preview

Anthem Conflict Essay

Decent Essays
Open Document
There has always been a slight anxiety, a slight fear, of being alone or standing alone. Students rarely want to admit to having an answer different from the rest of their classmates; some people do not want to go somewhere and do something by themselves. Notably, with more shy or anxious people, they will often stick around someone they know, so they will not be alone in the crowd. Although that company might help them make it through those nerve-wracking moments, when is the right time for them to walk alone? Should a person ever walk alone? In Ayn Rand’s Anthem, Equality’s internal conflict of conformity versus individuality plays a role that Equality needs to overcome in order to complete their quest for freedom which helps create…show more content…
The outcast archetype that Equality is portrayed with is partially created by their internal conflict throughout the novel. After admitting to their crime of going against conformity and being an individual in thought to the World Council of Scholars, Equality runs away and ends up in the Uncharted Forest, more or less banished from their society. They are looked at with disdain by the scholars for their attempt of individuality in a society surrounded in conformity. Rand writes the following on page 72: “How dare you, gutter cleaner,...to hold yourself as one alone and with the thoughts of the one and not of the many?” (Rand). By sharing the thoughts that they had alone, Equality became an outcast in their community. Even if Equality had chosen conforming over being independent, there still would have been a different form of price paid for their decision. However, if they had decided to submit to their culture’s practice, then they would not have achieved their quest, and the powerful ending of Anthem might not have been as compelling. The internal conflict’s role in the story comes to a strong closing with its impactful one-word ending. Anthem closes with one final word: ego, which can be defined as “self-image” or “self-importance”, according to dictionary.com. It is portrayed as an important word, as Rand writes at the end of the novel, “The word which can never die on this earth, for it is the heart of it and the meaning and the glory. The
Get Access
Related
Get Access