When Conformity Takes Control
Conformity, it’s something everyone deals with, even if they do not realize it. Although, what happens when conformity takes control over everything? What if the world was stripped of individuality, no citizen has any rights to hold on to, while not being able to think for one’s self. That is an image what it would be like if everyone in the world were to conform to a restricting society. Just think of all of the advances in technology the human race has come up with in the last ten years alone. None of that would have been possible in a society where no one can go above another person's IQ level. This is the world the characters in Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem live in. The reasons that total conformity is dangerous is because individuality is not possible, no family history, and advancement would not be possible.
“‘We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, indivisible and forever’”(19). No one can be an individual, or at least that is what the government tries to convince the citizens in Anthem. If someone is not serving the whole society, what would be their purpose in living? For in a society like the one in Anthem because that would be a transgression. Although the reality is that no one should have to live in a world where they cannot be different from their neighbor or a random person they stand next to in line. ‘We strive to be like all our brother men, for all men must be alike’(19). This
Conformity- behavior in accordance with socially accepted conventions or standards. When does conformity go too far? In Anthem by Ayn Rand people conformed out of fear. Everyone in there society has to be the same skill level, same intelligent and same physical attributes. People are given numbers at birth. People are also assigned jobs that they can not reject. Equality who is the main character does not follow the rules and is rubellus. He meets a girl that is just like him who he calls the Golden One. He make electricity and shows it to the highest people in there world, and they think it is evil. He gets sent to prison ,but he escapes because there were no locks on the doors. He goes to the forbidden forest. The Golden One finds him ,and they find a house in the mountains. They find all new things that they don't know what it is. But Equality plans to get his friends from the town and start his own society with his rules. Social conformity goes too far when the people do not have a choice for anything.
Therefore, unalienable rights should be present to all women and men of different races. The last citation comes from “Anthem” which represents diction, “We didn’t wish to be leader even though it is a great job, we wished to be
On page 19, Equality 7-2521 states that there are words cut in marble, which they repeat whenever they are tempted to be untruthful to themselves. “We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible, and forever.” The meaning of this quote leads you to believe that their community has been taught to think as one, to act as one, and to do everything as one. The community has a will to strive to be like their brothers, for all men must be alike. The two quotes above show collectivism by providing examples on how the people in the community think alike and act alike. The society of Anthem is collectivism because they work together as one unit and are “owned” by a leader.
Rules, some people follow them, others do not. Many people ask why these rules exist, or what they even mean. In Anthem, the rules in their society were created to assure that society would not have another catastrophe, like one before the Unmentionable Times, when the Evil Ones wreaked havoc on the World, destroying everything in their path. Many of these rules limit one's capabilities to think independently. Failure to follow these rules result in harsh punishment. One man, by the name of Equality 7-2521, has defied a numerous number of these laws. This man has made a monumental discovery that could advance mankind. Unfortunately, due to the World Councils stubbornness, he was rejected of his idea. In this moment, Equality finally realized
The act of people conforming is seen every where. Any activity performed by someone that is “in the ordinary” is them conforming to the norm. In the crucible, all the girls conform to the norm, set by Abigail Williams. When Abigail faints, the girls faint, when Abigail screams, the girls scream. They mirror her in her every action due to their fear of what would occur if they did not. Same concept is seen today, for example, when you shower regularly you are conforming to the norm. You shower in fear of judgement if you were not to shower, and you shower in following the actions of others. This common action of following in others footsteps affects us by causing people to become identical and influencing people to ignore their personal morals and follow the mob of society blindly. People force physical change upon themselves due to fear of being that one
Imagine living in a society where everything someone does is conforming to someone else. In the novella Anthem, written by Ayn Rand, the author talks about conformity by referring to how all men need to be alike and fit in with each other. Equality 7-2521 the street sweeper, believes in the feeling of individualism and rejects the collectivist society around him. Social conformity becomes dangerous in Anthem because while Equality 7-2521 follows all the rules at the beginning of the novella, throughout the book he begins to break them.
Chapter 8 through the end of Anthem by Ayn Rand brings resolution to conflict of the book and fully develops motif into theme. The main conflict in this book is without a doubt conformity versus individuality. This conflict is mainly exhibited by the main character Equality 7-2527 but is designed in such a way that it represents the conformity of all individuals in a society and the lack of thinking for one’s self as a result. Chapter 8 in Anthem represents a drastic shift towards resolution in this conflict because it is during this time that Equality begins to act on his beliefs rather than just think them. Up to this point, Equality has clearly defied the laws of the described society in Anthem by pursuing self interest which may be
The citizens of Anthem are consistently being used by the government because they choose to ignorantly believe their society’s opinions. At the end of the story when Equality tries to analyze why his society is so corrupted, he summarizes his thoughts by writing “What is freedom? Freedom from what? There is nothing to take a man's
The story of Anthem takes place in some unspecified future in which freedom and individual rights have been obliterated. Equality 7-2521, the protagonist, is a street sweeper who finds a tunnel where he conducts his science experiments. Throughout the book we see him change and move towards individualism as he discovers how capable he really is. Ayn Rand uses vast amounts of literary devices to describe the evolution of Equality 7-2521. In the dystopian novella, Anthem, Ayn Rand expresses epochal symbolism and poetic personification in order to passionately display the individual’s superiority over the collective.
In Anthem, there is not much freedom, the government controls most of what happens, and there was not much knowledge. “The laws say that none among men may be alone, ever at any time, for this is the great transgression and the root of all evil.” (Rand,17) “But we may never speak of the times before the Great Rebirth, else we are sentenced to three years in the Palace of Corrective Detention.” (Rand,19). These quotes show how the laws are against freedom, they show that no one is allowed act how they want or say what they want to say. The government also has all the control in what people can say and do. “There is some word, one single word which is not in the language of men, but which had been. And this is the Unspeakable Word, which no men may speak or hear.” (Rand, 49) This quote shows how the government restricts what they are
In this quote not a single person means anything but that they are part of mankind. The only people with any rights of their own is the government. Just like in our society the government controls what happening but at least in our society we have a say in what the government should and should not do. The characters in Anthem are nothing but mindless bodies that are controlled by the society. Also the people in Anthem are disposable so what 's the point in making them unique if they don 't matter at all.
In the book Anthem, one of the main themes is collectivism, the ideology that you, as the individual, is not what is important, but instead, it’s the society that is what matter, or at least what should matter. Many of the people who read it say that this book is crazy and where there is no love or personal opinions, the society is bad.
To understand why we have a sense of conformity, we must first understand value. “Values are used to learn people’s culture, ideas, and what they want out of life (Henslin 49). Every culture has similar and different values. “Norms are the expectations a group develops concerning the ‘right’ way to reflects its values” (Henslin49). An example of a norm would be personal space and speaking quietly in certain places such as a library. When norms are violated people often begin to question the person’s sanity and well-being based on how extreme the norm violation was.
The novella Anthem, by Ayn Rand, and the novel The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, have parallel in one of their themes. Both books acknowledge the topic of conformity and defiance. Although these two themes coincide, they are displayed differently in each story. Anthem mostly demonstrates the advantages to defying conformity, and the disadvantages of following conformity, but The Scarlet Letter shows both sides of each situation. Hawthorne demonstrates the advantages and disadvantages to defying conforming while also displaying the advantages and disadvantages to conforming.
A collectivist society runs on the belief that man should live for the good of the group instead of the good of the individual. In order for this type of society to survive, the people living in it would have to accept a variety of ideas; these ideas would likely have to be set in place by the leaders of the society. In any case, thoughts of rebellion against the leaders would exist, but the leader could stop such rebellion from being carried through by presenting the people with different incentives so as to make them stay in line. In Anthem, Ayn Rand demonstrates the ideas the people of the society had to accept in order to willingly live in the collectivist society and the ways the leader of the society imposed those ideas onto the people.