Anasha Roberts 1 Anasha Roberts AP Government 30 January 2014

Anthem by Ayn Rand Book Report

In the novella Anthem, Equality 7-2521 explains his background, the society in which he lives in, and his transgressions. He refers to himself and others in plural pronouns showing complete socialization and government control. In the beginning of the story, Equality 7-2521 starts off saying that he was sinning, for it is sin to think for yourself and not of your brothers and to write without the permission of the Council of Vacations. He then goes on to talk about his early years and the way of the land. Equality 72521, like all others born in the Anthem world, was taken from his parents at birth and raised in the House of the Infants. When he turned five years old, he was then transferred to Home of the Students, where he would stay until he reached the age fifteen. Through out his years in the Home of the Students, he was frowned upon because he was cursed with the ability to learn quickly. Because of his love for science, he wished to be sent to the Home of the Scholars. However, he was assigned to Home of the Street Sweepers. Equality 7-2521 accepts his job because he believes he is 1repenting for his transgressions and he will be forgiven. One day, he found an underground tunnel from the Unmentionable Times and visits it everyday during the three-hour long daily play. While working outside the city, he meets and falls in love with Liberty 5-3000. Continuing his work underground, Equality 7-2521 discovers electricity. One night, he loses track of time and was questioned. When he refused to answer, he was arrested and taken to the Palace of Corrective Detention, from which he escapes after being tortured. The next day he presented his discovery to the World Council of Scholars. The Council rejected him because a Council did not authorize it and tried to destroy his invention. When he saw what they were planning to do, he took his invention and fled into the Uncharted Forest. As he spent his first night in the forest, Equality 7-2521 realized that he was free to do whatever he wanted. The second day of his departure from the city, Equality 7-2521 discovered Liberty 5-3000 had followed him form the city. As they travel together, they come upon a house from the Unmentionable Times in the mountains and decide to live in it. While exploring the house, Equality 7-2521 and Liberty 5-3000 discover that the word spoken that is punishable by death if spoken is I, given through the

Anasha Roberts 2 power of ego. Realizing the value of individuality, they both give themselves new names. Equality 7-2521 has become Prometheus and Liberty 5-3000 has become Gaea. As the book comes to an end, Prometheus talks about the past and how men came to give up their individuality.

There are many issues in the world of Anthem, such as individualism. Individualism is a social theory favoring freedom of action for individuals over collective or state control. Individualism in the world of Anthem is nonexistent. The State controls everything and the people accept their authority. It is a sin and a crime to be different than your brothers and you all have to be the same. For example, Equality 5-2521 was very quick minded and his teachers frowned upon him and told him that it was evil to be superior to his brothers. In the United States, individualism is accepted and even encouraged. We have the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of press, etc. No one can control us as they do in the Anthem or take away our freedoms and rights. For example, if someone has a blog and they dont appreciate what the government is doing, they have the freedom to write what they think about it and the government cannot arrest them for it or tell them to take it down. Another issue is economic freedom. Economic freedom is the ability to make your own trade. In the Anthem, people have no economic freedom because the Council of Vocations chooses someones job for them. They decide where someone will work for the rest of their life. For example, the Council will call someones name and then point to him or her and say what he or she will be, such as cook or leader. Compared to the United States, this is a violation of many rights. In the United States, people have right to choose what they will do. People have the right to drop out, to stay in school, to make their own business, to be a doctor, or whatever their heart desires. Fore example, a persons parents may want he or she to be a doctor but if that individual doesnt want to be a doctor, they dont have to. An additional issue is liberty and freedom. Liberty and freedom is the power or right to act, speak, or think as one pleases. In the Anthem world the people do not have liberty or freedom. They dont have the liberty or freedom to choose what profession they want to go into or to choose who they want to have a baby with. In the United States we have many liberties and freedoms. For example, we can choose who we marry, were we work, what we think of any subject, what we talk about with our friends, and more. One of the major issues also in the

Anasha Roberts 3 Anthem is majority rule and minority rights. Majority rule is when a numerical majority of the voting populace holds the power to make decisions binding on everyone. Minority rights are the rights guaranteed to minorities that cant be moved or modified, even by a vote of the majority. In the Anthem, there is no such thing as majority rules because they dont vote. The State controls everything and because rights are nonexistent, there are no rights to violate. In the United States Constitution, the fourteenth amendment says that it protects the rights of the minority and the majority and that no one can have their rights and privileges taken away. For example, the Brown vs. Board of education of Topeka. In the case, African American children were denied the right to attend school with the white children. The courts sided with Brown and felt that separation of children according to race deprived children of their minority rights of an equal educational opportunity, even though the majority wanted to keep them separated. Another issue is citizen responsibility. Citizen responsibility is the responsibility of the citizen to do their part in their community. Equality 72521s responsibility is to do his job as a street sweeper, go to social meetings, go to social recreation, and to go the Palace of Mating. A citizens responsibilities in the United States are to follow the laws, pay taxes, serve jury duty when called upon, etc. Political socialization is a lifelong process by which people form their ides about politics and get political views. It is important because it shapes our present and future government. People are politically socialized by their family, peers, and social class. In the Anthem, people have politically socialized through the government controlling their school and controlling what they see, hear, and trying to control what and how they think. The government controls what the Home of Infants and Home of Students tell young people, so whatever the children know it was approved by the State. In the United States, people are political socialized by their parents, peers, school, and by the media. As a child in the United States grows up their parents may talk to each other about political issues or they may hear their local news discussing political problems. Although there arent many positive attributes to the social or political system in Anthem, there are a few and for every positive there is a negative. One of the positive attributes of the social attributes to the world in Anthem is that every one has a job to do for the community and they understand their responsibility. The downside to this is that they arent

Anasha Roberts 4 allowed to do anything unless a Council says its okay to do so. For example, the Council of Scholars rejected Equality 7-2521s invention because he was a Street Sweeper and a Council did not clear him to make an invention. They expect him to be a Street Sweeper and do nothing more. A positive political system attribute is that the government has order and they take care of their citizens. The negative aspect is that the government has too much control and rules everyones life. For example, because the government is so in control, the people of Anthem cannot think for themselves and they are frowned upon for being different, such as Equality 7-2521 when his teachers looked down on him because he was smart and tall. In America, there are many positive attributes in the social and political systems. One of the great things about our social system is that we can control it and the government cant. For example, we can choose our religious affiliation and the government cant discriminate against us because of it. A negative aspect is that other people in out society can discriminate against a person because of who they are and not get arrested because they have the freedom of speech and they can say whatever they want. One of the positive aspects of our political system is that we control it. We, the people of the United States, choose who runs us and who represents us as a whole. For example, we elect our president into office and we elect our Senate and our Representative and if they are doing something we dont like then we can take them our of office. A negative aspect to our political system is that it cannot please everyone at the same time and there are many loopholes. The events that happened in the Anthem will never happen in the United States of America unless our constitution gets destroyed. There are too many amendments and clauses in the Constitution to allow many things to happen. Because of the way the Constitution is set up, no one can take away our rights even if they tried. For example, the government will never be able to take away our freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of press, freedom of press, etc. I would recommend this to all my friends because it is a very interesting and inspiring read. It has showed me how many rights as an American citizen I have taken advantage of. I think many people of my generation should read this book to open their eyes and show how grateful we should be for the government we have today.