Essay On The Home Of Scholars In Ayn Rand's Anthem

In Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem, all men are bound to one another by a collectivist, allencompassing world government that bans individualism in every form, silencing the unique through indoctrination, torture, and even execution, in the name of uniformity and brotherly love. The retrogression of the society portrayed in Anthem is manifested especially in one particular organization throughout the book, the Home of Scholars.
The Home of Scholars is responsible for making discoveries in the natural sciences and improving society technologically, and only in the Home of Scholars are questions on any subject allowed. However, the development of new scientific discoveries by the Scholars is subject to a long bureaucratic process that prevents new

(83) Throughout his trials and setbacks in his experiments and with the Scholars, Equality begins to understand that his intellect and curiosity are not curses—they are the traits he possesses which set him apart and mark him as a kind of god among men. This realization is Equality’s first leap toward self-discovery and independence, and his growing awareness of his personal identity, not his love of mankind, drives him forward as he experiments in secret and faces adversity from his society. Equality’s true motivation is to learn and create independently in order to liberate himself from his brothers.
“[T]his wire is a part of our body, as a vein torn from us, glowing with our blood. Are we proud of this thread of metal, or of our hands which made it, or is there a line to divide these two?” (66) Equality takes great pride in both the finished invention and his own skill equally, for the light is now a part of him. In discovering electricity, he has discovered himself, and he realizes that he cannot go back to a communal way of life that pays