Response To Ayn Rand's Anthem

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Anthem Essay #2 Anthem, by Ayn Rand, tells the story of a man named Equality who makes a life changing discovery in a society that does not allow individuality. Though Equality is greatly outnumbered and the modern society lies in ruins, this story is not one of sorrow and despair, but rather one of liberation and hope. As the story begins, Equality opens up by saying, “It is a sin to write this” (1). What kind of society views writing as a sin? This sets the tone for the negative setting in the novel. He goes on to say, “We have committed a greater crime, and for this crime, there is no name. What punishment awaits us if it be discovered we know not, for not such crime has come to the memory of men and there is no laws to provide for it.” (1). The people of this state can not even imagine the…show more content…
At this point in the novel, one can begin to understand the loneliness and despair the two must be feeling wanting to say “I love you” in a society that forbids the word “I”. Not only is Equality restricted from expressing his true feelings to The Golden One, but he is also forced to endure this alone. His brother men are not able, nor willing to relate to Equality, because he is breaking the law of the state. On top of breaking the law, he is breaking away from the “we” and becoming an individual that was unlike his brother men. However, his determination kept him from getting discouraged. He had experienced this before, when he was sent to the “Palace of Corrective Detention” where the men had orders to “lash [him] until [he] told” what he had been doing (64). The men “tore [his] clothes from [his] body” and lashed him until it felt like his “spine had been cut in two” (64). As this gruesome scene unraveled, he “did not cry out”, but learned from it that his discovery was not going to be easy

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