Individuality In Anthem, By Ayn Rand

“We cannot resist it. It whispers to us that there are great things on this earth of ours, and that we must know them. We ask, why we must know, but it has no answer to give us.” (Rand 24) he then goes on talking about how he loves “the Science of Things” (Rand 23) and how he could ask questions in the House of Scholars, “for they do not forbid questions.” (Rand 23) However, at the near end of Anthem, Equality states that the Scholars are “blind” and are being “cowardice” (Rand 19) even though he had once looked up to these same Scholars when growing up, “We strive to be like all our brother men, for all men must be alike.” (Rand

“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

“Change is certain. Progress is not.”, in the so-called perfect society, there is no progress and they are yet to develop, although, there are some people who defy these odds and develop into different people (Carr). The main character, Equality, has many obstacles to overcome but has yet to discover who he truly is. Although, as the story goes on, he starts to discover new things about himself, his purpose, and starts to realize he is not a part of this “perfect society”. The word “I” makes one an individual, however in Anthem, the word “I” is lost and there is no individual, just the collective people working for a common goal. Equality is set on a journey to find out who he truly is while

In the book Anthem where the world is like an enclosed container and you are stuck there for life. Equality 7-2521 he is the odd one out he breaks the rules for his own purposes he is curious and has an extraordinary mind unlike the other people are known as his brothers. His dream is to be in the house of the scholars and to do whatever they do. Because he wants a challenge he wants to define his curiosity with expressing it through experiments and writing. When Equality doesn't get the job he wanted and dreamed of "to go to the house of the scholars" and he gets street sweeper he isn't angry they don't feel that feeling much he is just disappointed. But then Equality finds a hole to spend time alone in so he can do the experiments and write so does he stride for the motivation of happiness or is there a bigger motivation of that he found inside of him.

The book Anthem by Ayn Rand is about Equalities journey to become an individual and get out of the collective society. Throughout his journey he is shown how he is different than everyone else because he is smarter and curious about the secrets of the community. By doing this he invents new things like the light bulb which is forbidden and finds a secret tunnel that he is forbidden to enter. After being rejected and almost killed by the council he runs away to the “uncharted forest” to get away from the society. While there he learns about the time before the community was created and how each person had their own thoughts and feelings he also learns the work “ego” which Ayn considers individuality.

Equality felt pride and joy in seeing something that was truly his own. In the book, all men were supposed to report findings of the unknown, and share them with their brothers. In the book Equality and International had found a tunnel from the Unmentionable Times. This was a chance for equality to have a hideaway, to keep something as his own. Equality took the tunnel as his own for inventing, and to get away from his brothers. He knew the crime could land him in the palace of corrective detention, but the motivation to claim something as his own must have been strong. His strive to claim something as his own, and truly his own, pushed him to find the word, I and

Individualism has been a common theme in novellas of the past and of today’s morals. Individuality can be expressed by showcasing one’s talents or setting one’s self apart from a group. In Anthem by Ayn Rand, Equality's experiments represent his desire for individualism within the collectivist society.

In the beginning Equality doesn’t know what it is to be an individual, or that it can even exist. Equality later in the book finds an abandoned subway tunnel from the Unmentionable Times. There he hides and writes about what he does, note that it is forbidden to be alone and write in this society. As he goes to the tunnel everyday at set times, he studies and experiments on stuff he finds in the tunnel. He discovers a new power in nature within the tunnel that humans haven’t used since the Unmentionable Times, as stated by Equality “The frog had been hanging on a wire of copper; and it had been the metal of our knife which had sent the strange power to the copper through the brine of the frog’s body”(15).

The variety of themes showed in the Anthem novel is Individualism , Rebellion and Confinement. These themes are revealed in many ways . Individualism is revealed when Equality the main character started to identify himself in many ways . For example when equality discover light in the Unmentionable Times tunnel by himself . This proves that Individualism is being implied in the story and helps it progress becomes it helps the main character find out his strengths within his collective society. Likewise Liberty 3-5000 is also discovering herself in Anthem . For Instance when she declares that she loves him for the first time in the forest. This shows that Liberty 3-5000 grasp the concept of being an individual towards the end of the book in

Equality, the main character of (Anthem), tried to go down his own lone course and in that process he breaks the very binds of the precious collectivist society that was set up. The society that equality lived in, was a bestial culture in which the word “I” was unheard of. Equality did not want to have the Council of Vocations tell him how to live his life, and he also wanted to be able to think for himself as a creative individual. Equality renounced the ways of his society, by inventing a glass box, which can also be referred to as a light bulb. The distinction between Equality and the society, in which he lived, is that he actually wanted to succeed.

In the beginning of The Anthem, written by Ayn Rand, the main protagonist, Equality 7-2521 states, “It is a sin to write this.” What the word “this” was referring to was the story itself. However, the book ends with Equality 7-2521 completely flipping his opinion around and believing the total opposite of his actions in the beginning. His final conclusion is accurate because individuality is extremely essential to a healthy society, forcing humans to live a robotic lifestyle and compressing their feelings isn't acceptable, and writing is a profound way of expressing original thoughts. Throughout the novel, Equality 7-2521 solves the mysteries that lie in life and educates himself

Equality was starting to think words no others thought which was said to be wrong. He continued to learn more and think more because it felt right and it’s what he wanted to do it made him happy. Along the way of his journey he cared less and less about what others were thinking about him. Many other people joined him because they believed in what he was doing. This shows that if you live everyday worried about what others think you will not be satisfied.

Many things motivate the main character Equality. Thinking of this, some may wonder what is his primary motivation. His primary motivation is to prove everyone and everything he has ever known to be wrong. He was always told to be exactly the same as everyone else, but he wanted to be different. Equality knew his invention could benefit mankind and that’s why defied all odds and proves everyone wrong. This motivates him because he’s always been told he wasn’t able to be smarter or stronger but to be equal to all of his brothers. He was always told he couldn’t be anything more than an average human being, in his period of time. This is exactly what motivates him, he was told he could have no affection to another person, no enhancements from the average person. But he knew the invention he made could help his people, but nobody cared or didn’t know because he wanted to show everyone a street cleaner could have a purpose too. Though the council rigged the system and made Equality a street sweeper because they were afraid of his enchantment over the people in the society

Individuality and the strive to achieve happiness through science shown by Equality is represented by “So long a road lies before us and what care we if we must travel it alone.”. A metaphor for the life ahead of Equality is showcased by “So long a road lies before us...”. Equality displays his determination to learn when he states “...what care we if we must travel it alone.”. He recognized his newfound love to research, he is more than willing to take on life alone if he was doing something he enjoyed. Equality’s mindset of “...what care we…” is a individualist approach very different from his brothers way of thinking. The citizens of his society believe your actions should benefit “The will of our brothers…”. They believe you should follow the Counsels orders, only going into depth at their request.

Equality is a topic of great debate in the world today, ranging from marriage equality, to racial equality, to religious equality. Whether this equality is God given or legislative, it allows every member of the society to express or better himself in any way he sees fit. Every person has the ability to say or write what he wants and how he wants to. Every person has the ability to become wealthier or more successful. Every person has the ability to become healthier or more physically fit. An individual has a unique and special personality, set of skills, and physical attributes which distinguish one person from another. The bettering of oneself and self expression is what makes each person so different from one another, and what makes each human develop into himself, becoming an individual. However, while everyone has equal opportunities and the ability to better himself, this does not necessarily mean that everyone is equal. There are some people who are much wealthier or healthier or stronger than others.