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Contrasting Concepts Of Morality In Ayn Rand's Anthem

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The Contrasting Concepts of Morality in Anthem

“I am neither foe nor friend to my brothers, but such as each of them shall deserve of me” (Rand 36). This excerpt provides insight to Equality’s personal view on the ethics surrounding morality. Morality is a complex and unique concept of the perceived difference between right and wrong. Within each environment and each new set of standards comes different ideas of morality, whether they are forced by a society or thought of individually as guiding principles for oneself. Ayn Rand’s Anthem presents an ideological war between Equality’s society and Prometheus’s views: a war fought between collectivism and individualism. Within the idea of collectivism and the contrasting belief in individualism, one finds different concepts of morality.
A man who murders another is considered immoral, while one who showers his community with money through philanthropic acts is considered morally right. Many people believe morality only includes two polar opposite acts of right and wrong. Ayn Rand illustrates in Anthem Equality’s view on what is just, as shown by the quote, “It is my will which chooses, and the choice of my will is the only edict I must respect” (Rand 36). This excerpt starkly depicts Equality’s main goal of a future, individualistic society based on his own perceived morality, which is oneself before others. In contrast, the collectivist and restraining society keeps a core principle of, "What is not done collectively cannot be good... " (Rand 27). Looking at both of these examples from Anthem and respective moralities of Equality’s future society and Equality’s original society, one might think that these two communities share no common moral standards. Whether discussed in Anthem or found in reality today, the idea of what is right in different societies can be found as completely different when briefly analyzed. While examining Anthem in a simplistic way, one can find the contrast between Equality’s hopes for the future and the society of Equality’s past at the end of the novel, as a contradiction that has no medial perspective. In the excerpt, “Galt’s Speech” from For the New Intellectual, Rand illustrates a view similar to Equality’s thoughts near the

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