood. As evidenced by the works of Socrates and Rousseau — as well as through occurrences and personal experiences — much of what we assume to be the truth is far from it in reality, and the vast majority of our species have very little comprehension of what lurks inside each and every one of us. Before we examine who we are, we must understand where we come from.

Equality does this by when he first falls in love with Liberty, he is obsessed. However, when his invention is rejected by the council, he starts to realize he doesn’t need to be in a group and in result, starts to love Liberty less. When he understand individuality fully, he becomes very selfish and doesn’t care for Liberty at all and thinks of her as an object. Equality felt he needed to be with a group and with Liberty. Through his journey he discovered that he doesn’t need to be with a group and can be independent.

He describes the objection as, “all men desire the apparent good, but have no control over the appearance, but the end appears to each man in a form answering to his character” (1114b).   This view argues that all people pursue that which seems good, but some people cannot see the true good, which is out of their control.   The immediate implication of this objection, if it is indeed true, suggests that “no one is responsible for his own evildoing” (1114b).

Humanity has always been defined by our love and our endless pursuit of knowledge.. Most of (if not all) of humanity’s greatest achievements have been obtained due to our never-ending need to know about our universe and everything in it, including ourselves. The study of different sciences, exploring space, learning medicine, attending school - these are all different ways in which we see that, as humans, we strive to learn as much as we can. It’s simply a part of human nature to crave knowledge. We spend our lives chasing education and knowledge, and ultimately, it shapes who we are - both as an individual and as a species.

“Does God want goodness or the choice of goodness? Is a man who chooses to be bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has the good imposed upon him?” (Burgess 95). In A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess suggests that man struggles with choice. Though it is those struggles and choices made from grappling that make man human.