preview

Anthem Quotes

Decent Essays

Anthem represents a collectivist society that is stagnant and primitive where the word “I” is obsolete; talking in first person is a sin. It is always “we” and never “me”. Equality 7-2521, the main character in Anthem, writes in a journal about himself but only uses “we” forms. Writing about yourself is a sin in this society. Equality starts of his first journal entry, the beginning of the book, with this quote; “It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put down upon a paper no others are to see,” (1.1). At the end of this book, Equality’s outlook on the sin, whether it is a sin or not, changes. He decides his actions are not a sin. It is him being an individual. His own self. Being an individual means being …show more content…

He excludes himself, writes a journal, keeps secrets, and many more. The reason the concil has these as laws or sins is because they let a person be an “I” instead of “we”. It allows you to be you instead of a group or a clan. Equality is free spirited. He likes being an individual and throughout this journey he goes through, he realizes a bunch of stuff the Council kept from him and the world. For instance, when Equality found electricity; that was banned from their society. They banned it because it was such a powerful image of power for mankind. “The power of the sky can be made to do men’s bidding. There are no limits to its secrets and its might, and it can be made to grant us anything if we but choose to ask.” (5.24) The world could find out that there was a possibility of taking over the council and being “I”s. That is why the have the “unmentionable times” and “useless ones”, because those hold secrets that could ruin the society and their “sins” or laws. However, on the flip side, Equality does live in this society. He does have to obey the laws set out by his rulers or the council. That is like someone in the United States saying they are going to steal something out of a popular store because things should not be overpriced or off limits to some people. Well no, they can not do that because it is against our laws. So for Equality to do these things is a sin in the councils eyes and

Get Access