In Anthem by Ayn Rand, as well as many other dystopian novels, families are separated. Children are forced to live apart from their parents and the parents do not live together either. Babies live in The House of Infants until they are five years of age and then they go to the Home of The Students. In totalitarian novels and societies, children are separated from their families so that they do not learn from or care for them. In totalitarian societies, people are taught not to love one another, they are forced to believe that the good of society is more important than the good of oneself, and the dictators need to be able to control what everyone is told. In order to prevent people from loving one another, dictators make laws preventing men and women from being together and having families. If they have families and people they love, they will not be as willing to make so many sacrifices for the overall good of society, therefore taking away the dictator’s control. Dictators need to be able to have complete control over the citizen’s lives …show more content…
In totalitarian societies, the leaders make them feel as though the overall society is more important than their personal needs or preferences. In Anthem, they are taught that it’s wrong to want things for yourself. Their laws state, “Everything which comes from many is good. Everything which comes from one is evil.” (Rand 29). Equality-2521 thinks to himself, “This we have been taught with our first breath.” (Rand 29). The leaders brainwash them throughout their lives into thinking that it is a crime to put oneself before others. Many parents would want to protect and take care of their children, and they would most likely put their children before the rest of society. They will begin to develop stronger relationships and will create priorities that will make it impossible for everyone to be selfless and to work for the overall
Imagine a world where people are only expected to live up to 45 years old. In today's society, there are countries that experience this. In the novel Anthem, by Ayn Rand; there are many factors like lifestyle, government, medicine, and education that lead to this. There are a couple of ways where the world in the novel is similar and different to today's society.
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.
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.
A captivating novelette in which a man’s priority is to serve only for his brothers, Ayn Rand’s Anthem illustrates a society that has suffered the ghastly consequences of collectivism. She depicts an oppressive culture in which the word “I” is unheard of and men belong to the collective “We.” Men’s lives are determined through the Council of Vocations, a group that maintains a powerful dictatorship by subjugating the public from the beginning of their lives. The idea that “If you are not needed by your brother men, there is no reason for you to burden the earth with your bodies” (Chapter 1) has been forced into average mindset of the vehemently maintained society. In contrast, Rand mocks the totalitarian civilization through the main character Equality. Since he was born, Equality possessed a quick mind and constantly strayed apart from his peers. Through his life, he shows an unwilling behavior to conform not only to his name, but also to the rules of society. After he is found guilty of independent thought, he is sadistically beaten and dragged into the Palace of Corrective Detention, an unguarded jail that castigates the public of their wrongdoings. Shackles are unnecessary as a result of the brainwashed society and their compliance to obey orders, which consequently allows Equality to escape. In a collective society, citizens are denied their inalienable right of individualism, which ultimately eliminates all thoughts of opposition. Through their submission, the presence of their souls vanishes and society deems the collectivist tenet true. The lack of guards and old locks in the Palace of corrective Detention symbolize the evils that result from a collectivist society.
The Society of Anthem is a striking instance of a dystopian society in which daily life is dominated by fear. The society is headed by a group of elders, who attempt to destroy the concept of individuality and promote the idea of collectivism. The society controls all aspects of life including roles and profession, emotions, mating and the freedom of choice. Equality 7-2521 undergoes a transformation that is contrary to the principles of Anthem’s society. In Anthem by Ayn Rand, Prometheus (formerly Equality 7-2521) should not feel guilty when he writes “why the best in me had been my sins and transgressions; and why I had never felt guilt in my sins.” because what he learned about himself over the course of the story.
The most important factor of successful totalitarian societies is the loyalty and allegiance to the government and/or the leader of the society. The government creates an atmosphere, which convinces people that everything is normal and the government is always right to receive their loyalty and respect. After loyalty is achieved, it is easy to manipulate the people. In Anthem there are many transgressions, which no member of the society must commit. Most of the members of that society stay loyal to the government, except Equality 7-2521. Even though this happens in the beginning it has been presented that the children are separated from their biological parents and lead a life of their own under the care of the government. This proves to be us...
In Ayn Rand’s novella, Anthem, children are often seen living apart from their families. Unfortunately, it’s not their choice, but society is set up such that they are made to live apart. Children are forced to live like this because dictatorial leaders are committed to collectivism. Collectivism is an emphasis on collective rather than individual action or identity. Leaders enforce the separation between parents and children in order to maintain collectivism and ultimately have complete control over the children.
People in every Society are placed in categories according to gender, religion, race, and age from which one of these categories includes social class. In the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand, people are placed in social classes according to the government's liking and instead of race, age, gender etc their social class depends on the job they are given by the government. This was done to treat everyone equally in order to keep peace in the society. However, sometimes equality can cause rebellion and this idea is portrayed through the protagonist of the novel, Equality 7-2521. Ever since the unmentionable times had caused destruction to the society of Anthem, the government had taken away all the free will and individuality of its people.
Why can a plant not grow in the shade? When a population is kept in the dark, no progress is made. One example of a community kept in ignorance is from the novella Anthem by Ayn Rand, a place where there is total control by the government. This technology deprived world insinuates that science and technology can spur rebellion, division, and change, showing that technological progress develops from the freedom of oppression.
Have you ever read a book or seen a movie set in a dystopian society? Well the book “Anthem” written by Ayn Rand is about the main character Equality 7-2521 breaking away from the teachings of his dystopian society and finding his true identity. Ayn Rand is a brilliant writer. Equality realizes that collectivism is a way to strip him, Liberty, and all their brothers of their individuality, happiness, joy, love and freedom. Equality comes to this realization from internal conflicts he has with himself.
Totalitarianism can be defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as the centralized control by an autocratic authority. The leaders of these societies are obsessed with complete control and will take whatever steps necessary to reach such a goal. In many totalitarian societies, children are separated from their families. This is enforced on the citizens because rulers want them to be loyal to the government only. Such living arrangements can be portrayed in Ayn Rand’s novel, Anthem. In Anthem, the narrator, Prometheus, lives in a community in which all of the children born that year live in the same house until they turn fifteen. Then they are assigned a job and live with the people that share that occupation. This keeps the people from having an emotional attachment to someone like they would have with a family.
The word collectivism often makes people cringe. Overall, there is a general fear of not being able to make personal decisions in America. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, collectivism can be defined as; emphasis on collective rather than individual action or identity (“Collectivism”). In Anthem, Ayn Rand describes an extreme collectivist society. Although Anthem’s society seems extremely surreal, aspects of its collectivist society closely mirror today’s society.
Recognition of Individuality in Anthem & nbsp; In Anthem, a collectivist dictatorship keeps its members subjugated by force and constant indoctrination. The hero of Anthem, Prometheus, struggles with the ideals of the collectivist society because his values are not in accord with them. Ultimately, Prometheus is able to free himself from collectivism by understanding the falseness of its premise. At the crudest level, the collectivist dictatorship is able to maintain power and control over its subjects by the use of force. Disobedient members can be sent to the Palace of Corrective Detention and lashed, as is the case with Prometheus, or, for extreme infringements, can be burned alive like the Transgressor of the Unspeakable Word.
In Ayn Rand’s book Anthem, the totalitarian society takes away children from their parents to brainwash them, make them loyal to the totalitarian society, and for eugenics. The totalitarian society brainwashes the children when they are taken, they make them think as one whole person and to use “we”. They also make them loyal to the totalitarian society and not to question it. The children are also used for eugenics to attempt to create the perfect breed of human.
Anthem, the powerful and outstanding novella by Ayn Rand, focuses on a totalitarian society where individualism is punished by the leaders, and hard work is overlooked. The people are not allowed to think of themselves, or to pursue their goals. Families are forbidden. When babies are born, they are immediately taken from their parents and put into a House of Infants, where they are taught the values of society. They will never get to know who their families are. The society is led by a group of people who strictly enforce these values. In many of the fictionalized and real totalitarian societies talked about today, dictators force children to live apart from their families. This is done for three reasons. The dictators fear the rebellion of the people, want to control their people as much as they can, and enforce this because they want to oppress individualism completely.