Analysis Of Dystopia In Anthem By Ayn Rand

“The creator served nothing and no one. He lived for himself” (Soul of an Individualist). The novel, Anthem written by Ayn Rand, creates a dystopia where individual impression is prohibited, and all citizens are forced to put their fellow citizens, called brothers, before themselves. In this strictly collectivist society the word ‘I’ is replaced with the word ‘We’, and personal thought is considered a transgression. Anthem follows the life of the main protagonist, Equality on his journey to break free from this society. To liberate himself from his collectivist society and altruistic way of life, Equality must think only for himself, and become an egotist.

Modern society and Equality’s society share some of the same views on egoists. Today’s

The population in Equality’s society is taught to live for the betterment of their brothers and environment, rather than for themselves. The inhabitants of this society become very self-reliant on their brothers and society to think, feel, act and judge for them, consequently people’s opinions and decisions remain identical. Ayn Rand discusses how dependence affects innovators in another one of her novels, For The New Intellectual, “Men have been taught every precept that destroys the creator. Men have been taught dependance as a virtue” (Soul of an Individualist). This sentiment shows the effects of the Society’s dictation of dependence, it has removed any function of the ego and killed individual creativity . This form of dependence causes history to constantly repeat itself, making it

However, these ‘selfish’ people often just want to find their own happiness. Equality has spent his whole life feeling as though he is nothing but a glitch or mistake. After he starts to use his ego and think only about himself, he becomes happier than he could possibly imagine. Rand writes, “...we had lived for twenty-one years and had never known what joy is possible to men” (49). The emotions that Equality feels after using his ego show readers, how remarkable it feels for Equality to only have to worry for his own happiness. All of this jubilation becomes accessible for Equality after he uses his ego, and lives for the benefit of himself rather than for the benefit of others. His new and improved thought process is explained, when Equality vows to never live for another man again. Rand writes, “And my happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it... It is its own purpose” (57-8). Equality’s mindset shown in this quote differs from his mindset in the beginning of the novel. Now Equality is able to reach his own happiness, because he was selfish, and put his needs before other people’s