Anthem Characters

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.

In Anthem, Ayn Rand is constantly using characters and emotion to set the mood and tone in the book. In the book, everyone is equal and do not have their own self rights. But of course one character in Anthem does not agree with the rules and goes awol. Throughout the book, characters like Equality 7-2521 become dynamic and learn more about two people in their group of one hundred kids. Every year 100 babies are born because men and women are sent to the City Palace of Mating. Among these two people were International 4-8818 and Liberty 5-3000. Both of these characters causes some of the choices Equality made in the book. Ayn broke down the book with mood and tone into three categories; characters and their feelings, challenges dealing with the setting, and society such as the Council.

Everyone is the same, but everyone wants to be themselves. Throughout “Anthem” everyone in the city were taught to never put themselves before each other. The novel demonstrates this idea of individuality and collectivism through various archetypes. The three archetypes I found were Equality being a loner, Equality going on a journey, and everyone wearing white.

“It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil… We have broken the laws” (17). Thus begins Anthem by Ayn Rand, a novella about a future collectivist society and a man named Equality 7-2521. Though the story takes place in the future, all technology that came after candles and glass has been taken away. The word “I” has ceased to exist in anyone’s vocabulary. Every person must agree on everything and feel like everyone else. To accomplish ‘cleansing’ the evils of mankind, society lead its people to believe that nothing can be done independently. The story is told through the eyes of Equality as he purposely defies the laws

“The word "We" is as lime poured over men, which sets and hardens to stone, and crushes all beneath it, and that which is white and that which is black are lost equally in the grey of it. It is the word by which the depraved steal the virtue of the good, by which the weak steal the might of the strong, by which the fools steal the wisdom of the sages” (Rand 66). Anthem is a science fiction book written by Ayn Rand. This book takes place in a futuristic time in which freedom and individual rights have been demolished and substituted by collectivism. Equality 7-2521 has a different perspective on reality than the rest of society and therefore searches to find his way despite many hardships. Within Equality 7-2521’s exploration, he is able to

In Anthem, there are a couple of characters and some are only mentioned and some only have a few lines of dialogue. The protagonist of Anthem is Equality 7-2521 or Prometheus and the antagonists are the Council of Scholars. The council of scholars would be the antagonists because they told the society, how to think and that made Prometheus think that he had a curse and was committing a

Anthem is a prime example of the Apotheosis in the Hero's Journey. The part in the book where the apotheosis occurs is when Equality is in the woods for the first time and when he wakes up the next morning he realizes that he is not in a trapped world anymore, he is free and he has all the freedom in the world. The quote in the book where this happens

In the story Anthem, members of the society are not allowed to do anything for themselves. Everything in their entire live is told to them by a council that has been told to do that by someone else. Nobody has complete control in the world, because everyone's job was told for them to by somebody else. The freedom of speech is blatantly absent from the story and after reading it, one could tell why it is so obvious yet so hard to see at the same time. The story tends to have the mention of the freedom of speech absent. It focuses more on things like, the freedom of preference, or the freedom to write.

“Anthem” is about a boy named Equality 7-2521 who is Street Sweeper of the society and was given this job as punishment for having too bright a mind, too curious, and for fighting amongst his brothers. When he was given this job, he thought of it as an atonement to his sins for being these things. While sweeping the streets, he finds a grill buried in the ground, leading to a underground subway and sneaks down there every day to perform experiments to satisfy his curiosity and his willing to learn. Equality then finds a young woman named Liberty 5-3000 and has thoughts that no man or woman can have except at the Time of Mating. After completing many experiments, Equality discovers electricity and uses it to make a light. When he showed it to the Council of Scholars, he was considered an evil wretch, and they also tell him that while he believes he

Chapter 8 through the end of Anthem by Ayn Rand brings resolution to conflict of the book and fully develops motif into theme. The main conflict in this book is without a doubt conformity versus individuality. This conflict is mainly exhibited by the main character Equality 7-2527 but is designed in such a way that it represents the conformity of all individuals in a society and the lack of thinking for one’s self as a result. Chapter 8 in Anthem represents a drastic shift towards resolution in this conflict because it is during this time that Equality begins to act on his beliefs rather than just think them. Up to this point, Equality has clearly defied the laws of the described society in Anthem by pursuing self interest which may be

The story’s settings of the novel, Anthem, greatly influences the plot. The novel’s setting takes in a Dark Age where there is no creativity, technology, progress, or optimism. The “society” is completely controlled and manipulated by a central group of leaders. The story primarily centers around a young man named Equality 7-2521 who is a street sweeper. This occupation does not offer him opportunities to expand beyond his small controlled world. Equality 7-2521 take his readers on an adventurous life journey as written in his own journal. Readers feel his oppression and personal desperation as they travel through the dark tunnel and live each day in the shoes of Equality.

An enslaved future in which people in a society are punished for wanting independence. This is the dark future Ayn Rand, author of Anthem, has set in this heart-wrenching dystopia. Ayn Rand sets the protagonist, Equality 7-2521, against his society to find the meaning of individuality and the sacred word “I”. Modern Day U.S society is much more progressive that Anthems’ society because of its’ individuality, education, and technology.

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.

The story of Anthem takes place in some unspecified future in which freedom and individual rights have been obliterated. Equality 7-2521, the protagonist, is a street sweeper who finds a tunnel where he conducts his science experiments. Throughout the book we see him change and move towards individualism as he discovers how capable he really is. Ayn Rand uses vast amounts of literary devices to describe the evolution of Equality 7-2521. In the dystopian novella, Anthem, Ayn Rand expresses epochal symbolism and poetic personification in order to passionately display the individual’s superiority over the collective.

To begin, Equality 7-2521’s actions develop the theme that individualism is not a sin. He does this in multiple ways. However, most of the characters in Anthem believe that individualism is a sin. That is why Equality 7-2521’s actions are significant to the development of the theme. In the beginning