Morality In Ayn Rand's Anthem

“This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.” Could a tune often sung by children in Bible study also be used to depict an expedition of self? Similarly, Ayn Rand portrays a hymn of “I” in Anthem through a boy confined within a collectivist society. Throughout Anthem, Ayn Rand uses Equality’s journey to awareness in which Rand displays religious connotations’ ability to stifle individuality, foreshadow through the Saint of Pyre, as well as consecrate “ego” in order to emphasize the need for self-worth and individuality.

“It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil […] there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone” (17). In the story Anthem it is a high offense to think for oneself and write without permission from the Council of Vocations. Equality 7-2521 has broken both these crimes simultaneously by writing in a journal over a span of months. By the end of the novel, Equality wrongly believes his actions are not truly sins. His action of writing is a sin because he has to hide the fact he is writing the journal and he been raised to believe that “it is not good to be different from our brothers, but it is evil to be superior to them” (21).

Ayn Rand's Anthem shows us her view of our world united under what seems to be communist rule. For example their view of right and wrong; which Anthem portrays is a system of very strict rules which mainly make sure that everyone is involved in a collective role within the society in this system no one is considered an individual or that they can even think as an individual.

brought them for a civilization where the word ?I? did not exist to a world

Ayn Rand’s Anthem challenges the prevailing wisdom that selflessness and sacrifice are morally superior to selfishness and self-interest. In the 1937 novel, Rand depicts a future in which individual identity is erased and all action is collective in nature. The word ‘I’ has been eradicated and all people use the plural ‘We’ to refer to themselves, as it is the concept of self that a society based on selflessness must destroy. In Anthem, the banishment of individualism leads to severe dystopian consequences that are explored through their impact on the protagonist, Equality 7-2521, on the end of innovation in society, and as the basis for the collapse of society itself into a totalitarian dictatorship.

Just imagine, knowing there's a better world you can be living but your being held back by a force. You are put on a set of rules and told to follow or else. This force is authority, and in Anthem that is what there society runs on, Authority and fear. Authority means to have power or give right to an order and in Anthem the power is held by the Great council. The council uses fear and power to control their people. They use their authority to is why people conform to their daily schedule and don't break it. From waking up working, eating at noon, then theater at dark just to repeat for the rest of their life. Why don't people do otherwise, and that's because there scared.

When babies cry, they cry for various reasons, when they are hungry or tired or need their diaper to be changed, but there is another reason on top of all this too. Babies can “fake cry” to gain the attention of their parents. It does not matter if that same parent is exhausted or busy; that baby will wail in order to be noticed. Even when we do not know the meaning of the word selfish, we exhibit signs of it so early into life. Our being selfish is innate, apart of our nature , just like every other animal that fights and hunts to sustain itself.

“What is not thought by all men cannot be true” is the common belief in the totalitarian world of Anthem (73). In this post-apocalyptic and altruistic society people can only exists through the service to their brothers, and individual thoughts and actions are shunned upon. Equality 2-72521 is brilliant, using technologies he found from before the “great rebirth” to formulate new conclusions about the virtually unexplored world of his time. With individualism shunned, personal thought is prohibited as well. Idiosyncrasy of anyone is looked upon as evil because it is different from other brother men, so people are bred to be and think the same. Science and technology are advanced upon with the thought of individuals coming up with new hypothesis

To go to the lengths of stealing to learn, to keep secrets he would get lashed for if he spoke of a word to them, to even smashing a window to protect his glass box, Equality changed from a child of small knowledge under the power of those in charge, to an adult full with knowledge that had been prior lost for decades, and even longer. The more he knew, the more he realized that there was more to life than working for others, and only recognized as “we.” Ayn Rand showed how Equality’s transition from selfless to knowing how to be “one” was an extremely important part of anyone’s life; Learning to be yourself, and what you can do and what can be learned by doing things

The book Anthem, written by Ayn Rand, celebrates the controversial and enduring legacy of her controversial prospective. The book is written in the context of a journal, in an age that had lost all trace of science and civilization. Anthem portrays a totalitarian world of the future along with being technologically primitive. The world of Anthem does not allow the people to think for themselves, but for each other. Not having the ability to think for oneself impedes man to be self-sufficient and in this case, to progress technologically. Because of the society’s ability being hindered, it causes the society to not be able to advance, which is seen consistently throughout the novel in many events.

We often think that this world has a lot of cruel rules, but when it comes to Anthem by Ayn Rand, you get to realize that it’s far worse. There are plenty of strict and harsh rules for men in Anthem. To name just a few of them, the Council of Vocations select your job whether you like it or not. Not being able of who you want to have children with. The rules and controls in the book that Equality 7-2521, the narrator, states, should be different and less harsh and cruel.

Ayn Rand was a woman born and raised in Russia. She is what one would call a very dauntless woman when it comes to her personal thoughts, and she is not fearful of sharing her said thoughts. She is a strong believer of Ethical egoism, to look out for one’s own self interest, and her blunt fashion of voicing her thoughts shocked most of the public. She also wrote a book, Anthem, as if to show what would happen if we solely relied on our government and fellow man, how we would revert to a time before technology and almost have a Hungergames type of segregation. Now, the government of today is not like the one described in Ayn Rand’s book, however, government official Rand Paul referenced her writings in his argument against the Energy Independence act of 2007, and may have unintentionally compared the two governments. There is no right or wrong way to claim his action as. Many believe it was incorrect to make this reference,

have you ever done something that you thought was bad at first, and then by the end of it you realized it's not so bad and you need more of it? the adrenaline that gets your blood pumping, heart racing. makes you think it's a reason to live? well at the beginning of the book anthem, equality 7-2521 believed what he had been doing was a sin, but by the end of the story he realized it wasn't so bad. He realized its only bad within the eyes of the elders.

Vision a lifestyle where one perceives it as a sin to comprehend data more efficiently than of one’s peers; a felony to long for things that others do not wish upon. Where floods of white tunics and austere minds obliterate the Earth. A colony built upon leaders who asphyxiate anyone from infatuation of any object or significant being; moreover, a world suffocating in collectivism. Through exasperated transcription, Anthem brings about such a community; nevertheless, a world of black and white. Ayn Rand does not overemphasize the effects of totalitarianism, but amplifies it so that it is more effortless for one to enlighten he or she’s notion on the particular proposal. First, by analyzation of “Equality 7-2521”, and

When a sin is committed is always viewed as wrong, but can sinning actually be for good? Anthem by Ayn Rand is a novelette about a future dystopian society that is based on her experience with the Soviet Union Era along with the way she views collectivism on not as moral evil but also the essence of evil in politicians and its philosophy. Like the Soviet Union Era there was a leader throughout the years, so did Anthem, their name was the World Council. The World Council who bring the horror to society by trying to make it perfect by suppressing individuality and opposition. Individualism and people having control of their own lives were lost; the World Council enforced these rules in order to have control over every citizen of this society