How To Justify Individuality In Ayn Rand's Anthem

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Anthem by Ayn Rand depicts a completely collectivist society, or one in which a person is required to give up his or her individuality for the good of the whole. The society does a lot to justify their opposition to individuality, but the main reason they do is for the idea of “ the common good”. Equality is taught to refer to himself as “we” to help enforce the idea that he is part of a whole, rather than an individual. From the beginning of the book, we know that Equality is stronger and smarter than many of his peers. So why was he sent to the House of the Street Sweepers? The society is afraid of people who are different, because they may interfere with their idea of a “perfect society”, in which everyone is the same. “And also they were not liked because they took pieces of coal and they drew pictures upon the walls, and they were pictures that made men laugh… so International 4-8818 were sent to the Home of the Street Sweepers, like ourselves. (29-30)” International 4-8818 and Equality were both assigned to the Home of the Street Sweepers because they wouldn’t conform to …show more content…

The villain in The Fountainhead makes a good point about the nature of humanity: “Make man feel small. Make him feel guilty. Kill his aspiration and his integrity.” This is exactly what the society does to Equality. Equality says, “We were born with a curse. It has always driven us to thoughts that are forbidden. (18)” The society not only make laws against any sort of individuality, but they go as far as to say that Equality is “born with a curse”, which implies that he can never be saved, and that his transgressions live within him. Equality also mentions that there is “...fear hanging in the air of the sleeping halls, and in the air of the streets. (46)”, which further proves that people are afraid of doing something wrong or betraying their

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