Anthem Essay Examples

Conform. Do not deviate. The only joy that one may experience is the happiness one shares with one's brothers. These phrases illustrate the world of Anthem, in which a young man struggles to find his place in a world of collectivism. Ayn Rand's dystopian novella Anthem employs effective metaphors and well–placed diction in order to ardently claim that individuality holds the key to separating those who justifiably earn the joys of life from those who demonstrate unworthiness. The ingenious and vigorous use of metaphors reveal to the reader how crucial division between the laudable ones and those who live in contempt is and the role that possessing a unique identity plays in that. The book explains that each man should be left alone "in the temple of his spirit", and one should let it be "untouched and undefiled", distinguished by their personalities and traits. (Rand 79). By likening a man's spirit to a temple, it establishes that every man's spirit exhibits sacrality. This comparison implies that a man may not dirty others' hearts just so their own soul shines brighter by contrast. Soon afterwards, these thoughts are tied to the word "we" when it is written that the pronoun should "never be placed first within man's soul" or else it will "become a monster", one that is inherently evil (Rand 79). When the word "we" equates to a monster, the reader sees that not retaining individuality and submitting to the will of many leads to being like a monster taking root inside of men, Get

Anthem Essay Examples

Anthem Essay I believe that Ayn rand was trying to tell us that people will blindly follow the people that are ahead of them in life. Some examples are when they started this new age of humanity they made sure that everyone was equal although some being more equal than others. Then they also completely got rid of some things like freedom, individualism, and the free use of electricity. Even though some people might not agree, Having a government that controls what you chose works because people who are scared and are not leaders can be led astray from what is right. The first point is that humans will do almost anything to stay alive as a race. An example of this is when one world burns a new world rises from the ashes and a new take on...show more content...

They also think that electricity is a gift from above and should only be used at certain moments and ceremonies. In today's world we are free to use the words I and Me and any other personal pronouns that would indicate any kind of personalization. Although people don't rebel against it so why change it? This brings us to our third and final point of the thesis is that when you have a system of government that you like and other people don't do anything about, why change it? In anthem everybody apart of the civilization thinks that their lives are normal because that is what they are used to. Since everybody is used to it they are all ok with it. And because they are all ok with it nobody wants to rebel and try to change it. Except for the people that are different. Then they end up realizing what is right and going into the forbidden forest to start a new. Because the world will do whatever it takes to remain alive they will change to try to make that not happen, like taking away past world freedoms including individuality, freedoms of all kinds, and even the things we took for granted like electricity. And this won't change unless there are enough people willing to change it or to shake the followers from the Get more content

Anthem Essay

Anthem Essay

As one reads Ayn Rand's significant quotes from the story of anthem, there is always a main theme that is trying to escape, just as Prometheus escaped in her story. All three of the listed quotes work as a trio to sing that We; as society, works to defeat individuality. The quotes emphasize that we cannot survive without individualism and being alone brings out our unique personalities. It is true that all the quotes work as one, but at the same time they have their own individualism. Each quote holds a purpose of its own and the author wants to express the quote to each persons understanding.

Rand's quote, "The word 'We'... crushes all beneath it, and that which is...show more content...

When he makes himself happy he feels as if he has completed his mission in life. "My happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end." This quote is Prometheus' statement to society that he does not care about making everyone better, but that he cares for each person to individually improve themselves. Prometheus wants every person to find the happiness within themselves.

"I think. I am. I will." A quote by Ayn Rand that is similar to Rene Descartes quote, "I think therefore I am." This quote tells society that Prometheus can do anything by himself. He does not need the "we" of society to complete a task. Prometheus can think independently and wants to express himself as one individual. "I will," illustrates that he will and can do anything. Prometheus believes, just as Rene Descartes does, that if he can think by himself, he is able to live by himself. As he is alone he is thinking by himself, therefore he is alive and able to express himself as he truly is.

The main quotes of Anthem were written with a real purpose. Ayn Rand had the mission to write these significant quotes so that each person would make their own meaning out of them. Rand longed for someone to allow their individualism to bring these quotes to life with these quotes, do not listen to what theme society has placed

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Anthem Essay Contest "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...show more content...

"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

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Anthem Summary Of Anthem

Anthem is about a man named Equality 7–2521 who finds a subway underneath his corrupt city to learn. While he is down there he discovers the power of electricity and figures out how to use it. When he tries to show his city they punished him and he ran away with The "Golden One" and found a home which they wished to start a new life, but Equality found out to understand the word " I" and finds out the truth behind the "Utopia" he lived in for all his life. Anyone who is different gets punished. The City has so many rules and controls because they are there to keep the people unaware of the truth, to keep people down a certain path and to keep their "Utopia" a great place and Equality would have many rules and controls. The first reason this city has so many rules is that they want to keep everyone from finding out about the truth. The city and world leaders don't want people to know about "Ego" because they're master plan to keep the society from worrying about themselves and only be part a "we" and have nothing to do with "I". If the people figure out that life is not just about we and start helping ourselves, then there is no purpose to the city anymore. Thinking about only people as a we and not I seems like a phenomenal idea, but not everyone the same and we have to explore personally to do it. "We are in all and all in one. There are no men, but only the great WE, one indivisible and forever."(19) This shows that the people are taught only we and know nothing of I. The

Anthem is a novella written by Ayn Rand, in which Equality 7–2521, the protagonist, struggles for self–identification living in a collectivist society. Equality believes that individuality is an eminent aspect of one's life because individuality defines and outlines who a person is. It is difficult for Equality to endure live with people who support collectivism and who reject his ideas. For example when Equality invents and exhibits the light bulb, the World Council rejects it and tells equality that it is a sin to work on something alone and not share it with his brothers. By the end of the novella Equality comes upon the perfect place for him to live, the Uncharted Forest, where he finds a house from the Unmentionable Times and for the...show more content...

Anthem is a novella written by Ayn Rand, in which Equality 7–2521, the protagonist, struggles for self–identification living in a collectivist society. Equality believes that individuality is an eminent aspect of one's life because individuality defines and outlines who a person is. It is difficult for Equality to endure live with people who support collectivism and who reject his ideas. For example when Equality invents and exhibits the light bulb, the World Council rejects it and tells equality that it is a sin to work on something alone and not share it with his brothers. By the end of the novella Equality comes upon the perfect place for him to live, the Uncharted Forest, where he finds a house from the Unmentionable Times and for the first time he looks at his reflection in the mirror inside the house. Later he finally discovers the meaning of the word "I" instead of which he has always used the word "We" to refer to himself like all the other collectivists did. Anthem is a novella written by Ayn Rand, in which Equality 7–2521, the protagonist, struggles for self–identification living in a collectivist society. Equality believes that individuality is an eminent aspect of one's life because individuality defines and outlines who a person is. It is difficult for Equality to endure live with people who support collectivism and who reject his ideas. For example when Equality invents and

Ideologies are meant to be shared and learned throughout a society to encourage the spread as well as competition of ideas. Through Anthem, Ayn Rand warned of the dangers of blindly and unquestionably following an ideology; the dangers to society that unexamined loyalty to a belief system cause to society are upholding oppressive and dehumanizing morals, decreased quality of life and the government taking advantage of their citizens

Corrupt governments, such a the one in Anthem, use laws and its citizens' ignorance to dehumanize them thus detaching them from their senses of identity. One way in which the government influences identity is through education. As Equality quotes his teachers in his journal to describe men's place in society...show more content...

It is not good to feel too much joy nor to be glad that our body lives. For we matter not and it must not matter to us whether we live or die, which is to be as our brothers will it. But we, Equality 7–2521, are glad to be living. If this is a vice, then we wish no virtue." (Rand 11) The citizens of Anthem are not happy and until society changes, they can never be. Quality of life is having something to live for and human condition is actively looking for it for yourself. In Anthem, government tells the citizens what to believe and how to think, making it impossible for them to have an authentic quality of life. The government taught them that their lives are disposable and do not have much value. This decreases of life because these people cannot achieve true happiness due to the ideologies they follow unquestionably and trust. They do not have anything to live for save existence itself and they do not understand how much they are affected by that. Decreasing quality of life because of blind beliefs in a society's ideologies is just as bad as these people being taken advantage of by their system of government. The citizens of Anthem are consistently being used by the government because they choose to ignorantly believe their society's opinions. At the end of the story when Equality tries to analyze why his society is so corrupted, he summarizes his thoughts by writing "What is freedom?

Freedom from what? There is nothing to take a man's Get more content

Anthem Book Analysis

The City of Brothers The book Anthem is about a city that has no place for one. This is confirmed by the main character prometheus. "The law says that none among men may ever be alone, ever and at any time, for it is the great transgression and the root of all evil." The way of life before the great rebirth had the words I, my and mine. But after they were seen as pure evil and to speak those words is a great sin. " but when they speak it they are out to death." So I is evil but in later text after the main character leaves it is no longer evil but amazing and the book ends with him saying the sacred word. Ego. Now that Equality is free he wants to build a new society but he doesn't want to make the same society as the last for three major reasons fist he doesn't' want the same brainwashing, second of all he wants his new life to have a better purpose and finally The new form of life is made after the unmentionable times. The unmentionable times is been seen to be the modern times after a horrible incident. But it is not confirmed by the author so we do not know what was before the terrible times. But all we know is a great fire spread through the "flat earth". So after a new "utopia" was made to ban all individualism since it was seen to have been the root of all evil and trouble in any society. Then the brainwashing happens. For example on page 21 he says that after school everyone would raise their right hand and started to repeat the following " We are nothing.

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