Anthem: A Collective Society Throughout their lives, the residents of the society described in Anthem, written by Ayn Rand, would be separated and meticulously moved according to their ages, gender, and jobs. The most prevalent example of this is the separation of the ages. The collective society in Anthem chose to meet the demands that came with the issue of aging by creating a very controlled and organized environment for the citizens to live in. “We remember the Home of Infants where we lived till we were five years old, together with all the children of the City who had been born in the same year,” Equality reminisces about his first childhood home (20). Once a child reaches the age of five, they move to the Home of the Students, where …show more content…
Once that has been done, they move into the Home of their career. For example, Equality “wished to be sent to the Home of the Scholars when [his] time would come,” (23). On the contrary, he ended up being sent to work as a streets sweeper, therefore causing his next residence to be the Home of Street Sweepers. In this society, the people worked until they turned forty, where at that time they would be moved to the Home of the Useless. “At forty they are worn out,” and they become an Old One (28). There is not another Home past the Home of the Useless. However, there is another step that follows becoming an Old One because “when a miracle happens and some live to be forty-five, they are the Ancient Ones,” (28). These divisions of the citizens into careful categories suggests that ideas like structure and order are most likely valued in this society. Everyone of one age lived in the same home from birth until they received job, at which they lived with everyone with the same job. Simplicity also seems to be a value of this society because the system is very basic and straightforward. At a glance, everything seems to be in black and white with no gray area to be seen at all. In addition, it appears that youthfulness holds …show more content…
Similar to the structure and order of the aging process in Anthem’s society, the education system presented is also very organized. At five years old, every boy goes to live at the Home of the Students until he reached the age of fifteen. During these 10 years, they gain a variety of knowledge taught to them by Teachers that “had been appointed by the Councils”, including information about the earth and their society’s history (22). Such an amount of time and energy is put into their educations, despite the fact that their lives would vary from that point on depending on their jobs. This suggests that the community values education, but only the education that they want to provide the citizens because the citizens should only have knowledge of certain things. At the Home of the Students, Equality was taught an oath or prayer of some sort. As a part of their education they learned that, “We are nothing. Mankind is all. By the grace of our brothers are we allowed our lives. We exist through, by and for our brothers who are the State. Amen,” (21). This pledge teaches them that individuality is wrong, on top of all their other beliefs. It is also considered wrong to be smart, because it is “a great sin, to be born with a head which was too quick,” (21). Equality struggled with this especially because “learning was too easy” for him
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.
Both, Anthem, and “Harrison Bergeron” contain many of these collectivist aspects; however, movements similar to this can only prevail when every member of the society fully sacrifices their personal identify and put the groups needs in front of their own. Without a doubt, this idea completely defies human nature due to the fact that humans innately work for their own personal gain. In both the story, Anthem, by Ayn Rand, and “Harrison Bergeron”, by Kurt Vonnegut, there are many similarities in regards to collectivism. One similarity these stories share is that equality is a key component in an efficient society .
Through repetition of the first three words, Griffin makes it clear that his mission is to push the United States to remain true to the Declaration of Independence, by making “all men are created equal” a true statement. Thus, the audience recognizes that not all men are truly created equal, and this can only be changed if the population puts their racial prejudices aside and gives every person an equal opportunity to succeed in
Our perceptions change as we mature and
The Deeper Meaning Of Anthem In some countries the citizens have no say in what they do, how they do it, or when they do it. This can be collectivism, and the opposite of it is individualism. In Ayn Rand’s novel Anthem, her character Equality 7-2521 is battling between his “utopian” societies ways of collectivism and his desire of individualism. His crave for individualism leads him to care only about one person, create a light source without his “brothers” and runs into the Uncharted Forest.
The Path Towards Equality In Anthem, Ayn Rand creates a world where unbroken laws erase individuality and displays the plea for control against anarchy in the world. The laws created prohibit individuals from standing out from one another, prevent individuality, and create a uniform “we” in order to keep people from thinking about themselves. Equality envisions a society that will not only destroy this “we” but it will also create a world of choice from the individuality gained with the word “I”. The pride that Equality grained throughout the story and his numerous transgressions will help direct his society in the direction he wants it to go.
A New World Order, In An Old World You are not important, you are alive only to serve your fellow brothers, you must not be different. In Anthem, Equality 7-2521 lives in a collectivist society with these rules, these boundaries and others like them. ”We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, Once, indivisible, and forever,”(19). Individualism is a forgotten concept, hidden from the people.
Collectivism, or group prioritized decision making, is widely regarded as a negative attribute when isolated. The world of Anthem is an example of a world based off of collectivism, where the most recent technology developed is a candle, which recently replaced torches. The world is undeniably primitive in some areas, but is clearly not in others. Almost all economic and social aspects of the society seemed to have been developed years ago, yet almost no progress has been made in scientific areas. Science isn’t likely to be a large or common factor in collectivist societies, and scientific research has a positive correlation to technological advances resulting in the lack of development in technology.
Anthem is a story written by Ayn Rand as a propaganda piece portraying the evils of communism. The book takes place in the future in a undisclosed city surrounded by forest. In this city a collectivist society dwells. The conflict of Anthem is character vs. society where one man by the name of Equality decides to go against his broken government. Equality took a stand against his broken society, he has defied the council of scholars and his government, had a relation with a women, and escaped the city to The Uncharted Forest.
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.
Bill of Rights, and Anthem The Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Anthem all fight for equality and stand up for what is right. Both the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights have preambles and were drafted by people with similar backgrounds. They were generally educated and white men with property. The whole idea of the documents were to have certain fundamental rights that governments are created to protect the idea for all people.
How could losing individuality affect a society? The novel Anthem by Ayn Rand is about a guy named Equality 7-2521 who is trying to find himself in a society where everything is controlled and different. Later, he finds himself even though he will have to go through many obstacles to get there. The process behind losing individuality in an Anthem’s society are in forcing strict laws, brain washing of their citizens, and removing of family. The Anthem society in forcing of strict laws made it easy for everyone to lose their individuality.
Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal . . . A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man’s mind.”
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.
Victory Over Collectivism “I”, one of the only one-letter words in the English language. Yet its power and meaning do not match its quantitative value. In the collectivist dictatorship found the in the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand, this word has disappeared and consequently, society has fallen into a dark age, all because of the loss of a single-lettered word. However, the hero of this time, Equality 7-2521, breaks down the barrier of the collectivist society and allows him to make advances that show him the power of the word “I” and the idea of individualism in government and in society. Although the word “I” has vanished from society, Equality is able to free himself from the collectivist government through the use of science and free thought,