In the novel The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, it is about a 11-year-old black girl named Pecola Breedlove, who has no self-confidence, telling her bewildering childhood story living in the south of Lorain, Ohio in 1941. Also, a book by Ayn Rand, Anthem is about a dystopian society where a boy named Equality 7-2521, a very strong and intelligent person, believes that the society that he lives in gives him no freedom to be independent. This quote by an unknown author, “Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountains" applies to both main characters Pecola Breedlove and Equality 7-2521. The true meaning of this quote is that there …show more content…
Everything in their society is equal. No one has their own individual name, everyone sleeps together, no one is ever by themselves, and many more aspects. They are a communist society, they have leaders, no one has a say in their government, technology is all from the past, social relationships are not important and do not have any special connections with anyone but everyone, no one has a choice in their work, and education is all based on what the society wants one to think. Equality has a hard time with accepting the fact that everyone and everything must be equal. One challenge that Equality faces is that he wants to be with the Gold One. The Golden One is a girl who is seen as beautiful by Equality. She is very strong minded, stubborn and arrogant. Equality really wants to be with the Golden One but it is against the society’s laws. No person is allowed to choose their own mate. Instead, when a person in the society reaches a certain age, it is mandatory for he or she to go to the Palace of Mating. In the Palace of Mating, a male and a female are selected randomly to spend one night at the Palace of Mating and have sex so they would produce a baby and never see them again. Since the society will not allow Equality and the Golden One to be together, he tries to think about her as often as he can and try to have conversations with her. He had said, “For men are forbidden to take notice of women, and women are forbidden to take notice of men. But we think of one among women, they whose name is Liberty 5-3000, and we think of no others” (Rand 38). Another challenge that Equality has to deal with is being more intelligent than his brothers and looking taller than his other brothers. In school, he discovered that he was smarter and taller than everyone else and the teachers were very unhappy. If he were to show off his intelligence, he would get in
Equality 7-2521 is rebellious. If a person is rebellious, he shows a desire to resist authority. This authority is most commonly a government that runs its territory in a way which the rebellious person does not support. Rebellious people argue for changing or replacing this authority because they often view it as corrupt or ineffective. Due to their desire for change, these people are often the most dangerous to governments that wish to retain power and control. Equality 7-2521 shows this desire to defy authority in Anthem. The society that he lives in forbids writing unless it is first approved by the Council of Vocations. However, he has done exactly
In the book Anthem, written by Ayn Rand, Equality 7-2521 had never seen his physical appearance. He was surprised seeing such a strong individual staring at him. One day after escaping into the woods, he finally met himself at a flowing stream and gained new confidence. This was an essential part to the theme of "Anthem." This shows how Equality finally found himself as an "I" in order to help others see themselves as an "I." This is an important part of "Anthem" since it reveals Equality 7-2521's determination, bravery, and development as a person.
A society where people lack individualism and the government has suppressive control, ultimately restrains its citizens. Those who rebel from oppressive authority and redefine themselves are those who remain unconquered. To be unconquered is to be uncontrollable, undefined, and in no form abide by social normality. In the poem, “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley, and the novella Anthem, by Ayn Rand both protagonist, Invictus and Equality portray determination and vigor.
The book we read in class was called Anthem by Ayn Rand. This book is about a society that is corrupt in many ways. A couple of ways it’s corrupt is because there is no individualism and they are a very slowly moving society. It took them a long time just to make candles, nowadays candles are made very fast and simple. The government has made it so that the progress of technology is slow and not progressing. None of the people in the town have an actual name, they are known as robots or as a group. Like one of the main characters name is Equality 7-2521. Equality is a street sweeper in this society and is not like any of the other people. He is smart, strong, self-centered and curious. Another character that Equality falls in love with is Liberty 5-3000. She is a peasant that gives Equality water when they are not supposed to talk to each other. Equality’s best friend and only friend is International 4-8818. He helped Equality find the tunnel and kept it a secret from the rest of the society. Equality later names himself Prometheus and Liberty, The Golden One and later on at the house Gaea. Ayn Rand renames them Prometheus and Gaea because they are very much like these gods from Greek mythology. Later on, they run into the Forbidden Forest together to start a new life for them and for the future. They find a house with many books and Equality reads them to discover “I”. That is when Equality 7-2421 renames himself Prometheus and Liberty 5-3000, Gaea.
As Equality stops to devour the supper he caught, he notices a, “great satisfaction to be found in the food by which we obtain by our own hand” (Rand 80). For once, Equality puts the hunting skill he possesses to use, and the pleasure that comes with consuming an adequate meal made completely by him is far beyond that of meals prepared by others. And by residing in the Uncharted Forest, Equality experiences joy because he essentially is free and can pursue tasks he desires, like hunting, at any time. Furthermore, as Equality proceeds through his day he, “walks on til the sun had set” (Rand 80). Equality now does not have to conform his life to regulations, such as having a curfew, set by the World Council of Scholars. He has the power to choose where he wants to settle and the time at which he must be home, a decision that would not be left up to him back in the city. Ultimately, Equality for the first time broke the chains of uniformity that bound him since birth, and because of this he scoffs at the idiocy of the Scholars to realize that true happiness is achieved through liberty, not
Equality eventually escapes from the place that never felt like home, and runs off with his love, Liberty 5-300, who he calls the Golden One. After learning about the men from the Unmentionable Times, Equality would agree with Ayn Rand’s words in her short essay, “How Does One Lead a Rational Life in an Irrational Society?”, where she not only talks about the importance of having moral judgment, but also about being brainwashed by your leaders and government. Equality can relate because, for his whole life, he was in a society where their version of wrong and right were opposites to what they should have been. Individualism and moral judgement weren't encouraged, they were prevented, and that is where the society became
One day, Equality is supposed to be in the theater, but he is not there. Consequently, Equality is imprisoned to the Palace of Corrective Detention. Oddly, the prison does not have many restrictions, so easily Equality escapes. After his departure, he goes directly to the Council of Scholars, which is where a group of people have a job to gain more intelligence. Intentionally, Equality goes here because he wants to reveal his new discovery of electricity to the scholars. In effect, they denounce him for carrying out a discovery because it is contradicting to the laws of their society. After this happens, Equality bolts to the Uncharted Forest, he begins to actualize that people should live as individuals instead of one group. Liberty follows Equality and, eventually, catches up to him. In the Uncharted Forest, they find a sublime house on top of a mountain. Once they examine the house, Equality and Liberty decide to live in it. Uninhibited, they develop a more profound relationship along with a newly-founded liberated life. As an individual, Equality wants to free the people of his society and eventually begin his own. Equality says, "We matter not, nor our transgression. It is only our brother men who matter. Give no thought to us, for we are nothing, but listen to our words, for we bring you a gift such as has never been brought to men. Listen to us, for we hold the future of mankind in our hands" (70; ch. 7). Equality's life dramatically changes as he extends his life as a
“For the coming of that day shall I fight, I and my sons and my chosen friends. For the freedom of Man. For his rights. For his life. For his honor.”(page 104). In the novella Anthem by, Ayn Rand, the main character Equality, fought for a way to be himself and help mankind. Rand clearly made Equality’s primary motivation joining The Council of Scholars as a creator, and through the course of two years, due to Equality conducting experiments in all of his spare time until he discovers a method of harnessing the power of electricity to use it to light the community. Equality confirms the right to his motivation. What was Equality’s primary motivation, is he right to be motivated in this way, and what would the world be like if everyone was
“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,
Equality 7-2521 embodies this essential idea throughout the story because of his eternal struggle with not quite being able to conform to society’s expectations. He is physically different from the others (Rand, 1946, p. 2) as well as mentally different as he disagreed with others even as a child (p. 4) and was smarter than the rest (p. 5), and this mental sharpness is carried into adulthood as he is able to discern the feelings of oppression and fear that weigh over all men in this time (Rand, 1946, p. 30). Rather than acting as a machine, he feels preferences and desires within himself. Equality 7-2521 enjoys science, dreams of being a Scholar, likes a pretty girl, and wonders about himself. Since these things are not shared by all, they are forbidden, and despite how simple they may be, they define
By the end of the novella Equality comes upon a house from the Unmentionable Times for him and the Golden One to live in. Equality is in love with the Golden One who followed him to the forest after he was gone from the city. Later Equality 7-2521 gives the Golden One a new name: Gaea. They live in harmony together and finally discover the meaning of the Unspeakable Word “I” instead of which they always used the word “We” to refer to themselves like all the other collectivists did. After finding everything Equality searched for, he is a happy individual living in a perfect place with the woman he loves.
Again, this is about Equality 7-2521. But this time it is about his love interest. In his society, love doesn’t endure or in other words not tolerated. But he falls in love anyway. Love teaches Equality that you can’t love and care everyone equally. Because he loves Liberty 5-3000 more than anyone else, he is breaking the Transgression of Preference. That is why society forbids it. After discovering Liberty 5-3000, he can’t stop thinking about her. Equality even makes a name for her, Golden One, that he calls in his head.
One of the overarching conflicts in Ayn Rand’s, Anthem, is Collectivism versus the belief in Heresy. Rand is a firm believer in heresy, making her one of history's most notable heretics. In the same way Anthem is bias, so is my ‘Big Idea’ collage. I used propaganda and symbolic images to express the importance and just within heresy. The two silhouettes of a human heads serves the significance of the seemingly everlasting conflict that both groups have. All the images that make up the silhouettes is what the different parties stand for. Equality’s rebellious views and experiments, such as ‘the power of the sky’ and the sacred manuscripts, are enclosed within the traced head on the right side. On the other side, I dissected the authority in
Every story has a quest and every quest has a hero from which one of them included the unconquered, Equality, who starts his journey from birth in the dystopian society of Anthem. Equality faces many challenges throughout the novel to prove and gain his true identity in the society but it does not come without difficulty. He was born different and better than others but in the end this difference became his most dangerous enemy.
He begins to “not think of them as Liberty 5-3000 any longer. We have given them a name in our thoughts. We call them The Golden One.” (Rand, p. 41) This shows that he wanted to give her a name, a name that gave her meaning to him. This book shows how a random name can take away from the individuality of a person. Your name makes you stand out and gives you a sense of individuality. As you get to know a person you begin to associate their name with their gender, looks, and personality. The Golden One gives Equality 7-2521 another name just like he gave her one too. She called him “Unconquered”. Soon after you read that “Such thoughts as these are forbidden” (Rand, p. 56). This quote from the book reveals even more on how feelings towards opposite sex were not accepted. The name she gave Equality 7-2521 gave him meaning and separated him out from the