USA: The Land of the Individualism and Freedom Essay

“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… We have broken the laws” (17). Thus begins Anthem by Ayn Rand, a novella about a future collectivist society and a man named Equality 7-2521. Though the story takes place in the future, all technology that came after candles and glass has been taken away. The word “I” has ceased to exist in anyone’s vocabulary. Every person must agree on everything and feel like everyone else. To accomplish ‘cleansing’ the evils of mankind, society lead its people to believe that nothing can be done independently. The story is told through the eyes of Equality as he purposely defies the laws

“The word "We" is as lime poured over men, which sets and hardens to stone, and crushes all beneath it, and that which is white and that which is black are lost equally in the grey of it. It is the word by which the depraved steal the virtue of the good, by which the weak steal the might of the strong, by which the fools steal the wisdom of the sages” (Rand 66). Anthem is a science fiction book written by Ayn Rand. This book takes place in a futuristic time in which freedom and individual rights have been demolished and substituted by collectivism. Equality 7-2521 has a different perspective on reality than the rest of society and therefore searches to find his way despite many hardships. Within Equality 7-2521’s exploration, he is able to

The physical side is at one time they did love each other because kids were born. The shared activities are the fact they have children and they still do things as a family.

Do you stand alone as a unique and special individual? Since the beginning of American history there have been struggles for individualism. The American Revolution, the American Civil War, and the separation from family life are all examples of individualism in American history. Individualism is an American paradigm designed by the modern societal structure that is an altered idea of the foundation by immigrants. In today’s society the struggle for individualism is more personal and represents how American values have shifted since the beginning of American history.

Nowadays, individuality is perched on top of the highest pedestal. There's nothing that compares with the ability to stand apart from each other and no one dares take that away. But in Ayn Rand’s novella called Anthem, it is the complete opposite; there are numerous Councils who are in charge of everything for the people. Some of the things include, what jobs and what future people have and also they regulate intelligence and inventions. Equality 7-2521, later renamed Prometheus, is a member of this dystopian society; he isn't at all similar to his brothers. This, leads to his urge to break away from them. The Council and the society damn him because of his actions and brain, but after his escape, he realizes this damnation is hilarious because they are the damned, not him.

Basic summary: The novel Anthem by Ayn Rand is a dystopian science fiction novel that is set in the future where there are no rights or freedom there is no such thing as “I”. Everyone is equal to each other; they work and live in collective groups everyone is thought as one. The narrator, Equality 7-2521 has always stood out from everyone else, he was much smarter, later on, he vows to use his new knowledge to build a society based on individual freedom.

“We strive to be like all our brother men, for all men must be alike” (Rand 21). Although being divergent is a sin, transgression in Anthem society, Prometheus, the protagonist, defies against collectivism by standing out and becoming an outcast of himself in his society with self-assurance and eagerness. No one in Anthem society has individual identity by inspecting the inexistence of the word “I,” while Prometheus detects the Unspeakable Word, ego, exposing the readers to envisage the propitious prospect of the establishment of individualism.

In recent years racial and socioeconomic differences have grown more prevalent in our society, and many wonder why. Growing up in Ethiopia, the concept of race was never popular or significant, as there was little to no racial diversity. Coming from a country where I did not even look at the color of my skin to a place where the only thing people saw was my color, astonished me. Living in the United States and learning about slavery in middle school, I thought of it as something that was long gone, something I would never have to worry about, but as I grew older I began to see the lingering shadows that remained. A petrified twelve-year-old me once asked my mother why we were moving to America and to that question she replied “America is the land of the free; the land of opportunities”. America did feel like an embodiment of her statement my first few years here but as time passed I began to see some clear differences in how society viewed me. I wondered, if this really was the so called “land of the free”, why are minorities incarcerated at a higher rate? And why are there such significant socioeconomic and educational gaps?

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 the book Anthem by Ayn Rand, Prometheus is a man who must overcome his collective society to find himself. Prometheus is born into a society where everything is equal. Without concern for consequences, he loves a woman and looks and discovers knowledge of the past. After his discovery is rejected he flees to the forest, and his lover follows. In the forest is where he finds the meaning of the word I. There is where he says "... we crushes all beneath it, and that which is white and that which is black are lost in the gray of it," he talks about what his society did to the differences of man, after he had run away. After Prometheus finds the house he says, "My happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is not the means

A common theme emerged for the African American people; the government may say that everyone is in this fight together but we, as African Americans, now this is not true. From the segregated military to the non-willing acceptance of African American workers in wartime factories the African American people felt that they fought a two-sided war. This two-sided approach to war took a name for itself, The Double V Campaign. African Americans joined the fight for freedom just like all other Americans, but many thought this to be the time and place to advocate for civil right,

In Anthem by Ayn Rand Equality 7-2521 transitioned through stage of his life with his talents. Equality transitioned from being a typical street sweeper to Prometheus, a free man, escaped from society. Throughout his rite of passage, Equality put his talents to work and invented electricity with the litebulb. This discovery pushes him into a complete rebellion as the World Council threatens to destroy the lightbulb. Because he will not abide seeing the light bulb destroyed, even though he might tolerate his own destruction, he is forced into exile from his society. Equality had broken from his society and finally became free. Equality 7-2521 discarded his given name, which shows his frustration with his society, and his unwillingness to be held back by his

At the beginning of Anthem by Ayn Rand, Equality 7-2521 states that it is a sin to write his individual thoughts in secrecy. Later in the story, especially in the past few sections, he has completely changed his view of his individuality and past actions against the society of his brothers. Equality 7-2521 changes from being a scared slave to his community and lifestyle, to being Prometheus, a confident man working to change the world for “I” and against “we” with his plans for the Uncharted Forest. Prometheus’ view of society is correct, opposed to how he thought when he was Equality 7-2521. He approaches this new prospective and favors it because it has given him the most, and possibly the only, happiness that he’s ever had in his life.

A society without free will is a society without identity. Take away identity and humans have been stripped of everything: interests, decisions, and what comes to mind when they think in terms of the word I. In Ayn Rand’s Anthem, nobody has a sense of individuality because the word I is forbidden. Prometheus, the protagonist, is an egoist, increasingly so when he finds a sense of singularity and starts to think in his own self-interest rather than for the betterment of his society. The protagonist who gives the speech “Soul of an Individualist” in another of Rand’s novels The Fountainhead describes how this is not necessarily a bad thing; although the word ego has come to insinuate negativity, Anthem exposes how the word can also reference individuality.

1) An individualist is considered to be someone with personality and character, someone who is not easily intimidated by social pressure or customs, someone with a personal opinion and a singular view of the world. Because modern society finds it important that people think independently, decide autonomously and take personal initiatives, the concept of individualism has acquired a positive connotation. However, individualism is also linked with the tendency to withdraw from social life and turn in towards oneself.