Anthem Essay

You were born a man, raised by the best of parents, excelling at every aspect of life. You were confident, yet humble. Your life was skidding just below the line that is called perfection. Although you are a genius at everything, one particular subject drew your attention from all else, and that was writing. When you put pen to paper, words flow out like water going down a calm peaceful river, and the end result of each masterpiece was something that would captivate and control readers for ages. However, after submitting your first paper to the most prestigious magazine there was, you were turned down harshly, being claimed to write like an amateur. Following the incident, you were forced to become a janitor and was never able to show off your writing abilities ever again. Now, exit that life, and travel back to the body that you currently reside in. Would you be able to claim that as fair? Are you sure that the reason was only incompetence? In the world of Anthem, by Ayn Rand, every person is treated the same, and everyone is equal. Sounds like a peaceful world, right? You are right, peace exists in that world, but an extremely harsh price was paid. In exchange, individuality was stripped from society and the human race is nothing but a herd of sheep, conforming to any rule that they are given. And in this world that I am describing, a man by the name of Equality 7-2521 lives, his body towers over his fellow brothers and his mind is . He loved and excelled in science, and he dreamed to be put in the Home of the Scholars. However, he was chosen to be in the Home of the Street Sweepers where others like him were placed. I dont think the reason for this was his incompetence, or by error, I think that there was a greater evil behind this. Equality is different from all the others, he would have made many discoveries that other people wouldnt, and would have broke the cycle of their society.

A black sheep will always stand out from his/her brethrens. And that is exactly what Equality was. His brothers were mindless drones, programmed from the day they entered the Home of the Infants until they are in the Home of the Useless. He, on the other hand, showed difference from the beginning, outgrowing most of his brothers. There is evil in your bones, Equality 7-2521, for your body has grown beyond the bodies of your brothers ,(Rand 18). This was claimed by the teachers and the leaders. It was obvious that they were keeping an eye on him. Their society values the fact that everyone is the same and Equality was different their black sheep. We wished to know. We wished to know all the things which make the earth around us. We asked so many questions that the Teachers forbade it, (Rand 23). Equality was far from incompetent, his love of science would have lead him far in the world. It would allow him to change what has been wrongly written and uncover answers that would help mankind. However, this is not something that the Council would have wanted.

We must never speak of the times before the Great Rebirth, else we are sentenced to three years in the Palace of Detention, (Rand 19). If you were forbidden to speak of the past, how would you react? I personally would think of the past non stop, just because the fact that they had brought that subject to the front of the mind. The Council had made that law for a purpose, it was to make sure that no one would endeavor to break their well structured society. If Equality was to be put in into the Home of Scholars, he would have made discoveries like no other. These discoveries would most likely not be different from the discoveries in the beginning of the Unmentionable Times. It would have allowed for individuality to be easier to attain, and thus, brought down the society that the council worked so hard to create.

Would a soccer player who loves his sport tremendously and does well at it, be called incompetent? Equality had all the necessary tools to be put into the Home of the Scholars, but instead he was placed into the Home of the Street Sweepers. The councils motivation was that they knew that Equality was different from all the others, he would have uncovered all the secrets, and ultimately, destroyed their society. The Council claims that all of their brothers are equal, that you must not take favorites, but in fact, it is quite different, they throw away all of the more capable men into the Home of the Street Sweepers, to confirm the fact that their society would be clean and untouched by someone with higher quality.