The Role Of Equality In Ayn Rand's Anthem

Warren Farrell, an American author once said “Nobody really believes in equality anyway” and this is true because, equality among people is near impossible to create while still making everyone happy. For many years people have been striving to have complete equality in their everyday lives. Equality, to a certain extent is a wonderful characteristic, but complete equality is not. Not all people have the same talents or weaknesses, so therefore, you can never have true equality due to limiting other people's freedom. In the novella Anthem by Ayn Rand, they have created a society with complete equality, where no one is happy, especially the main character whose name is “Equality”. The rules of the society of Anthem exist because the government

Equality stated multiple times that he and his fellow brother were not happy or satisfied and towards the end of Anthem Equality makes it very clear that happiness is important to him as a person. The first society he lived in didn’t have a specific rule that outlawed happiness, but it did say that smiling and laughing was frowned upon and things that would bring the citizens happiness was taken away. They had these rules because to reach complete equality you have to take happiness away or else one person will be happier than another. Equality and his fellow brother were not happy and it is proved when he said “We Equality 7-2521 were not happy in those years in the home of the students” (21). This implies that even as a child in school they already knew that this world they were living in was not a happy place. Equality and others were made to sit through these years of school to then be assigned a job and not even be able to choose for themselves what they had learned. He talks about others near him who were also very unhappy. Equality said “There are Solidarity 9-6347, who are a bright youth, without fear in the day; but they scream in their sleep, and they scream: "Help us! Help us! Help us!" into the night, in a voice which chills our bones, but the Doctors cannot cure Solidarity

The society had this law because if the citizens were allowed to pick their own individual job then one person might excel more and go farther than another individual person which would then defeat the purpose of the society. Towards the beginning of the book, not being able to express themselves was evident in the fact that happiness was frowned upon. However, then it soon reached the point of where they couldn’t select their own jobs. Equality stated “We cannot look upon International 4-8818 and not smile in answer. For this they were not liked in the Home of the Students, as it is not proper to smile without reason. And also they were not liked because they took pieces of coal and they drew pictures upon the walls, and they were pictures which made men laugh. But it is only our brothers in the Home of the Artists who are permitted to draw pictures, so International 4-8818 were sent to the Home of the Street Sweepers, like ourselves” (29) this demonstrates not only the idea of happiness being frowned upon, but also people not being allowed to do what they were good at or what they enjoyed. At another point in the book he said “We wished to be a Scholar” (25) and then they were placed as a street sweeper. Being able to