The Role Of Equality In Ayn Rand's Anthem

Character development is vitally important in Anthem. As we watch Equality 7-2521 change from a state of guilt and unhappiness to a state of pride and self-worthiness, the process creates the bulk of the story elements. One of the most important instances that show how much Equality has changed occurs in Chapter 8. At the end of this chapter, Equality bursts into laughter after thinking about what has happened. Equality laughs when he remembers that he is the damned because he feels liberated, not ruined.

“I understood the blessed thing which I had called my curse. I understood why the best in me had been my sins and transgressions; and why I had never felt guilt in my sins” (98). This quote is about Equality’s epiphany about his curiosity he had had his entire life, proof of the twisted logic the collectivist society used on civilians to make them identical. Since Equality was feeling the best he had ever felt once being free from the collectivist reigns, he was bewildered with the reality of being ‘shunned’ or as his civilization would call him, ‘damned’. Equality laughs, “For the first time this day, we remembered that we are the Damned. [...] We are writing this on the paper we had hidden in our tunic together with the written pages we had brought for the World Council of Scholars, but never given to them” (80). Equality assesses that running away from the law didn’t come with any consequences that he isn’t willing to live with. He was no longer scared to be judged on his thoughts or creations. He comes to the conclusion that nothing is worth giving up

“ … He will be taught reverence for his own spirit.” (Rand 100). Equality felt like he was sinning in his old society, and then the Council gave him a way to pay for it. “We knew we had been guilty, but now we had a way to atone for it.” (Rand 26). Equality wanted those who were suffering in the old society to join him, so they would not feel as he had felt under the oppression of the Council. “I shall call to me all the men and women whose spirit has not been willed within them and who suffer under the yoke of their brothers.” (Rand 101).

The fiction novel Anthem by Ayn Rand, begins as equality takes a journey to individualism. He begins by writing how wrong he is to be writing what he is, how much of a sin it is. To be thinking as his own, and as an “I”. Ayn Rand is from Russia, which is a communist society. As Rand was growing up in this time frame, she had made the time to give herself an education which was frowned upon as she was a woman. She was not given a sense of “I” it was the normal thing for women to stand back and watch. To continue deeper into the book, Equality's eventual assessment of his writing on his own, changed from being a sin to being and individual activity, from the beginning to the end of the book.

Equality’s assessment of his sins at the end of the book is that his so-called “sins” are not sins at all. Rather they are things that make him different and special. These things are considered as sins in Equality’s world because the group must be homogeneous. His new views differ from his previous assessment of his sins because he used to believe that the things that make him different were a curse and should make him ashamed. Equality’s new assessment of his so-called sins is correct. What he

“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).

He is in a society where his knowledge is stifled and not encouraged to think for himself. Equality expresses, "We strive to be like all our brother men, for all men must be alike”(7).  This had to be implanted into Equality's head by the council  which is why it is natural for individualism to be what he wants most and why he should be able to follow his own ideology. Readers see not only in Anthem but in today's world how people are taught to only think of what they know. Equality wants the council to know of his accomplishments and as a outcome to show all men how it can help improve society. He wants the feeling of accomplishment and knowing that through his accomplishments he has uplifted others within the community.

Anthem represents a collectivist society that is stagnant and primitive where the word “I” is obsolete; talking in first person is a sin. It is always “we” and never “me”. Equality 7-2521, the main character in Anthem, writes in a journal about himself but only uses “we” forms. Writing about yourself is a sin in this society. Equality starts of his first journal entry, the beginning of the book, with this quote; “It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put down upon a paper no others are to see,” (1.1). At the end of this book, Equality’s outlook on the sin, whether it is a sin or not, changes. He decides his actions are not a sin. It is him being an individual. His own self.

To be unique is to be the only one of its kind; unlike anything else. In a world where uniqueness is as tolerated as crimes is in our modern day, Equality 7-2521 finds himself being told what he can and can not say. The society is this novel goes as far to also tell the citizens what they can and cannot do. The community where Equality 7-2521 lives in does not know any better as they have grown up in this lifestyle for their entire life. In Anthem the reader begins to see an evolution of Equality 7-2521. The book begins with “It is a sin to write this” which a line that Equality had wrote in his own journal that he kept to himself. Even before the story truly began Equality was beginning to change and see the world and society in a different

Anthem starts the book by stating that Equality has done a sin. The complete novel is based on this first line, because it shows Equality’s character and his rebellious actions. Throughout the book, Equality bases his actions off of the sin and develops a new character for himself. The sin not only describes Equality throughout the book, but also at the climax of the book and at the ending. The sin’s significance in the beginning of the book helps portray Equality's character and actions and the events of the book, but also Equality’s knowledge of his sins never prevents him from sinning.

“We have stolen manuscripts. This is a great offense” and uses them for his life in his tunnel (Rand 36). He commits the greatest crime of his society, being alone, by spending several hours everyday in an abandoned sewage pipe and living a second life there, “And in our heart-strange are the ways of evil!-in our heart there is the first peace we have known in twenty years” (Rand 37). By breaking the laws of his city, Equality shows his individuality in his rebellious spirit and begins to show his individualism. Equality 7-2521 discovers electricity and with this discovery, he acknowledges that his individual ideas are different than those of society.

In the beginning of Anthem, by Ayn Rand, the book starts by saying "IT IS A SIN TO WRITE THIS" (Rand, pg.17) Therefore in the beginning of the book

He realizes he had everything to fear from the twisted society that he lived in. Equality had trusted himself enough to completely let go of his old society, to leave everything behind and adopt a new culture. He must have trusted himself immensely to have done this. He also realizes humans are much too smart to govern that society and wonders if they were just too afraid to contradict their government or just did not trust themselves to try and overthrow it. Equality realizes he should be confident in himself. He is a very headstrong person and is not persuaded so easily. That is why he had left his society in the first place. Equality would like to live as an individual where he would not work together for the common good, as a group, but where he alone will work as an individual in his new society that he will soon create.

Equality’s view of morality at the end of the novel was that people would be able to decide if something is a good thing to do or not to do. In the ending pages of the book anthem equality’s view of morality is that it doesn’t half to benefit the community it can benefit only him. Equality’s morality is different than his community because he believes in individuality more than a community-based system.

To begin, Equality 7-2521’s actions develop the theme that individualism is not a sin. He does this in multiple ways. However, most of the characters in Anthem believe that individualism is a sin. That is why Equality 7-2521’s actions are significant to the development of the theme. In the beginning