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Comparing "Anthem" by Ayn Rand to "Invictus". Essays

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Comparison Essay: Anthem, and “Invictus” The poem “Invictus” by William E. Henley, and the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand, both have common themes that discuss the importance of individuality. Each of the themes that these works have to offer will be discussed throughout the paragraphs of this essay. One of the common themes between Rand’s novel, and Henley’s poem is that, both of the main characters of these pieces are determined to be nothing less than what they were made to be, which is unconquerable. A quote from Anthem that supports this theme is, “They (the Golden one) looked strait into our (Equality 7-2521’s) eyes and they held our head high and they answered: “the unconquered.”(p.56). From this quote, the Golden one proves to …show more content…

Within the poem of “Invictus”, the author seems to have gone through a similar experience that Equality 7-2521 had. A quote from “Invictus” extricates, “Under the bludgeoning of chance my head is bloody, but unbowed.”. From this quote, I suppose that the physical abuse is more of a metaphor, for the emotional damage that each one of these men went through. Since this poem mostly talks about the authors ordeals to gain independence, I think that they author is saying how rough, cruel, and discrimination the world can be, especially when it comes to things as precious as freedom. Our last theme that we will be discussing between Anthem and “Invictus”, is that both of the protagonists of these works believe, and know that they are the ones who control their lives and no one else. To support my theme with evidence, a quote from Anthem states, “I am. I think. I will. My hand…my spirit…my sky of their needs…my forest…the earth of mine.” (p.94). This excerpt from the novel is describing how Equality 7-2521 knows who he is, and what he controls. For so long he had to think of his brothers, not himself. This shows that he is the master of this own soul, and that nothing can stop him from being his own person. To further back up my theme, “Invicus” quotes, “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” From this quote alone, I can gather that the author of this story is the ruler of his own fate, and what happens to him. He knows no

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