In Rand’s Anthem, O’Neill’s “Hairy Ape”, Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, and Miller’s “Crucible”, an individual’s bad choices determine the reputation assigned by a conformed society. These four books have characters that have different personalities from each other but still end up sharing similar problems within a conformed society. A conformed society is where people follow certain rules just because they are afraid of the consequences that come with not following the rules. Conformity impacts the way that someone thinks because of the influences around them. It can be a good thing, but in these character’s live they make bad choices that impact their reputation. The way that these characters think is what makes them different from society, …show more content…
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. Evidence to support this is, “We have broken the laws. The laws say that men may not write unless the Council of Vocations bid them so.” (Rand 17) Equality was talking about how he wasn’t allowed to write because the Council doesn’t allow citizens to do that. Their reputation was very controlling and they were the people who decided the rules that citizens are allowed to abide by. They have to do certain things within the book, based solely on the council. This causes a sense of ethos because ethics are morals and Equality felt like he wasn’t being treated the way that he was supposed to be. He believed that the council wasn’t being ethical. So, the reputation is not something that everyone in the society agrees on especially the character
This essay will be discussing whether or not the character Equality 7-2521’s assessment of his sins towards throughout of the book he’s from, Anthem. His assessment (that he doesn’t care about his sin, as it was decided a sin by a government he sees as immoral and corrupt) is in my opinion, correct. This thought stems mainly from the fact he documented his thoughts throughout the book, and the documents could potentially inspire other people to do the same thing he did, which Equality would probably like. At the beginning of Anthem, Equality feels ashamed with many actions of his, specifically calling many of them evil, sinful, or a “transgression”.
The society portrayed in Anthem is a society revolved around collectivism, which is the practice or principle of giving a group priority over each individual in it”(Source 3). The social nature is almost non-existent and becomes less the more you age. Equality states “we fought with our brothers. There are few offenses blacker than to fight with our brothers, at any age and for any cause whatsoever. The Council of the Home told us so, and all of the children of that year, we were locked in the cellar most often.
Equality within the similar actions indicates in the novella Anthem, how his focus being on ways of changing his city and the thought process the council arranges for the city’s structure. Throughout the novella Equality begins putting himself first and letting his ego drive
Though Equality starts Anthem with no knowledge of selfishness, raised in a society that forces all to work for the good of all, he ends Anthem by wishing to liberate those oppressed by the lies of the
Equality’s greatest strengths and personal qualities were intended to be restricted and abhorred. Indeed, Equality and his gifts were abhorred, but he found a way to circumvent each restriction, consciously or not. And, though he maintained use of his strengths and kept a strong spirit, Equality was never able to permanently influence the society because, as a Street Sweeper, he was no longer part of the great WE. The Council of Vocations mandated Equality to life as a Street Sweeper in order to limit his intellectual opportunities.
Throughout the novella, his idea of sin slowly develops and changes into the correct view of sin. Equality goes from believing individualism is a sin to believing that individualism is all-mighty and powerful throughout the story of Anthem. This is revealed through love, realization of individualism, and the overall development of what Equality believes sin.
Throughout the book Equality slowly morphs into an individual due to different things that left an impact on him along the process of his story. This is all because writing is a sin in Equality’s society because writing can lead to self exploration, the society’s desired effect is for there to be zero individuals and accomplishes this goal by physically and mentally changing everyone. But Equality's final assessment of his so called sin is correct, in the terms of moral assessment which by definition is “the principles of right and wrong that are accepted by an individual”. Therefore Equality discovers that he has done no sin at all, reaching individuality Equality finds out is not a sin, but is simply the path of truly finding what is actually
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.
In response to the choice of Street Sweeper, Equality thinks, “We knew we had been guilty, but now we had a way to atone for it” (26). With his intelligence and curiosity, Equality would do much better as a Scholar. The government punishes him for being different, and as a result, they can’t see him become advantageous. They are blinded by their beliefs on
Ayn Rand said "The policy of always pronouncing moral judgment does not mean that one must regard oneself as a missionary charged with the responsibility of "saving everyone 's soul". If Equality were to read the short essay that Ayn Rand wrote, Equality would have a different opinion on his plan to take over the council. "No matter how hard the struggle, there is only one choice that a rational man can make in the face of such an alternative. " If equality were to read this he would have to really think, something he would agree with others maybe not so much. With his intention of taking down the structured walls of the society, Equality 7-2521 has to put a long thought process into the action he wants to take If He doesn’t the wall will crumble
It is ites own purpose.” All Equality ends up caring about is his happiness and if he has to go against the council he doesnt care
In the psychological community, behavior is thought to be heavily influenced by situation as well as inner character. This extends to the psychological and moral aspects, as Pauline Hopkins so eloquently states. They say the best way to see what a character is truly made of is to break them. In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck deftly executes this by putting each and every character through rigorous trials and tribulations. Some rise up to meet the challenge head on, while others fade away.
Some characters like Crooks and Curley’s wife are isolated and blocked off and they both react differently. Some people are forced to have less due to being different. The social barriers forced some people to have a lower self
For example, Boo Radley is not accepted because he does not fit into the social normalization that he should.. This is obvious by the way Jem describes Boo when he says, “There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped and he drooled most of the time” (Lee 16). Jem describes Boo as if he is a monster simply because Jem and the other people are unable to accept the fact that Boo is different. In reality, Boo is a great person; all of these characteristics are made up.
Anthem Imagine living in a world where you have no control over who you are, or who you wanna be with. Being an individual is better because you get more control, more relationships with people, and less trouble. Now let 's move on to the reasons why each would be better as an individual. Fist, more control in anthem and real life. As an individual you will be able to have control of who you are and who you friends are, Just like in real life we get to have control over who we are and who we wanna hang out with.