Society Exposed In Ayn Rand's Anthem

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.

A captivating novelette in which a man’s priority is to serve only for his brothers, Ayn Rand’s Anthem illustrates a society that has suffered the ghastly consequences of collectivism. She depicts an oppressive culture in which the word “I” is unheard of and men belong to the collective “We.” Men’s lives are determined through the Council of Vocations, a group that maintains a powerful dictatorship by subjugating the public from the beginning of their lives. The idea that “If you are not needed by your brother men, there is no reason for you to burden the earth with your bodies” (Chapter 1) has been forced into average mindset of the vehemently maintained society. In contrast, Rand mocks the totalitarian civilization through the main

The practices of a collective society such as the one in this book disregard all belief in the individual. By doing this, the society and its leaders brainwash the people into having no personal priority or authority. Everything is done with the betterment of the entire group in mind, no sense of self involvement. Their life is fated in almost every

In Equality’s society of Anthem by Ayn Rand, they have many rules and controls, or regulations. They have the rules in place so everyone is the same. The Council doesn’t want anyone to be different, or to have different thoughts. Equality’s new society may have no rules from the old society because he encourages differences, he hated the old society’s rules, and he knows what it means to be an outcast.

In this society, everyone was deemed equal to each other so no one could find out new things or talk about the past. No one was allowed to think as an individual. They had to use the word "we" instead of "I". Everyone always had to be in a group and male and female worked apart from each other. In the novel, the government chose who went with whom and whom they had to mate with. They couldn't choose because than they would be punished and be sent to a corrective center (jail/prison). No one rebelled because of this. In our society, we are allowed to choose who we want to be with and with who we want to start a family with. In the novel, the government is bad because no one is allowed to speak out. They didn't have a democratic environment. In our world, we have a democratic government and the right to freedom of speech, without getting punished. On the contrary, we have to speak out to make our community better and safer to live.

In the novella, Anthem by Ayn Rand, the Council of Scholars believe that having the society and community as one whole instead of it being where the people are treated as individuals, is the best choice for all of the people. It is a sin if someone thinks about being alone and if you have thoughts or actions that go against the choice of being one whole. They worship the laws that say none among men may be alone, ever and at any time.

Liberty, a peasant girl meets Equality and in a sense helps him find himself and correct his morals. His plan is to sneak out during the social interaction time to his secret tunnel underground where he writes after he stops writing in his room. One night he forgets to keep track of his hour glass and continues writing and experimenting with his light box and gets caught. He gets thrown in a cell block until he informs the council of his sins, holding this information, to him, is morally wrong in the eyes of the council. Anthem is a communistic society, so the council controls any and everything occurring within. According to http://www.governmentvs.com/en/totalitarian-countries/model-58-4 Totalitarian nations include, China, North Korea, India, Uzbekistan, Austria, Germany, Belarus, South Africa. Meaning these nations are controlling the states by not letting them take part in certain aspects of their own life, just as in Anthem. By the beginning of the book Equality knows that sinning is morally wrong and he should not take part in it. The council forbids any form of self interest or anything to do with thinking about oneself to prevent individualism, but by the end of the book things turn out differently for the better sake of

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.

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

“My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose” (Rand, 95). Anthem is written by American author Ayn Rand about Equality 7-2521 on his quest for happiness. The novel is set in an unspecified time and place in the future. Years after human civilization has gone through a deconstruction in which all knowledge was lost and a new society established with no concept of the individual. “The novel describes the efforts of the main character, Equality 7-2521, to reestablish a sense of personal identity and restore the knowledge of the past by objective scientific inquiry. In doing so, he must face many dangers and privations” (Anthem). Anthem is a dairy of the Equality

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

The setting of Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem is a dystopian society which places great importance on the idea of “collectivism” while completely disregarding the individual. To help represent the society’s ideals, all of the characters are given names that portray the social concepts of unity and collectivity: Union, International, Equality, Collective, Harmony and more. These names are followed by a set of numbers that strip away the characters’ individuality even more. Not only do the names represent the society, but also the characters themselves. For example, Collective 0-0009, the wisest and oldest member of the Council of the Scholars, proves himself to be the perfect spokesperson for collectivism when he rejects Equality 7-2521’s, the main character, new invention and orders it to be destroyed. As for Equality 7-2521, his name is very ironic; he is obviously superior to his “brothers” in both knowledge and creativity yet his name claims that they are all equal. Similarly, Liberty 5-3000, Equality 7-2521’s love interest,

Imagine it!" (Huxley 222). It is unfathomable in the World State to imagine people within the same caste who are individualized, some Alphas being given simple labor and factory work is obscure. Although there is some individuality present in the hereditary characteristics of people in the Brave New World, individuality within Castes is sacrificed in order to achieve peace and

In Brave New World, the characters live in a “World State” that is a unified government which administers the entire planet. The World State’s motto is “Community, Identity, and Stability”. They achieve this “stability” through social castes. Starting from Alphas, being the highest in the caste and the smartest, to the Epsilons, being the lowest in the caste. Sexual reproduction has been abolished and the creation of children takes place in the Centre of Hatchery and Conditioning autonomously.