Equality's Identity In Anthem, By Ayn Rand

Anthem by Ayn Rand is a dystopian fiction novel about a time in the future where mankind has regressed in it’s advancements. The main character of the novel is Equality 7-2521. Equality is a curious boy who questions the society around him. It is because of his inquiry that he becomes ostracized from society and runs away with his friend. Equality character traits and the advancement of the plot are revealed through symbols throughout the book.Throughout the story Ayn Rand drops symbols that relate to the reveal of his character traits, and advancement of the plot.

Equality and Liberty met because she worked in the fields near where Equality worked as a Street Sweeper. Liberty worked in nature, and lived in the Home of the Peasants. Again, with strict government laws, Equality was not supposed to have feelings for Liberty, which he does anyways. Nature plays a big part in their relationship too, Equality describes her fields as “black and ploughed, and they lie like great fan before us, with their furrows gathered in some hand beyond the sky, spreading forth from that hand, opening wide apart as they come toward us, like black pleats that

Throughout the days, Equality 7-2521 has been experimenting the power of electricity until one day he successful succeeds. A box of glass when its wires are connected was all it took to create "the power of sky." He believes that the Council will be enraged with his invention. With his invention created he believes he will be moved to the Home of Scholars. One day Equality 7-2521 gets caught in the tunnel. He was past the three hours he had. The House of Council take him to the Palace of Corrective Detention but ends up escaping and going back to the tunnel and finding that nothing has been touched. Equality 7-2521 takes his box and enters the Home of Scholars. He meets all of them and they question his identity and he tells them he is a Street Sweeper. When he connects the wires, and they all freak out and they threaten him with torture and execution. The World of Council say that its best to destroy the light. He leaves running and doesn't know where he is going. He ends up in Uncharted

Equality wants to spread his individual ideas to the society and help it grow with his knowledge of electricity, for instance when he thinks of showing his light box to the House of Scholars, “We can light our tunnel, and the City, and all the cities of the world with nothing save metal and wires” (Rand 60). With electricity not being explained with the teachings of his society, Equality learns that the society of Anthem isn’t perfect and begins to favor his own opinions and knowledge, “This discovery haunted us… For it defies all laws known to men” (Rand 53). When he first finds out about electricity, he is given a knowledge only he can understand and know about, “We, Equality 7-2521, have discovered a new power… and we alone are to know it” (Rand 52). With a new knowledge of electricity, Equality finally acknowledges that

In the book Anthem by Ayn Rand there are many character changes, and all of them crucial to the story. With Equality 7-2521 being the biggest. I believe he had the biggest change because he was born in a society where your life is set with no questions asked even if you do not like what you receive. With these regulations, Equality 7-2521 followed them until he had a change of heart. In the first chapter of Anthem Equality says “It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think…” (Anthem , Rand A.) Equality 7-2521 is following what he is told to do but at the same time is doing what is forbidden. Therefore with Equality is slowly drifting to a change of heart on his feeling about the society as a whole.

In Anthem by Ayn Rand Equality 7-2521 transitioned through stage of his life with his talents. Equality transitioned from being a typical street sweeper to Prometheus, a free man, escaped from society. Throughout his rite of passage, Equality put his talents to work and invented electricity with the litebulb. This discovery pushes him into a complete rebellion as the World Council threatens to destroy the lightbulb. Because he will not abide seeing the light bulb destroyed, even though he might tolerate his own destruction, he is forced into exile from his society. Equality had broken from his society and finally became free. Equality 7-2521 discarded his given name, which shows his frustration with his society, and his unwillingness to be held back by his

The story “Anthem” by Ayn Rand is written in the form of a journal owning to a boy living in the future named Equality 7-2521. In this future that he lives in people have lost all knowledge of what it is to be an individual; one with his own perspective. Everyone in this time lives and works in groups, with facets of life dictated by the Councils. Among these councils there are the Council of Vocations, council of Scholars, and a few others. On the day that each person is a assigned a job, Equality 7-2521 is assigned to menial job cleaning the streets. As time goes by he rebels against socialism by conducting secret scientific research. Through time and research Equality 7-2521 was able to recreate electric light; electricity. He then goes

Equality has on his own discovered how to act upon his own actions. He has acted out his own intentions for the well being of himself and considering the change of the society for the better.

In the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand, the leading character , Equality 7-2521, lives in a collectivist society where the citizens have no control over their thoughts, actions, or lives. They are brainwashed to believe that the outcome of working together is righteousness, and working individually is evil. This is the basic standard in which this society lives in, therefore the citizens replace “I” with “We” in their thoughts, speaking, and writings. At the close of the book, Equality 7-2521 becomes an egoist, his new philosophy is that he needs to work for the good of himself, and based on the society he was raised in, the reader could agree with Equality’s new ideology about living life.

Once Equality receives the knowledge of what an individual truly is he becomes one. Anthem’s theme of becoming aware of oneself separate from a society displays a primal need for individualism within all

Although Equality knows this he still continues to work alone in the tunnel. Equality’s primary motivation was not to benefit humanity but to prove to himself that he was just as smart and capable of creating things as the Scholars were. Since he was young, he wanted to be a scholar. He always asked questions and wanted to know more, which he was quickly scolded for. “We were guilty of the Transgression of Preference.

As a boy he wanted to learn faster and faster. When he was grown to the age to be assigned work he was chosen street sweeper. When he stumbled upon a hole he discovers electricity or light. Equality thinks to himself, “...in that moment nothing existed save our two hands over a wire glowing in a black abyss.” That quote is very important because it shows how quite yet excited he was for doing such a remarkable thing.

“We, Equality 7-2521, have discovered a new power of nature. And we have discovered it alone, and we are alone to know it” (52). Within the lackluster of equilibrium in his dystopian society, Equality 7-2521 is a surge of electricity pulsing through a copper wire. His vision for the society in which he lives in is innovative, yet it is not for others that he conducts his experiments. Ayn Rand conveys that Equality’s primary incentive in the novella Anthem is to unearth his individuality and re-affirm his self-accomplishment, while partaking in an activity that brings him joy. Although expressive self-exploration traces to his direct motivation, Equality’s discoveries could benefit mankind greatly. Insubordination --disdained in our society,

“We have seen one of such men burned alive in the square of the City. And it was a sight which has stayed with us through the years, and it haunts us, and follows us, and it gives us no rest” (49). When someone is burned alive for the mentioning of a word, something is clearly wrong and change is far overdue. In the community of Ayn Rand’s Anthem, several rules and restrictions have been enforced, and information locked away in order to keep an illusion of order and equality throughout their dystopia. These living conditions will no longer exist when Equality 7-2521 goes on his own path.

In Ayn Rand’s novel Anthem, the main character, Equality, struggles to free himself from the confines of his society which create an aura of false equality and unity between the people. Equality is naturally curious and thoughtful, and when he finds a hidden tunnel, those characteristics become untamable. He begins to pursue his thirst for knowledge as he conducts experiments every night, and, as time goes on, he begins to rediscover elements of science that have been lost for generations. His most important discovery is electricity and the ability to create light with it. Equality takes this discovery to the Council, the wisest group of people in the society that use their wisdom to act as a government. Instead of reacting with delight and awe as Equality expects, the Council members are purely terrified and angry with Equality for going against societal expectations. Equality, fearing for his life, flees to the woods, a forbidden and mysteriously frightening place where he stumbles upon a house filled with the forgotten knowledge of the past. There, he begins to rebuild the ideas of the past and finally realizes his potential and role as an individual.