Ayn Rand’s fiction novella about a post-apocalyptic collectivist society uses imagery of light to convey the theme of Individuality. An important part of the story is when Equality 7-2521 harnessed electricity. Equality 7-2521 makes the electric light without anyone else, while in an underground passage, with the only light sparkling in the dark: “…in that moment nothing existed save our two hands over a wire glowing in a black abyss.”(Rand, 1961) Equality 7-2521 is the only person in his dreadful society to think of things other than what he is supposed to. He is the embodiment of individuality in “Anthem”. He struggled throughout the book with doing things by himself, and is accused of it while confronting the world council of scholars. When
The Book “Anthem” written Ayn Rand is the tale of a man with many names “Equality-7 2521” to “The Unconquered” to “Prometheus”. He is living in a dystopian world where individualism has been eradicated. Due to the dark times technological advancement and individualism brought, in what seems to be life after an apocalypse they have been limited those to a bare minimum. It took 50 years for the candle to be approved and the word “I” has been banned and punishable by death. In a society where they try to suppress the aware and the main protagonist being exceptionally smart which generates conflict. The book “Anthem” is based off of communism in Russia where people are prison for the very simple things. No one ever tries to escape the corrective faculty because of 3 reason the prisoner never purposely betrayed the council so why would they start now. and wait to receive punishment, they are scared and the society is brainwashed into not even learning escape or other things that could define the council.
Set in a dystopian society in the future, the novella Anthem written by Ayn Rand is all about being a collective society which doesn’t believe in individualism. Ayn Rand constructs a society in which individualism is a transgression. The government enforces the idea of collectivism to the society. They believe that in the human race each person is not single. The protagonist, Equality 7-2521 wants to be an independent person. He wants to be free. As stated in the novel, “To be free, a man must be free of his brothers.” This statement means that in order to be successful, he has to be his own person. As the novel goes on Equality 7-2521 learns to be an independent man and frees himself from the society which forces collectivism.
In Ayn Rand’s Novel Anthem she displays an orwellian type of dystopian society with the thoughts of the protagonist, Equality 7-2521, guiding the way of the anecdote. Throughout the book many discrepancies arise between modern day societies and the one depicted within Anthem. Such as how the word “ego” is recognized in these contrasting societies. To Prometheus the word “ego” is held to a holy standard, while on the other hand to be a self-centered person, in today’s modern societies, it is usually seen as erroneous and as an act of folly. When referencing Ayn Rand’s novel Anthem and the passage “The Soul of an Individualist” from her alternative novel The Fountainhead one can conspicuously certify that Equality 7-2521 is an unrepentant egoist. Being the egoist he is holds a
Many factors contribute to a broken down society. Though many may not see it , once pointed out, all becomes clear. In “Anthem”, the novella by Ayn Rand, societal blindness is caused by a government who limits information and conformation to society. Blindness, not in the sense of not seeing, but not knowing or understanding. With that societal blindness can be cause by a secretive government, which could start dangerous uprisings, or raging wars that could highly impact the community.
Anthem, by Ayn Rand, is a very unique novel. It encircles individualism and makes the reader think of how people can conform to society and do as they are told without knowing the consequences and results of their decisions. Also, it teaches the importance of self expression and the freedom that comes along with being your own person and having the power to choose what path to take in life. Figurative language is used often in this book and in a variety of quotes that have great importance to the theme, plot, and conflict of the novel.
Anthem is a short dystopian fiction novel written by Ayn Rand. It was published 79 years in 1938 in England. The setting of the novel starts off in a dark tunnel. As we get further in the book we learn that the story takes place in an undetermined point in the future in a City that’s not specified. The main character, Equality 7-2521, narrates his thoughts to the reader throughout the whole book. He feels guilty because he’s breaking the laws by writing down his thoughts but feels it is necessary. It is forbidden for the people to have their own thoughts or do anything by themselves. A long time ago, there was something called the Great Rebirth. After that happened, society started to refer to themselves as “we” and lost the word “I”,
He fears of what may happen if he brings the light back to his place of sleep so he hides it in a cave. When the teachers notice his tardiness, they question where he has been and not wanting to give away his evidence of a previous, better world, he doesn’t answer and is violently punished. He lives in constant restriction and fear, prohibited to tap into his potential, expanding his horizons is not only discouraged but punished. The story of Anthem reflects how frightened the author, Ayn Rand was of communism, she had experienced it when she had lived in Russia and moved to America because of it. The character and overarching plot of the book shows how far she thought communism can go and how detrimental it was to people and their mental state. She believed that communism was evil and sought a new and better life in the United States, much like the character Equality in Anthem. Equality only wanted a better life, being able to express his creativity, individuality, and freedom, and they both eventually received
In the beginning of The Anthem, written by Ayn Rand, the main protagonist, Equality 7-2521 states, “It is a sin to write this.” What the word “this” was referring to was the story itself. However, the book ends with Equality 7-2521 completely flipping his opinion around and believing the total opposite of his actions in the beginning. His final conclusion is accurate because individuality is extremely essential to a healthy society, forcing humans to live a robotic lifestyle and compressing their feelings isn't acceptable, and writing is a profound way of expressing original thoughts. Throughout the novel, Equality 7-2521 solves the mysteries that lie in life and educates himself
The definition of individuality states a total character peculiar to and distinguishing an individual from others. In a society a person can chose to take the easy way out by following the crowd or, do the hard thing and be an individual and embrace the characteristics that make you different from others. Being an individual and standing out from the crowd might be hard at first but, it can lead to a better society for everyone. In Anthem, by Ayn Rand, the theme of the book is individuality outweighs the expectations of society. This theme is clearly shown throughout the book through the protagonist's internal conflict, the introduction to conflict and the climax. In the beginning of the story Equality 7-2521 introduces himself and he says, “Our name is Equality 7-2521, as it is written
Do people change in different scenarios with different people to fit in or to make them like one another? The answer is yes; without even realizing, everybody changes their actions or views for others’ benefit. Prometheus, which is the name change of Equality 7-254 in the book Anthem by Ayn Rand, states that using the word “We” caused modern society to collapse because the word “We” is used to control the collective society over individuals. “We” undermine individuality to maintain control of the society. Being free in society is an issue because they are all “brothers” and nobody is an individual person because they are all one.
“My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose” (Rand, 95). Anthem is written by American author Ayn Rand about Equality 7-2521 on his quest for happiness. The novel is set in an unspecified time and place in the future. Years after human civilization has gone through a deconstruction in which all knowledge was lost and a new society established with no concept of the individual. “The novel describes the efforts of the main character, Equality 7-2521, to reestablish a sense of personal identity and restore the knowledge of the past by objective scientific inquiry. In doing so, he must face many dangers and privations” (Anthem). Anthem is a dairy of the Equality
Ayn Rand's Anthem shows us her view of our world united under what seems to be communist rule. For example their view of right and wrong; which Anthem portrays is a system of very strict rules which mainly make sure that everyone is involved in a collective role within the society in this system no one is considered an individual or that they can even think as an individual.
brought them for a civilization where the word ?I? did not exist to a world
With Howard Roark being Ayn Rand’s first complete presentation of the moral ideal we see throughout the book how Roark grows as a human being going through tremendous obstacles that comes with his profession of an architecture that makes him worthy of emulating morality to the reader as Roark starts at the lowest parts of life to becoming one of the most successful architects.
In addition, Equality 7-2521 continues to develop the theme when he is curious about how to capture lightning. This is when Equality 7-2521 creates a box that contains the energy of the sky which is known to a reader as a light bulb. He does this by discovering how to capture lightning and creating light without it. Equality 7-2521 plans on showing it to the World Council of Scholars and becoming a hero to the society like the people that created the candle were. However, his actions are considered a