Placing Me Before We in Ayn Rand's Anthem

1121 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Anthem essay ayn rand

Placing Me Before We in Ayn Rand's Anthem

Ayn Rand's classic story of one man's desire to become an individual in a nameless society presents a compelling refutation of collectivism in all forms. The hero, labeled "Equality 7-2521" by the State, chooses to challenge conventional authority as he learns the joys of experimentation and discovery, the ecstasy of human love, the challenge and fairness of liberty, and the happiness of self-interest. Equality 7-2521 writes three unique phrases in his journal: 1. "My happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is not the means to an end. It is the end.", 2. "We know that we are evil, but there is no will in us and no power to resist it.", 3. "The word 'We' . . . must never be placed first within man's soul.". These phrases will be discussed individually in the remainder of this essay.

1. "My happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is not the means to an end. It is the end."

In the tale, this thought drives the entire actions of Equality 7-2521 as he progresses in his attempt to become an individual. His happiness is not satisfied when he must share it universally with all men. Not every man can be as happy as the next, and therefore the forced brotherhood of all men will only deplete the spirits of those who are successful. In Anthem, Rand tells of Equality's joy when he "discovers" electricity. At that moment he knows that the joy of discovery is only his to relish, and that it cannot be shared or manipulated by any other man. In that regard, his own well-being is the end of his striving; he has fulfilled his wishes. To say that his happiness was only the means to, say, world peace would be to abolish his status ...

... middle of paper ...

... by individuals who had some self-interest at heart. However, the creator of a product is justly entitled to his own happiness, and therefore it is at his discretion that his invention is distributed. One who creates a great thing cannot be forced to share it with mankind unless he desires. In most cases, it is in the self-interest of the originator that his creation be distributed freely.

Thus, man is no longer a free man when he thinks of the group's interest above his own. It is fine for someone to be compassionate, but it is foolish to place the happiness of anyone else in front of your own. When men choose to follow groupthink, they forfeit their identities, and the end result is a world without freedom or creativity.

Mankind is composed of sovereign individuals, and each person only has one obligation to self: think of "me" before "we."

Show More
Related

  • Character Analysis of Equality 7-2521 in Ayn Rand's 'Anthem'

    824 Words  | 2 Pages

    Equality 7-2521 aspires to be a self-proclaimed individual. In the novella, Anthem, Ayn Rand discusses of a dystopian society in which every man and women are set equal to each other. Equality is damned by the World Council after a discovery of light and electricity, and a contradictory belief in individualism. Freedom is an essential factor in the happiness of man. Equality is scorned for his different looks, mental competence, and independent beliefs but laughs when he recognizes that he should be glorified for understanding that his perception of life leads to contentment.

    Read More

  • Ayn Rand´s Anthem: Failure in the Implementation of Marxist Ideals

    701 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ayn Rand, in Anthem, illustrates a futuristic, socialist society. In the novel, Rand destroys any sense of individuality and describes the social setbacks endured after living ‘only for the brotherhood’. The individual person fails to exist and is but a ‘we’ and recognized by a word and a series of numbers rather than a name. Additionally, she describes the horrors encountered within this different system of life: from reproduction methods to punishments. Through the life of Equality 7-2521, Rand demonstrates a person’s journey from obedience to exile in this socialist society. Throughout the entire novel, Rand criticizes Marxist theory as she demonstrates socialism’s failure to suppress revolution, thwart material dialectic, and its detriment to humanity.

    Read More

  • Essay On Equality In Ayn Rand's Anthem

    955 Words  | 2 Pages

    “For I know what happiness is possible to me on Earth. And my happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it” (Rand 95). In this part of the novella, Equality, the narrator, is aware that he can find his own happiness and he should show it once it is found. Throughout the novella, Anthem written by Ayn Rand, Equality is trying to find himself in a society full of equals. As he discovers the tunnel, Equality creates a light bulb in which he wants to flaunt upon the people of his society. Subsequently, when it is rejected by the Council, he hides in the forest from those who see him as a betrayer. Equality tries to find himself in a collectivist society that he knows he does not belong in, in which he evolves. The author believes in objectivism,

    Read More

  • Collectivism vs Individualism in Ayn Rand’s Anthem

    2519 Words  | 6 Pages

    Ayn Rand’s Anthem is a politically satirical novel set in a future society that is so highly collectivized that the word “I” has been banned. The world is governed by various councils who believe that man’s sole reason for existence is to enforce the Great Truth “that all men are one and that there is no will save the will of all men together” (Rand, 20). Any indication of an individual’s independent spirit is swiftly and brutally put down, with the transgressors being punished with severe prison sentences or even death. It is this dysfunctional world that Equality 7-2521 is born into. The novel begins with Equality 7-2521 alone in a dark tunnel, transcribing his story.

    Read More

  • Political Life and Man’s Ultimate End: Reading the De Regno of St. Thomas Aquinas

    2549 Words  | 6 Pages

    Before establishing the first principle, that man is political by nature, St. Thomas tells us that “in all things which are ordered towards an end, wherein this or that course may be adopted, some directive principle is needed through which the due end may be reached by the most direct route.” Since man is a being who has an end towards which his life and actions are ordered, it is necessary for him to have some directive principle which leads him towards this end. This directive principle for man is nothing other than reason. While this directive principle of reason is good for man, it is not sufficient for attaining his end: “if man were intended to live alone, as many animals do, he would require no other guide to his end, but each man would be a king unto himself, under God, the highest King, inasmuch as he would direct himself in his acts by the light of reason given to him from on high.” It is the case that man, for St. Thomas, more than any other animal will seek to live in a group, for he is social and political by nature.

    Read More

  • The Inevitability of School Violence: No Need for School Reform

    829 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people,” I have often heard. We know people kill people. The real issue now is whether or not people can change people. Some are of the opinion that we are capable of doing so; by implementing new reforms and tightening school security, people are, in effect, saying they have the solutions to the problems. The violence of recent school shootings has wrought anxiety and fear in parents, teachers, and administrators across the nation. The massacre of Columbine turned a public school library into a cemetery. The shooting in Oklahoma ripped us from the comfort of a stereotypical and easily recognized threat; now popular straight-A students pull guns without black trench coats. The violence has become unpredictable and, in all cases, extremely frightening. In response to the threat, schools have engaged in extensive prevention programs, often banning book-bags, implementing dress codes, setting up metal detectors, or requiring students to attend anger management classes. Such attempts at reform sound efficient on paper and may to some extent alleviate the anxieties of parents, but they are like storming castle walls with slingshots. The object of reform in this case is not tangible or always plausible. The object of reform is the human heart, the internal person. We need to understand that the problem is bigger than a trench coat or a gun; therefore, dress codes or metal detectors cannot solve it. These reforms are often vain attempts at prevention. They hinder education and provoke students. Policy makers and schools need to be aware that no simple public mandate can suffice as a solution.

    Read More

  • Essay About Rap Music

    1155 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rap music from the 1990’s to the year 2000 is known in hip hop as “the golden era”. This era is all about individuality and innovation of creating music in one of the newest musical art forms. Rap music started out as the expression of young black youths in the inner city of New York. Rap music is rhymed storytelling accompanied by highly rhythmic, electronically based music. It began in the mid-1970s in the South Bronx in New York City as a part of hip hop, composed of graffiti, breakdancing, and rap music. From the outset, rap music has articulated the pleasures and problems of black urban life in contemporary America. Rappers speak with the voice of personal experience, taking on the identity of the observer or narrator. Rap music has lost a lot of it purity and essence due to the multimillion dollar business. Rap music is always critizied because of it’s violent and sexual nature but its just reporting what is views in this cold world.(Rose, 1994)

    Read More

  • Violence in Television

    1911 Words  | 4 Pages

    4. Robert E. McAfee, M.D., Immediate Past President, American Medical Association, Testimony before House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance, June 1994.

    Read More

  • Hsun Tzu Or Mencius's Argumently Good Or Evil?

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    Their interests, specifically those vital for survival, propel them to oppose everyone else’s. When in nature and when resources are scarce, animals at the top of the food chain do not yield to one another. Instead, they compete for the scarce resources. This same situation also applies to man. In a “state of nature” without laws or social structure, men act as animals (94). They compete for resources such as food and water. After all, all men desire the same end. They wish their stomachs to be satiated, their mouths to be quenched, and their bodies to be

    Read More

  • Eugene V Beresin's Article: Violent Media Is Harmful To Children

    1242 Words  | 3 Pages

    Studies reveal that children watch approximately twenty-eight hours of television a week, more time than they spend in school. The typical American child will view more than 200,000 acts of violence, including more than 16,000 murders before age 18. Television programs display 812 violent acts

    Read More

  • The Pursuit of Virtue in Pride and Prejudice

    1021 Words  | 3 Pages

    happiness is found by living in accordance with human dignity, which is a life in accordance

    Read More

  • School Violence

    1717 Words  | 4 Pages

    School violence is constantly changing and increasing every day and with little response to the results we hear in the news reports. I think back as a past student growing up in the twentieth century. I recall hearing about the traumatic shootings and their outcome that followed. Thinking back to December 1, 1997, where a student named Michael Carneal, a freshman in West Paducah, Kentucky opened fire on classmates, killing three and wounding five. Then imagine one year later, March 5, 1998, another student Mitchell Woodward shot and killed five classmates and wounded

    Read More

  • Media And Violence: The Causes Of Violence In The Media

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    American society emphasizes violence in the media. Television shows, movies, and video games, are all outlets researchers often place blame when considering the effects media has on violent behavior. Television shows, movies, and video games frequently revolve around violent plots, characters die in gruesome ways, and violence against others is common place. “Social learning is the branch of behavior theory most relevant to criminology. Social learning theorist, most notably Albert Bandura, argue that people are not actually born with the ability to act violently, but that they learned to be aggressive through their life experiences.” (PG. 161)

    Read More

  • What Does It Mean To Be Free

    732 Words  | 2 Pages

    Happiness is important for fully enjoying freedom. The French artists of Café Guerbois thought that they were unhappy. They were poor, struggling, and most importantly not in the Salon. Likewise, while attending Brown University, Caroline Sachs, felt that she was unhappy and dissatisfied compared to her other classmates. She was learning what she loved, yet she still wasn’t happy. If she was going to compare herself, if she was going to compete she had to be successful. At its very essence the idea of being happy and fulfilled is in direct competition with not having a purpose and that our freedom is a burden. To take full advantage of the freedom we have and to not be burdened we must seek and achieve

    Read More

  • Human Nature and the Social Order

    849 Words  | 2 Pages

    Human nature is not simply a measure of our human tendencies. It is both individual and collective. It does not explain why events happen. Instead, it explains the subconscious of each individual in the instant that events happen. The social order that best fits human nature is one where the informed opinions of everyone creates decisions and causes action. Madison’s argument for and against factions, Aristotle’s idea of ultimate happiness, and Locke’s concept of popular government and human rights all offer a significant component to the larger concept that is human nature. While some may argue that we will only fully understand human nature when we are met with death, still we can begin to capture a slight understanding to what governs human nature and the political order that helps it grow.

    Read More

More about Placing Me Before We in Ayn Rand's Anthem

Open Document