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. What makes Equality 7-2521’s victory possible is his drive to know more about how things are and work. “His vision, his strength, his courage came from his own spirit. A man’s spirit, however, is his self. That entity which is his consciousness. To think, to feel, to judge, to act are the functions of the ego” (Rand 7). Since the society noticed …show more content…
She tells him she wants to go with him and only be with him, calling herself as one since she has no knowledge of the word “I.” They leave their society behind. Once they find a home for themselves, they begin their life together. Equality continues his learning with materials they find in their newfound home, in the Uncharted Forest. After he figures out the ‘I’ word he thinks, “And when I understood this word, the book fell from my hands, and I wept, I who had never known tears.” (Rand 98). Equality realizes what he has not had, what he has been kept from. And that is when he knows that, “There is nothing to take a man’s freedom away from him, save other men. To be free, a man must be free of his brothers. That is freedom. This and nothing else” (Rand 101). Equality now knows what his freedom is. He understands how he can continue his new life in better ways, without the difficulty of his brothers, and with the history of men and his future
In Ayn Rand's story Anthem, the protagonist Equality 7-2521 has a power unlike no other within their collectivist society. One day when Equality was working as a street sweeper, he finds an old abandoned underground railroad tunnel from the Unmentionable Times long ago. This is where he conducts his experiments that fill him with pride and joy. Equality dreams how his new invention that he brought into existence can change the world, but helping mankind is not his true motivation behind his passion to create. Throughout the story, Equality's true motivation is him trying to find his inner self and his identity as an individual.
In the dystopian society that Equality 7-2521 lives in he could be punished for thinking for himself. He wanted to leave the society to find his happiness. His two friends wanted the best for him, and objectivism not being selfish. In the society Equality 7-2521 faced the troubles of not being able to to think for himself and have independence. While he is trying to find his own happiness he meets two people who are just like him.
Laws and rules are crafted to prevent advancement and preserve elentless uniformity under the guise of moral righteousness. Here we find Equality 7-2521 on the path to self-discovery, struggling to understand the internal conflict he faces—his desire to learn and create against government indoctrination to force stagnation and conformity. Equality possesses gifts despised by the government: intellectual and psychological strength. He aspires to work at the Home of Scholars, where there is some perceived semblance of education and discovery (9).
Equality lives in a collectivist society, which is a society that believes, “that man must be chained to collective action and collective thought for the sake of what is called “the common good.” Therefore, Equality being the person he is, struggles with being an individual. He knows it is against the law but he enjoys knowledge so much, it confuses him. He states, “And in our heart-strange are the ways of evil! - and in our heart there is the first peace we have known in 20 years.”
This shows Equality distancing himself from the dystopian society and gaining greater freedom. Equality does this through his constant resistance and rule-breaking tendencies when searching for his own freedom. Freedom is something that both Equality in the Anthem, as well as its author Rand valued, as it is a frequent and recurring theme in the
Equality 7-2521 can free himself from collectivism because he was independent. In the novel Anthem Ayn Rand makes us comprehend that Equality had and inner struggle and
Imagine living in a society where you had to be the same as everyone else, risking your life to fight for individuality. In the life of Equality 7-2521, that is exactly what he has to live through. The book Anthem by Ayn Rand, is about a young boy who goes by the name of Equality 7-2521 that is commonly referred to as just “Equality.” Equality is a little different than everyone, as he is taller than everyone else, smarter, and breaks the rules. Equality lives in a society where everyone is the same, and no one is to be different than one another.
In the final chapters of the book, after Equality and The Golden One have discovered their new house and proposed to build a new life, they read books in its intact library and so discover the forbidden word, “I” (94). This discovery prompts Equality to radically overhaul his entire way of going through life, aligning it to Rand’s Objectivist philosophy. His focus on himself, illustrated through his obsession with the word I is show in the last two chapters of the book, where he latches on to the idea that devoting one’s life to only oneself is the only appropriate way to live life. Rand shows this with statements from Equality such as, “I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them”(96). Equality is proclaiming that his life will be best lived in a purely selfish manner, where he will not take care of anyone else, but will not ask anyone to take care of him either.
My happiness is not the means to any end it is its own goal it is on purpose.(95). In this equality is saying that his happiness does not need any other reason to be there other than to make him happy. Equality now realize is that he does things to make him happy and to improve himself as a human his happiness is no longer determined by making his brothers happy but it is determined by making himself happy and his goals now it 's just Improvement which ultimately makes him happy.
After Equality sees Liberty for the first time he thinks “Liberty 5-3000… We wish to write this name. We wish to speak it, but we dare not speak it above a whisper. For men are forbidden to take notice of women, and
no one knows about the freedom of men. To have individual freedoms, you must free yourself from things that hold you back. Equality 7-2521 had his brothers and the council holding him back from his freedom and self-ego. Equality 7-2521 tries to show the council his invention.
There's so much emphasis on putting others before oneself that people often forget to look out for their own needs, as shown in this book. Ayn Rand successfully captures the negatives of an overrated ideology and presents an unorthodox perspective on the matter. In conclusion, Equality's true motives behind his work are much more selfish than they first appear to be. Equality strives to fulfil his own personal desire rather than contribute everything to society, and this isn't necessarily a negative thing.
Equality does this by when he first falls in love with Liberty, he is obsessed. However, when his invention is rejected by the council, he starts to realize he doesn’t need to be in a group and in result, starts to love Liberty less. When he understand individuality fully, he becomes very selfish and doesn’t care for Liberty at all and thinks of her as an object. Equality felt he needed to be with a group and with Liberty. Through his journey he discovered that he doesn’t need to be with a group and can be independent.
Equality 7-2521 can free himself from collectivism because he was independent. In the novel Anthem Ayn Rand makes us comprehend that Equality had and inner struggle and felt that he had been born with a curse. During the book Equality struggles to understand why he is different. In the book Anthem Equality lives in a collectivist world. Equality was being oppressed to follow rules and authorities.
At the beginning of the book Equality is still unaware of Liberty’s existence while Liberty was