The dictionary defines a hero as “a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.” In comparing The Stranger to Anthem, both protagonists go against societal norms, and it is up to the reader to determine if that brave opposition is heroic. In The Stranger, by Albert Camus, the main character, Meursault, is emotionally inept. Every thing he does appears empty, there is never a passion or excitement or even a real reason behind it. However, he remains consistent throughout the novel in this cool, calculated way. He stays very true to himself, even when it's not convenient. When the magistrate is hammering Meursault about religion, Meursault narrates that he draws “himself up to his full height and [asked] me if I believed in God. I said no. (69)” He will not submit to satisfy the whims of others' moral questions. Eventually, he comes to terms with his inevitable death. It is this …show more content…
After attempting to better his community through his brilliant ideas and discoveries, Equality is rejected and shunned. His thoughts of the event reflect his first independent ideas of self against the society, “No single one can possess greater wisdom than the many Scholars... Yet we can. We do. (54)” He acknowledges the thought of being different from others, maybe better, something his society despises and shames. With his equally rebellious partner, the two decide to run away from their repressive world, eventually discovering the word I and the idea of oneself with limitless freedom they hope to spread to their sons and friends. Equality 7-2521 can be seen as a self-centered rebel that runs away from his problems, far from being a hero. However, he can also be interpreted as the free thinker that is brave enough to question authority and create his own destiny. Equality 7-2521 is just as ambiguosly good or bad as
Equality 7-2521 changes throughout the novel because of the harsh society he lives in and because of the philosophy of collectivinessive. They were all raised from birth to believe in living for their brothers as a whole and only doing things for their brothers instead of themselves. “We strive to be like all our brother men, for all men must be alike” (Rand 19). After he was assigned the job of street sweeping, and believing he deserved more he started to break the rules. Equality knew there were things not being told to them and they wanted to know more than what was being offered to him. The start of breaking the rules is what started the change of the character. His internal knowledge that he was blessed and born with led him to the invention
“...we waited for the earth to rise and strike us in the face. But we ran. We knew not where we were going. We knew only that we must run, run to the end of our days.”-Equality 7-2521 in Ayn Rand’s Anthem. Equality 7-2521 was always been different. He wanted to become a scholar but became a street sweeper instead. One day he meets Liberty 5-3000. They fall in love but this against the law. When Equality discovers electricity he show the council of scholars. The council disapproves of his ideas and Equality runs away to the forest. Liberty secretly followed. They find a house in the forest and start a new life together. Doing this Equality 7-2521 shows that he is a complex character with character traits such as determination, curiosity, and
To start off, Equality7-2521 is self-centered and is probably the most self-centered character in this book. This trait that he possesses sets him apart from mostly everyone in his society. From a very young age he recognized that he was different and he knew that unlike the others he wanted to learn and wanted his questions to be answered. He broke his very first rule at a young age. This rule was not to wish for a certain career because the council of vocations knows where you are needed amongst your brothers and sisters. (Chapter 1 page 22)
Since his work was not the collective work of him and his brothers, the work he has done is evil, and is not good for the society. Equality 7-2521 also presented his papers, that he has written, as his confession, documenting the work that he has done, along with the sins, and transgressions he had committed. After Equality 7-2521 presented his light box, the World Council of Scholars tried to destroy it, however, when they, the World Council of Scholars, tried to destroy his work, Equality 7-2521 jumped out of the window and ran into the Uncharted Forest. This was the first encounter Equality 7-2521 had in which he was prideful of his work.Upon leaving the society in which he had lived his life, Equality 7-2521 experienced his first sense of freedom, when he killed and ate food that he earned himself. This was Equality 7-2521’s second time he felt prideful over the work he has
Equality 7-2521, the main character of Anthem, lives in a society where everything is controlled by the government. There is no individuality; every person refers to themself as “we.” After finding a secret tunnel, Equality 7-2521 escapes here to write about himself and his childhood stories. Although he knows that he is breaking the law, he states that he feels guilt for his actions. As Equality 7-2521 writes about his childhood, it is discovered that he never wanted to be a street sweeper; his desire in life was to be a scholar so that he could explore and learn things about life. He remembers an instance where someone was executed for using the word “I”. Equality 7-2521 believed that he was called to be the next Transgressor. During the nights, he experiments in his tunnel. One night, he discovered electricity. While Equality 7-2521 is at work, he sees a young woman whom he referred to as the “Golden One.” Although the laws forbid men and women from speaking to each other, Equality
During his childhood, he was blessed with an individual spirit and the intelligence to understand the knowledge of the world. In spite of this, he reckoned his abilities as transgressions. He acknowledged that the way of life was that “Everything which comes from the many is good. Everything which comes from the one is evil” (Rand 85). Equality strives to accept the totalitarian society and consequently, he desperately struggles to disregard his abilities and subdue his desires. The grisly effects of society are portrayed immensely through the profound sense of guilt he suffers while committing the Sin of Preference. He continually recites that, “We are nothing. Mankind is all. By the grace of our brothers are we allowed our lives. We exist through, by, and for our brothers who are the State. Amen” (Rand 21). Gradually, his aspirations contradict with the dogma of society. He discovers that he finds more joy committing the Sin of Preference rather than restraining himself from happiness, which ultimately, allows him to elude his conscious premises. Equality’s belief that “[he] [has] torn [himself] from the truth which is [his] brother men… [he] knows [this], but [he] [does] not care” (Rand 76) marks his complete triumph over collectivism. Prior to his transformation, he belonged to a society in which the Sin of Preference revoked all rights for any desire, which ultimately disallowed citizens to think for freely. If permitted to do so, no
In the novel, The Stranger, author Albert Camus confronts some important issues of the time, and uses the singular viewpoint of the narrator Meursault to develop his philosophy and effectively weave together themes of absurdity, colonialism, and free will. Through the progressive disruption of Meursault’s life and his characterization, Camus presents the absurdity of the human condition along with the understanding that a person can actually be happy in the face of the absurd. Camus also intentionally sets the story in the colonized country of Algeria, and hints at the racial tensions that exist between French-Algerians and Arabs.
Although Equality and his leaders have developed different experiences and knowledge, he can’t judge his society for having a different perspective than him. Instead he should respect their point of view and move on in life. Even though the Scholars didn’t respect his new discovery of the light bulb, it doesn’t mean that
The French philosopher Roland Barthes once said, “Literature is the question minus the answer” (Barthes 2). This statement hold true for most works of literature that explore a central question. According to Barthes, literature often raises a question, but leaves it up to the reader to determine the answer. The Stranger by Albert Camus is an excellent example of how a central question, “Is there value and meaning to human life?” is raised and left unanswered, resulting in different interpretations of the answer, depending on the viewpoint of the reader. Although the question is never explicitly answered, Camus offers perspectives on what French society regarded the answers to be, such as connections with others, elusion to freedom, and faith in religion and God.
Equality 7-2521, who decides to change his name to Prometheus in the final chapters of the novella, had his own vision of a perfect society. Upon discovering “I” while he is reading in the house, Equality 7-2521 becomes aware that he is the center of his own universe, and nobody has control over his actions now. He says, “I understood that centuries of chains and lashes will not kill the spirit of man nor the sense of truth within him” (Rand 58). It is clear that he would never include any of the rules that were present in his past society in his new and improved one. Equality 7-2521 completely let go of his old life and refused to be held back among the masses. Equality 7-2521’s curse that was always frowned upon finally was looked at in a positive way. He is unafraid and proud, finally discovering himself and becoming his own man.
The struggle of Equality 7-2521 is that he is positive that everything the government is doing is wrong. He finally realizes all of the wrong doings in his world. He first discovers an underground railroad. He realizes all of the amazing things that is out there that his world isn’t allowed to know about. He takes in that everything he has been raised thinking is all wrong. At first he becomes confused of why his world would do this. All these laws are placed because the government wanted a perfect world. What they think is perfect is the total opposite of perfect. You are selected into your job and department. You have no name, all you have is what category you are in and some numbers after. Those numbers are there just so you can know who one another is. Men can’t love women. Women can’t love men. They want everyone to be happy and not go through
Truth and honesty is the aspired driving force within one’s life but it can be as destructive as deceit and dishonesty. People always yell, “Tell the truth, be honest with me!” but when all things are said, their first reaction is to call out the lack of sympathy of the person. In the novel, The Stranger by Albert Camus, Meursault lives his life through truth and honesty but societal morals and values often bring him down in more ways than one.
Equality believes that while concerning oneself, each person has their own choice of thought and will, and he believes in operating a new society based upon those morals. Written in Ayn Rand’s own words, the story says, “I guard my treasures: my thought, my will, my freedom. And the greatest if these is freedom” (Rand 95-96).This quote illustrates how the main character believes that the most cherished possession is autonomy. Despite the fact that Equality 7-2521 has been sheltered against the beliefs of independence, he still manages to find freedom regardless of the government’s continuous strains to prevent him from becoming himself.
At the end of the story, Equality 7-2521 wants to live in a world without the rules and controls the council has set forth. Equality 7-2521 re-invents electricity, surpassing the best Scholars in his society. As well, Equality 7-2521's brilliance continues, as shown as at the end of the novel, when he’s writing philosophies on the meaning of life. The story proves that even though society is equal, human creativity creates a more diverse way of life.
Widely recognized for philosophical writings as a French essayist and playwright, Albert Camus is a major contributor to exploring the absurd in modern Western literature. Characterized by highlighting the human condition, Camus’ writing style focuses on the everyday lives and inner psyche of individuals in both ordinary and extraordinary circumstances. Such a character-driven writing style is most notably displayed in his 1946 work, The Stranger, a tale of an emotionally-detached man known as Meursault, who lives in French-colonized Algiers during the intermission of the two World Wars. Consisting of two parts—The Stranger first explores his daily life as a free man, and in the second, delves more into the character’s own philosophy as Meursault contemplates during his remaining time in jail. At its core, the story explores the relationships and interactions of the odd Meursault through the character’s inner monologue and dialogue with those around him. The story itself is very ambiguous in its’ nature, and the idea of contemplating the meaning of life and purpose is prevalent throughout The Stranger. Evidently, Camus writes Meursault as a man who believes that life has no meaning, and therefore people are free to do as they please. To supplement the protagonist’s view, the author also presents Meursault alongside various personalities of key supporting characters, each with their own unique personality, and differing outlooks on life. Doing so thus enables Camus to get readers to contemplate about meaning through multiple perspectives. Stylistically, through many devices that emphasize diction, imagery, and story themes. Ultimately, The Stranger is a way for Camus to convey that there are multiple ways to perceive the meaning of life, using Meursault to directly project a different view than what readers are used to. Surely, with the intent of crafting a protagonist so strange, that Meursault becomes comparable to other characters; less so as a reflection of what the author personally believes the meaning of life is, but more of what such exploration of the idea could be.