In Ayn Rand's book, Anthem, the two main characters, Equality and Liberty, name themselves after two Greek Gods, Prometheus and Gaea, respectfully. Prometheus was the Greek God of forethought and crafty counsel, and Gaea was the Greek God of the Earth and the mother of virtually all beings. Rand had her main characters choose names after these mythological Gods because their lives were very similar, symbolically.
Prometheus was instructed by the other Gods to craft humanity out of clay. Once he did so, he became attached to his creations. Against the wishes of the other Gods, Prometheus taught mankind all of the arts, such as the use of fire, acquaintance with architecture, astronomy, mathematics, the art of writing, the treatment of domestic animals, navigation, medicine, the art of prophecy, working in metal, and all the other arts. Zeus, the leader of the Gods, tried to punish Prometheus for his teachings by taking fire away from man. Prometheus again defied Zeus by stealing back the fire and returning it to man. In another instance of Prometheus defiance, mankind was angry that they were forced to give all of the good cuts of meat to the Gods as offerings. In order to please his creation, Prometheus tricked Zeus by misleading him into choosing the least desirable parts of a cow as his offering and thus leaving the most desirable cuts to mankind for consumption. Prometheus was pleased with his deception, but it enraged Zeus. In order to punish him, Zeus ordered that Prometheus be chained to a rock in the pit of Tartarus and for an eagle to eat out his liver daily and allow Prometheus's liver to regenerate each night.
Equality, one of the main characters in Anthem, lived in a society of collectivism. Collec...
... middle of paper ...
...o is Liberty seemingly inseparable from Equality. She followed Equality when he ran away, leaving everything else behind to reunite with her love. "Do as you please, but do not send us away from you." (83) Thirdly, Gaea is the mother of almost all of the gods and living things everywhere, and Liberty is going to be the mother of a new race of men. Hence, Gaea and Liberty are similar in the way that they are both maternal figures and the mothers of peoples. Finally, Gaea is a very suitable name for a character such as Liberty.
In summary, Rand had her two main characters pick the names of Prometheus and Gaea because the lives of these Greek Gods were very similar (symbolically) to the lives of the two main characters (Equality and Liberty). Equality and Prometheus were/are the bringers of knowledge and wisdom, and Liberty and Gaea were/are the mothers of all.
Many people seem to get entangled into society's customs. In the novel Anthem, the protagonist, Equality 7-2521, lives a period of his life as a follower. However, Equality eventually, tries to distant himself from his society. He is shaped to be a follower, but eventually emerges in to an individual and a leader. On his journey, he discovers the past remains of his community. Ayn Rand uses Equality's discoveries of self to represent the importance of individuality in a functional society.
The book Anthem is a book that can be perceived many various ways. To me, Anthem is about an outstandingly smart young man, named Equality 7-2521
Ayn Rand, a contentious woman, the new favorite author to multiple people’s list. People who have read her magnificent book, Anthem, understand how exquisite and meaningful her words are. Books like Anthem are worth reading because it gives the reader more knowledge about controversial topics and it takes the reader to experience new places and new adventures. Equality, the main character, is a symbol. He represents many people today, living in countries like his society. Equality has to find his true identity first before helping the others. People are not allowed to believe in individualism, they should not have a identity of their own. Each person has a monotone routine to follow every single day of their lives. Each step a person takes
An anthem is a sacred composition set to words from the Bible. This may have significance with the title that Ayn Rand has given the book by paralleling the story of Prometheus and Gaea to that of Adam and Eve. In the bible, Adam and Eve were given everything that they needed by God with the one exception of not to eat from a specific tree. They were told by the devil that this tree was the tree of knowledge and to eat of it would give them knowledge equal to God’s. In Anthem, Prometheus and Gaea are told that they have everything that they will ever need or desire by the council. They are forbidden to gain knowledge that is not permitted by the council but only to do as they are told. Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the pursuit of knowledge and ate of the tree in order to gain equality to God. When they did this God found out and so condemned them and punished them for all eternity. God banished them from paradise in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were no longer given anything as they were in the garden but instead were forced to suffer and survive on their own. In Anthem, Prometheus and Gaea go against the will of the council and Prometheus yearns to gain knowledge that he realizes is being hidden from him. Prometheus hides his studies at first but then wants to share them with the council for the betterment of society but is instead condemned.
These three goddesses represent three different types of women in Greek society. Sarah Pomeroy, author of Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves, believed that “the goddesses are archetypal images of human females, as envisioned by males” (8). Pomeroy understands the significance of the differences between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, and what those differences meant for the women of Greece who were required to follow three important rules. The first rule was for the women to live a life of domesticity and motherhood. This was very important to the men in the society.
In the novel, Anthem, written by Ayn Rand takes place when mankind has entered another dark age. A man named Equality 7-2521 lives in a society where he struggles to live equal within the brotherhood. In the world he lives in people are told they exist only for the sake of serving society, and have no other purpose. Therefore, each individual is assigned a vocation as a permanent life career which determines who they socialize and live with. However, Equality being very different from his brothers, believes in individualism and rejects the collectivism society around him. The concept of individualism vs collectivism is portrayed in the story because individuality is unknown to the people where no one is unique or excellent in any way. The people
Prometheus writes: “The secrets of this earth are not for all men to see, but only for those who will seek them.” (Chapter 3) Why does he think that the secrets of this earth are not for all men to see? If he thinks this, why does he decide to show his glass box to the World Council of Scholars? How do these issues relate to the theme of the novel?
Once lived a great god, Zeus.the god of all gods. He had many brothers and sisters. Some of his siblings came to known as a great god a god that everyone would remember their name. and there were some other siblings that turned out to be minor gods. Nike the god of victory was a prized god but a lonely one. After winning other prizes the goddess of wisdom or Athena started to notice Nike and wanted to love him.
And so for men Zeus plotted grief and trouble. He hid fire. And Prometheus, bold son of Lapetus, stole it back from the side of wise Zeus, in a fennel stalk, and gave it to men and Zeus who delights in the thunder did not notice” (Bauschatz, ). Clearly, disobedience and deceiving the gods leads to chaos because Prometheus who tried to steal the fire from Zeus enraged him and therefore ordered the creation of Pandora as punishment and evil delivered to men.
...ality and Liberty gave each other names that reminded them of each other from the books that they’ve read because, Equality says that it isn’t proper for men to not have a name. That is how they got the name Prometheus and Gaea.
Euripides shows his views on female power through Medea. As a writer of the marginalized in society, Medea is the prime example of minorities of the age. She is a single mother, with 2 illegitimate children, in a foreign place. Despite all these disadvantages, Medea is the cleverest character in the story. Medea is a warning to the consequences that follow when society underestimates the
Zeus, Lord of the Skies, King of the Gods, was the last sibling of the Titan Kronos and the Titaness Rhea. He would have suffered the same fate as his other five Olympian siblings, Demeter, Hestia, Poseidon, Hades, and Hera, being swallowed alive, if it had not been for his mother hiding him and tricking Kronos into eating a large stone instead. He was raised in a cave with nine spirits, the Kouretes, and a goat, Amaltheia, that nursed him with her milk and the bees of the mountain provided honey. As a baby, adding on to the fact that his voice was booming, being the thunder god, he was quite boisterous and would have attracted the attention of his father, but the Kouretes banged their shields in order to drown out the child’s cries (Atsma) (Atsma).
Ares: Son of Zeus and Hera, who both hated him. He was the god of war. Some of his symbols were a spear, a helmet, dog, chariot, boar, Vulture, and a flaming torch. All his daughters, The Amazons, their mother was a peace- loving nymph called Harmony. His sister, Eris, was the goddess of Discord. And then there was Hebe was the goddess of youth.
Athena was the goddess of war and wisdom. Daughter of Zeus and Metis, but born from only Zeus. Gaea the Earth goddess told Zeus that his child would u...
"Zeus, Roman name Jupiter" ("Olympian Gods and Goddesses chart"). Yes sound familiar we see everyday thing such as the movie Apollo 13 was named after the god Apollo. If we never learn the Greek gods, then we would never truly understand why some things have certain names. The Greek god Athena created the spider is almost every everyday thing is named after a Greek god.