Anthem
~Emma Murawski
Recently I finished reading Anthem by Ayn Rand. Anthem was written in 1937 and touches upon a somewhat touchy subject especially during the time the book was written: society and its flaws. Anthem is a fictional book told from the perspective of a man by the name Equality 7-2521 who talks about the flaws in his society where everyone is part of the whole. You can’t look different, be smarter than your peers, or even think a thought other than what you are taught. You can’t have or give someone a name other than what they are given and you refer to yourself as we and others as they. In a world where there are no lightbulbs or cars and basically no chance to fall in love other than one night in the town designated for mating, if you break any of these laws, you will be punished. However, Equality 7-2521 is different. They grew up hating school because it was too easy and grew very tall and slim. Ever since a young age, teachers would mock him just for his physical appearance which he couldn’t do anything about. As they grew older, they began to think thoughts other than they are allowed to think such as: What was the old country like? Why does light have to come from fire? As more questions are raised in the mind of Equality 7-2521, they document everything in the book Anthem.
Anthem does a fantastic job of touching upon society’s afflictions. Unfortunately, there are a lot. Ayn Rand can portray the flaws by giving the reader a character, Equality 7-2521, with an open mind and new ideas. Equality 7-2521 uses his knowledge from schooling and open mind to create new projects to better his life and society. They also start to grow feelings for a peasant girl called the Golden One and Equality 7-2521 starts to question even more why no one can provide each other with a name and he thinks about the Palace of Mating (the night people are sent out to meet someone and “get together”). Equality 7-2521 eventually comes to discover the “unspeakable word” and its meaning.
I enjoyed reading this book a lot! The concept of a society in which everyone is considered a part of the whole and everyone must be the same is utterly fascinating. I often hear people pondering what the perfect society would be like, and the society in the book seems like a place in which many would believe to be perfection. Anthem leaves you thinking about the way an individual is treated in our society today and how it would be much different if we all lived as a whole. How would the world be different? Would it be better? Or would it inhibit growth as a community?
Recently I finished reading Anthem by Ayn Rand. Anthem was written in 1937 and touches upon a somewhat touchy subject especially during the time the book was written: society and its flaws. Anthem is a fictional book told from the perspective of a man by the name Equality 7-2521 who talks about the flaws in his society where everyone is part of the whole. You can’t look different, be smarter than your peers, or even think a thought other than what you are taught. You can’t have or give someone a name other than what they are given and you refer to yourself as we and others as they. In a world where there are no lightbulbs or cars and basically no chance to fall in love other than one night in the town designated for mating, if you break any of these laws, you will be punished. However, Equality 7-2521 is different. They grew up hating school because it was too easy and grew very tall and slim. Ever since a young age, teachers would mock him just for his physical appearance which he couldn’t do anything about. As they grew older, they began to think thoughts other than they are allowed to think such as: What was the old country like? Why does light have to come from fire? As more questions are raised in the mind of Equality 7-2521, they document everything in the book Anthem.
Anthem does a fantastic job of touching upon society’s afflictions. Unfortunately, there are a lot. Ayn Rand can portray the flaws by giving the reader a character, Equality 7-2521, with an open mind and new ideas. Equality 7-2521 uses his knowledge from schooling and open mind to create new projects to better his life and society. They also start to grow feelings for a peasant girl called the Golden One and Equality 7-2521 starts to question even more why no one can provide each other with a name and he thinks about the Palace of Mating (the night people are sent out to meet someone and “get together”). Equality 7-2521 eventually comes to discover the “unspeakable word” and its meaning.
I enjoyed reading this book a lot! The concept of a society in which everyone is considered a part of the whole and everyone must be the same is utterly fascinating. I often hear people pondering what the perfect society would be like, and the society in the book seems like a place in which many would believe to be perfection. Anthem leaves you thinking about the way an individual is treated in our society today and how it would be much different if we all lived as a whole. How would the world be different? Would it be better? Or would it inhibit growth as a community?
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