Analysis Of The Anti-Knowledge Collective Society In Anthem, By Ayn Rand

In the book Anthem their society is way different from ours. They are not allowed to be individual or say the word “I”. They can’t have names, instead they are in groups and have group names. They all have a part in society like their jobs and things they do. For example the equality group belong to the street sweepers.

Within Anthem the characters are impacted by the society’s rules and their reputation changes throughout the story. Also, the characters give the society a reputation too. The society in Anthem has a very big part within the story. As stated in the Author’s Foreword, “Some of those who read the story when it was first written, told me that it was unfair to the ideals of collectivism; this was not, they said, what collectivism preaches or intends; collectivists do not mean or advocate such things; nobody advocates them” (Rand 14). So, as said by the author the society chose to be a collectivist society and it caused Equality to rebel and seek to be different.

The novella, Anthem, by Ayn Rand is solely based on a dystopian society. The main character, Equality 7-2521, was born into a society where everyone was to think and look alike. “All expressions of individualism have been suppressed in the world of Anthem...” (aynrand.org) Individuals have absolutely no identity of their own in this society. In Equality’s society, the word “I” is completely banished from their vocabulary.

Anthem’s society is dystopian world where all human advancements and technology are absent. Individualism is seen as a sin and is shunned by the citizens. The citizens have been stripped of any solitary rights and only live to serve their brothers around them. Equality was a City Street Sweepers that had always been told that he was different from his brothers; both mentally and physically. Nevertheless, he still worshiped the principles of his world like the people around him.

Both 1984 and Anthem have very oppressive governments, but their laws are completely different from one another. In 1984, the government is strange when it comes to rules, there is nothing that is illegal, the people are allowed to do whatever they want, but if they do anything or even look slightly suspicious, the “Thought Police” will kidnap, torture, and kill anybody who has gone against the government. The government believes that if people are allowed to have emotions, they will become angry at the government, and revolt, and that’s why emotions are illegal (I will call it illegal because even though there are no laws, doing certain things will get you in trouble, so to avoid confusion, I’m going to continue saying it’s “illegal”), including emotional attachments to other people. People having sex for the purposes of procreation is perfectly legal, but having sex because you love the

The word “I” establishes one’s distinctiveness. A society that encourages and enforces the binding of men together, therefore forming a collective unit is Ayn Rand’s idea behind her novella Anthem, a story set in a dictator-like dystopian world. The government in Anthem enforces “the great WE”, which reveals the selflessness of the citizens living in that society (19). Simply using the plural pronouns “we”, “they”, and “our” shows the unity of the people, that individuality is a crime, and that the goal of their labor is for the good of everyone else. Once a person turns 15 years of age, their lives are well planned out for them until their deaths.

In the book “Anthem” by Ayn Rand there is a society where everyone is the same. The book starts out by introducing Equality 7-2521, a young man who doesn't understand why he can’t follow the same rules as others. In “Anthem” people were never taught the word “I” but “we” because they should not care about anyone than the people around them. In the book it explains many different characters that break the rules for their friends. Having friends, looking at girls, talking to girls is not allowed.

"We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever’”(Rand 19). In Ayn Rand’s dystopian novel, Anthem, the citizens are trained from birth to think only in the plural, to the point where they cannot even conceive of individuals, but only see each other as part of the whole group. Rand’s protagonist, Equality 72521, begins the novel as a street-sweeper who is devoted to the group, but begins to move towards individuality as he progresses towards pure selfishness, as Rand believes we all should. Rand uses the words “we” and “I” to represent Equality’s journey from being dependent on the group, to being utterly independent of everyone.

The society in Anthem, a novella by Ayn Rand, depicts an unchanging environment, desolate of abnormalities. The main character in the book, Equality 7-2521, was raised in a totalitarian environment, run by the Council of Vocations. The Council of Vocations is the group in charge of placing people into their specified work fields, one of which is the Home of the Scholars. The Home of the Scholars is the highest ranking group in the society, where the people put in this group are in charge of discovering new inventions. Allowance of creativity and ideas governs invention in life, however the autocratic habitat shown in Anthem demonstrates that the conditions of that environment limited the amount of technological advancements that were available.

Well you're absolutely right the people who started this society burned all of the technology and started over. This is on of the main problems that troubled Equality. You don't have electricity, or a cell phone, or even a microwave or refrigerator. What does this say about modern technology?

Obstacles of Advancement In Ayn Rand's Anthem, we encounter a very unstable future society. Totalitarianism has overtaken this culture. This means that one group of people rules over society and tolerates no variation of opinion. We find the people in Anthem's society to be slaves to the god "We" and individuality eliminated as much as possible.

Science and technology are responsible for where the human race is today. Science is responsible for mankind’s creations like modern medicine and the ability to travel to space. Just as technology is responsible for the human race’s ability to have computers in the hands of mankind and to communicate with another person that is on the other side of the globe. Science and technology have become so intertwined with life that it seems impossible to live without it; though, the citizens of the City in Ayn Rand 's Anthem know how to do just that.

Collectivism and Selfishness in Anthem Imagine living in a world where everybody's lives are completely mapped out by the government. Where every decision is made without the input of the citizens it affects. In the novella Anthem, Ayn Rand depicts a completely collectivist society, where every idea, action, and invention is purely for the benefit of society as a whole. Everything is done with the entire population in mind, and individuality is extremely frowned upon.

With this, the text is able to show the negative consequence of advanced technology. An example of this is BlueBook (the google-like company) collecting tonnes of information from users through its web search history and even cameras on the phone. The idea being expressed here is the lack of

Equality has changed from a collective to an individual having the knowledge of realizing what he can do to change himself in the environment. Anthem has shown how the society works. The main character Equality has proven the allegory when he realizes there's more than just a collectivism society. From start of the novel Equality has been able to grow from a part of a collectivism to learning about individualism to becoming an individual. Equality conquers the battle of collectivism and individualism for