Anthem By Ayn Rand: A Literary Analysis

A noticable interesting topic about the story is the way Liberty acts. It seems Ayn Rand, the author, has something against women even though she is a woman herself. The meaning of this is, the women out there that act like girls and only care about fashion and themselves is what is being spoken of. The literary element that is being focased on deals with this issue. This essay will focas on the story "Anthem" written by Ayn Rand containing the literary element of character.

In this paper, I will be talking about the book called Anthem by Ayn Rand. I will be talking about characters such as protagonists and antagonists and how some characters impacted the story. I will talk about the setting, conflicts, and the plot of the story. I will also talk about literary devices such as point of view, symbolism, mood, tone, and theme.

All success starts with inner motivation. The most talented people that are living have an inner motivation that started their success story. The book “Anthem,” by Ayn Rand portrays the character  Equality's  main motivation which is individuality. Through his fearless discoveries he finally realizes the truth and that truth will set him free.

Imagine a world where you didn’t have electricity and you didn’t have the right to be your own person. In Anthem by Ayn Rand that is how people lived. Everyone in Anthem didn't know anything but the life that they are living. These people don't have anything to miss from the way the world used to be. But some people knew that they wanted more. Equality knew that. The lesson that was taken from this book is that a person is in this type of situation and something tells them that something isn't right and it feels wrong. That person needs to find a way to fix it or get out of the situation that is making them feel uncomfortable.

“What is not thought by all men cannot be true” is the common belief in the totalitarian world of Anthem (73). In this post-apocalyptic and altruistic society people can only exists through the service to their brothers, and individual thoughts and actions are shunned upon. Equality 2-72521 is brilliant, using technologies he found from before the “great rebirth” to formulate new conclusions about the virtually unexplored world of his time. With individualism shunned, personal thought is prohibited as well. Idiosyncrasy of anyone is looked upon as evil because it is different from other brother men, so people are bred to be and think the same. Science and technology are advanced upon with the thought of individuals coming up with new hypothesis

Being “yourself” would be the biggest sin in the world of Anthem, a book by Ayn Rand, where one citizen, Equality-72521, lives as not one, but among many. By not learning the word “I” at any time in your life, including birth. Equality, however, found a spot currently unknown, and decided to do a crime worthy of death. He hid there every night, and learned all he could secretly for years. He goes to great lengths to learn much no other person really knew, such as electricity, and didn’t tell anyone else about the light bulb as to make sure he could keep on learning, and in the end risked his life to protect what he learned, independently, so he could change who he was and what he knew.

Anthem by Ayn Rand is a collectivist society. In Anthem the highest leaders are the World Council. The World Council forces them to say “we” instead of “I,” so that everyone will think they are one with society, but if anyone thinks or speaks as an individual they will be sent to the Corrective Detention or burned to death; but Equality has no fear and discovers that individualism is just.

In the book Anthem by Ayn Rand the city has multiple rules and controls in place to keep everyone in line and from knowing too much about the unmentionable times. The city keeps them busy with a set schedule every day including work, meals, and entertainment. The purpose of these rules is to prevent an uprising, if everyone knew about the amazing achievements of the unmentionable times they would all surely revolt against the city.

We often think that this world has a lot of cruel rules, but when it comes to Anthem by Ayn Rand, you get to realize that it’s far worse. There are plenty of strict and harsh rules for men in Anthem. To name just a few of them, the Council of Vocations select your job whether you like it or not. Not being able of who you want to have children with. The rules and controls in the book that Equality 7-2521, the narrator, states, should be different and less harsh and cruel.

In order for a man to have a meaning in his life, He must face and overcome many conflicts. Equalities motivation is to be free in his society and to be different from everyone else. He has the right to be motivated because it's the way to express himself and show what he likes. Anthem is a story of a boys struggle to be free and fight the masses of conformity. Equality believes in curiosity and living a free life.

“ In order for a man to have meaning in his life, he must face and overcome many conflicts. Those who do not face these struggles are unable to realize what they are capable of doing.” In Ayn Rand’s novel Anthem, the main character, Equality 7-2521 is going through internal conflicts in order to discover his individuality. The fundamental and often universal idea that Ayn Rand is trying to get to us throughout her book is the danger of collectivism and the struggle to find your own identity. Rand does a splendid and intricate job by using Equality as a model representing many people that are afraid to stand out.

“It is a sin to write this” this is how Ayn Rand starts her book Anthem. In the book Equality is a

Ayn Rand uses the phrase, “The sleeping halls are white and clean and bare of all things save one hundred beds”(20,21,28) to display the wholeness of everyone where no one is different. To start with, when Equality explains about what to do when they get tempted he says, “We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible, and forever.”(19). The society takes away all individualism from everyone. They want people to believe that everyone is a whole. They cannot think or express differences between one another and if they do they get punished severely. Secondly when Equality wishes to go to the House of Scholars he explains, “For men may wish nothing for themselves.”(24). No one in the society is allowed

More and more, the question of whether individualism is better than socialism in society has been coming up more frequently. In her novel Anthem, Ayn Rand shows individualism through Equality 7-2521. She places Equality within a society where having a unique identity is forbidden. Throughout the story, Ayn Rand uses Equality to prove that being part of a community is equally as important as being an individual.

Anthem by Ayn Rand is a story about a man who discovers individuality and freedom from the rule and regulations in the society. Equality 7-2521 goes through many struggles to find the meaning of his life. He chooses his own name, Prometheus, as he slowly becomes a himself he realizes that he is different from the rest of his “brothers”. Towards the end of the novel, Prometheus learns the evils of the society and he has started a war against them. “Anthem depicts a world of the future, a society so collectivized that even the word “I” has vanished from the language” ( Rand “Guide to the Writings of Ayn Rand”).