How would you respond if someone unfamiliar with the ways of your society told you everything about it was backwards, it didn’t make sense, and it was potentially harmful to the people? Elder, the future leader of the spaceship Godspeed, is faced with this question when a girl from Earth (what he refers to as "Sol-Earth") suddenly comes into the picture. Amy has been cryogenically frozen aboard Godspeed, in hopes that in three hundred years, she and her family will wake up on a new planet. Amy's life is turned upside down when she is woken up fifty years early and cannot be refrozen. She struggles to live in this new, strange society where the people obey their current leader, Eldest, unquestioningly. In Across the Universe, Beth Revis uses …show more content…
As Elder and Amy are researching pictures and documents from Sol-Earth, Elder reads the Gettysburg Address to Amy. Amy soon realizes it is different from the Gettysburg Address she knows, as it is focused on eliminating people from diverse races (to minimize differences in people). As Elder stares at her in confusion, she thinks to herself, "He has no concept that a race is part of a person's identity – he just sees it as a difference" (306). Amy soon realizes this is exactly how Eldest wants the people to think. Eldest clearly thinks any change will cause discord aboard the ship. This is clearly displayed in how badly he treats Amy after she is woken up. Readers can infer Eldest is afraid of his people revolting against him, or against each other, if differences are present on the ship. When Eldest teaches Elder about ruling with Phydus, a drug pumped into the water to take away the people's emotions, he realizes Amy was right when she said the people of the ship acted abnormal and strange. Elder thinks to himself, "All those times Amy... [declaimed] the abnormality of life aboard this ship... [I never understood] what she really meant" (337). At this point in the story, readers can see Elder is starting to piece together all of the questions from his past. For instance, why he and some of his friends …show more content…
When Elder goes down to the lab to find Eldest, Eldest shows him needles (a physical surrounding) and tells him he needs to learn how to use them. "'In each of these needles... there is a special compound...[that] ensures that the child born has certain desirable characteristics'" (227-228) Eldest states. At first, Elder doesn’t know what to think about this whole situation. Readers can see how he could agree with Eldest because he doesn’t want to have a ship full of incompetent people; however, he doesn’t want a ship full of people engineered to be someone they are not meant to be. He realizes how doing this is immoral and it takes a sense of personality away from the people. Readers can infer Eldest does not want the people to be engineered because he himself would not want to be engineered into someone he is not. Another example of a physical surrounding bringing realization to a character is the books Equality finds towards the end of Anthem. Once Equality discovers the word "I" in one of the books, he recalls, "And when I understood this word...I wept in deliverance and in pity for all mankind" (98). Equality even mentions he found what he has been missing his whole life, a sense of personality, his "ego" as he describes in the book. He immediately finds his ego* because his curiosity and thirst for knowledge continues to grow. Readers can see how
In the book Anthem by Ayn Rand, Prometheus is a man who must overcome his collective society to find himself. Prometheus is born into a society where everything is equal. Without concern for consequences, he loves a woman and looks and discovers knowledge of the past. After his discovery is rejected he flees to the forest, and his lover follows. In the forest is where he finds the meaning of the word I. There is where he says "... we crushes all beneath it, and that which is white and that which is black are lost in the gray of it," he talks about what his society did to the differences of man, after he had run away. After Prometheus finds the house he says, "My happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end," which means his happiness is special and achieving this happiness is his final goal. Lastly, "I am, I think, I will," is the final sign that Prometheus has acknowledged himself as one being. Prometheus' quotes show that his emergences from his past, longing for happiness and realizing that he is a being make Prometheus the...
She was able to see a young woman only besmeared by old age and the labyrinth of a fulfilled life. The importance of peering beyond the earthly armor we develop through out our lives cannot be understated. Perception often changes easily for better or for worse. When we choose strengthen our resolve to read between the lines understanding
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 is different from the other men in his world, and because of this he has lived most of his life concealing his emotions, being outcasted and punished by the leaders and teachers of his society, and stripping himself of his talents and uniqueness, therefore he has every right to criticize the leaders who kept the real Equality trapped inside for so very long. Equality expresses his love for science and aspiration to be a Scholar throughout the book and talks of how he wished to be sent to the Home of Scholars so badly his hands trembled under the blankets at night and he had to bite his arm just to stop the pain of wanting something so much (Rand 24). To want something so badly and have to conceal it everyday with no one to share it with is a very difficult thing for someone to have to do. Equality also struggled with concealing his friendship,“International 4-8818 and we are friends.
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
The natural desire of Equality 7-2521 is knowledge who is born with a curse of uniqueness. He abides within the walls of a collectivist society. The citizens of this society prioritize the good of society over the welfare of the individual. In the beginning of the novel, Equality confesses that “[He] have broken the laws. The laws say that men may not write unless the Council of Vocations bid them so” (Anthem 17). Equality is asking for forgiveness and proves this by quoting “[I] strive to be like all our brother men, for all men must be alike” (Anthem 19). Through Equality’s journey of self-discovery, he gradually starts changing his mind on how he perceives of how critical the Council truly is. He begins rebelling without a care and denounces
At the start of Anthem, Equality is a collectivist who knows there is something wrong with the world he lives in. This allows him to evolve into an individualist. Equality says , “It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil. It is as if we were speaking alone to no ears but our own” (Rand 17). Equality admits he has committed a transgression and hopes to be forgiven. Equality, at this moment, is living to the standards of others because he lives in a society where no man is to think differently than another. This contradicts Rand’s philosophy because she says that a man is entitled to his own happiness and that you are in charge of it, but since Equality is living to the rules of his society, he cannot find his own happiness, for he is almost forbidden to do so. Likewise, it states in the text, “I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask none to live for me, nor do I live for any others. I covet no man’s soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet” (Rand 96). Equality realizes that he is not to live nor commit himself to the standards of others. He has come to the understanding, as Ayn Rand says in her interview, “That he cannot demand that others give up their lives to make him happy, nor should he wish to sacrifice himself for the happiness of others.” Equality finds his own happiness because he has found himself, and he has learned that he cannot put his happiness in the hands of others nor put the happiness of others in his own hands. This allowed him to find himself, and to find
In the beginning of the book, Equality is part of the society and is not an individual. “It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see” (Rand #261). This quotation shows how Equality feels about sin and what he thinks a sin is. This perspective on sin is not correct because he thinks being an individual is a sin. “We are nothing. Mankind is all. By the grace of our brothers are we allowed our lives. We exist, by
Equality realizes that he is different from others because he cares about his happiness, unlike others who are convinced to believe that a group’s happiness counts more than an individual’s happiness. After Equality is sent into exile, he comes upon the perfect place for him to live: the Uncharted Forest. Equality feels very safe in the forest and, he is happy because for the first time ever he does not wake up in the morning because he has to but because he rested well. He enjoys eating his food for the first time and realizes that he actually is happier when away from everyone in the city. Before he sees his reflection in the water, Equality says, “We knelt by the stream and we bent down to drink.
It is always finding a way to serve me. (Dickey, 275-6). Thus, Ed is the protagonist and hero of Deliverance. It is through this perilous voyage that Drew, Bobby, Lewis, and Ed undertake, that they prove their "masculinity," or lack thereof, to themselves and to the society in which they live. Works Cited Dickey, James.
Equality 7-2521 discovers the word “I”. For the first time, he can express his identity as an individual in language. He is now using his freedom. He just doesn’t know about but also lives it. It's interesting to note how quickly he moves from "I" to "my" – from talking about himself and his actions to talking about his possessions. The switch from “we” to “I” opened up a whole new life for him. It was such a big deal for Equality.
The beginning of the story opens with Equality being chastised because he is too tall and too smart. He noticed that “to be free, a man must be free of his brothers” (Rand 101). This quote shows that when society controls him, and he relies on everyone else, a lack of progress is inevitable. Even the higher powers control their city with aggressive strength; the Council of Vocations assigns Equality to be a street sweeper even though he wants to be a scholar. Out of curiosity, he finds a tunnel while on duty. He begins to write about himself, even though “it is a sin to think words no others are to see” (Rand 1). Having no obligation to others allows one to work towards their own goals, Equality is able to pass his previous instinct where “all men are one” (Rand 20). With the revelation of himself as being a separate indiv...
What the texts suggest about the relationship between how an individual sees themselves vs how the individual is seen by others, is through the concept of identity. An individual’s identity is shaped by many factors: life experiences, memories, personality, talents, relationships and many more.
People with cancer often begin to define themselves based on their experience with their illness, this self-definition through one’s cancer is one that the characters fear in John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars. The novel shows how the characters strive to discover their identities, but despite that are still identified by their illness. The novel also makes the argument that young people with cancer are not any more virtuous or different than other kids rather, they are just normal kids living with an illness. Augustus wants to be remembered and also be more than just a boy who battled cancer, but despite his efforts is still identified by his illness.
As Arlene Stein stated in her book, “The Stranger Next Door”, “What all of this suggests is that we need a more complex understanding of identities”. Each author that has a certain approach to writing an article and having their point proven. Some take a formal approach and other take an opinionated approach. For her book Arlene Stein takes more of an opinionated approach because she felt alone when everything began to change with her and society. “The Stranger Next Door” focuses on how people view change and how certain societies and people deal with individuals who are not in the “norm”.