Anthem is a book that makes oneself contemplate the future and what evils are bestowed upon it. In this novel, the reader is caught in the life of Equality. Equality’s life is placed in the future, where the feared reality of communism has conquered all but the souls of few weary men. Equality is one of those few men who have a light that is invulnerable to a ravaging wind. Equality’s time captive before his extraordinary escape has taken a toll on his body and mind and now at the end of his journey forces him to question whether the decisions he’s made are full of sin or teeming with righteousness. Most who read this book would not come close to thinking these actions were wrong only the numbers of people in Equality’s generation would think this. Equality’s childhood was limited just as every other person around him. Apart from a few minor distinctions from the regular drone Equality was seemingly regular. One immense difference that changed his life was his level of intelligence. This put him above others and he was punished for being superior in more than one way. Equality was first physically punished than he was rather than being assigned to the house of scholars he was put into the house of street sweepers. This set set him on his track to find out who he really is and what the society he was born into is really about. Equality is not old to today …show more content…
With all of his experience that nobody has known in at least a century he is extremely capable of deciding whether of his choices are right. His personality keeps him from giving up hope and giving up on his society and his companion but keeps him curious enough to keep searching for something better in life. Equality has aged to the point where he thinks he needs to change the world and will try to do so. Most would believe that Equality’s actions were righteous and could not contemplate that his actions were
He defies his society just by having a personality and opinion. Equality knows what he is doing is wrong but he can’t help but wanting to be someone, not a brother in the community. He compares himself to the scholars and knows that he shouldn't have gotten the job of a street sweeper. “No single one can possess greater wisdom than the many Scholars who are elected by all men for their wisdom. Yet we can” (3.7).
He completely understands what his society stands for, yet says “All men are one and that there is no will save the will of all men together” (Rand20). It is easy to see that equality deep down wants to be an individual. Equality finds great pride in individuality. He says “I am, I think, I will” (Rand94). This means that whatever he sets his mind to, no matter whether or not the government thinks it's morally correct, he will still strive to achieve his goal.
Escaping Communism Ayn Rand depicts a communist world in her book Anthem, where the citizens live day to day identical to the one before. Equality 7-2521, a struggling man in the society, is set apart for his strive of wanting more than what the society gives him. Rand shows that in a world carried on in such a communistic matter, it leaves some struggling and at a loss to make do with what they have and to fit in. The book, Anthem gives a grand example of how others react to one’s differences, shunning them or giving a punishment. Equality 7-2521 has a compelling ambition to learn things which then helps him escape the society.
Anthem is writing as a journey of Equality 7-2521, a young man living in the future in which people have lost all knowledge of individualism, for not even knowing the word "I" and can only speak of himself as "We." Everyone lives and work in collective groups and he is assigned to a Street Sweeper of the city by the Council of Vocations. However, Equality 7-2521 try to lead himself to recreate electric light and how it can be harnessed to human benefit. He has been taught that it is a sin to harbor secret ambitions, and so he believes he is guilty. Equality 's struggle to be free and to reach an individual life/ When he presents his discovery to the Council of Scholars, they punish him for daring to act as an individual and threaten to destroy his creation.
Equality truly believes in what he is told, and he accepts it. He talks about how he feels that he is cursed, and that he is a bad person, “Such would have been our life, had we not committed our crime which changed all things for us. And it was our curse which drove us to our crime. We had been a good Street Sweeper and like all our brother Street Sweepers, save for our cursed wish to know. We looked too long at the stars at night, and at the trees and the earth.”(29).
He still chooses to even though it is forbidden which eventually causes a problem for him once he is found out. Throughout all the issues though, he manages to remain an individual. Equality is the protagonist in this dystopia and he handles his trials along the way with pride, dignity, and beauty. He is unique and more intelligent than the rest of his peers just based on the premise that he can understand conflict and somehow manage to solve his issues.
Equality’s main motivation is to discover new things and new ideas in the world around him. Early on in the novella, Equality finds a tunnel from the Unmentionable
Later in the novella, Equality does not care what laws he breaks because he knows that he is different and he is starting to realize that being different is not something to shelter and be ashamed of. “We have stolen candles from the Home of the Street Sweepers, we have stolen flints and knives and paper, and we have brought them to this place” (Rand 35). This shows that for Equality to fulfill his curiosity, he will go against his society and do what he feels is right. “We lunged against the door and it gave way. We stole through the dark passages, and through dark streets, and down our tunnel” (67).
They leapt to their feet, they ran from the table, and they stood pressed against the wall, huddled together, seeking the warmth of one another’s bodies to give them courage” (70). Equality is smart, perhaps too smart or so that's what the councils thinks. The council recognizes that Equality is too knowledgeable and too inquisitive to allow himself to become a blind sheep in the herd. In the puzzle of which Equality lives, he is simply a tiny piece of a bigger picture.
Equality for All “Equality in pay has improved in the US since 1979 when women earned about 62 percent as much as men. In 2010, American women on average earned 81 percent of what their male counterparts earned” ( Highlights in the US). “Harrison Bergeron” and Anthem both are dystopian societies that tried to create equality, but end up with horrible corruption, no real equality, and incorrect portrayals of equality. In “Harrison Bergeron” the society leaders use handicaps to bring people down to the lowest level or the “average” of their society. There are similar concepts in Anthem, no one can be better than anyone, but they use shame and guilt to keep their people in line.
Equality is what most people strive for in their lives. Like “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” humans are constantly searching for the “just right” idea. However, hopefully we understand that there are flaws in society so it can never be ‘just right’ or completely equal. Both authors of dystopian stories, such as Ayn Rand, author of the novella Anthem, and Kurt Vonnegut, author of the short story“Harrison Bergeron”, display what total equality is and its consequences in a dystopian society. These stories explain thoroughly how the idea of equality is naturally impossible and how corruption will always exist.
Control. Equality. All. Anthem is a novella about a man who is in a society that controls all aspects of everyone's life. Equality goes against the populous and goes out on his own.
At the beginning of Anthem Equality has changed his mind about a lot of things in the beginning of the story. Equality got picked to be a street sweeper by the government, but he really wanted to be a scholar but couldn’t because of the government. Equality had a rough life. Well he was a street sweeper but he was smart enough to be a scholar the government did not think he was. In the book anthem by ayn rand Equality was not good for any body or anything at the beginning he had a rough start to his life.
Equality has a philosophy that should be adopted by everyone. He values individuality. He recognizes how important choice is and how it makes it meaningful life. The three main traits he portrays are being his own person, how choice is paramount, and, the importance of following his gut.
This essay will be about a book with a very different world from ours. In Anthem the "Normal" day is very opposite from ours, in many ways physically and mentally main character Equality is a man very much like us in a society that shuns him for being so. His average day consisted of waking up, eating breakfast and working until it was time to attend the theater. Then inevitably starting the process over each day until the age of 40. For them in their age of evolution the age of forty is the verge of the end for them and they sit in a retirement home till the end.