Anthem Essays - Sin, Social Philosophy, Crime, Dichotomies

Anthem The word I makes one an individual. In Ayn Rands Anthem the word I is lost and there is no individual. Just the collective people working for a common goal. The individual cannot survive in this world because it is a sin to set yourself apart as an individual. If it is a sin to be an individual wouldnt it be impossible to live without sinning. Equality 7-2521 lives in this world and he is beginning to think there is something more. So therefore a conflict springs forth from what he is and what he is taught to be. Equality 7-2521 lives in a world that controls all. In this world you have no decisions to make because you arent given any. Everything is decided for you. Our hero, Equality 7-2521, wants to make his own decision. This is a sin. You arent allowed preference in his world. What our hero doesnt realize is that he is longing for freedom and individuality. In his world Equality 7-2521 is not an individual. No one is. Everyone is working for everyone else, in a group. This is our heros dilemma. He had such an urge to follow his free will that he strayed away from his job, that was chosen for him, and left to do his own work. He thought that if he worked for the common good that he would be given the job he wanted. This was not so because he did the work by himself. And anything done by one person must be evil. Our hero struggled to become what he was taught to be, but his own preference and free will took over. He was shunned for this and told he was evil just for believing he was different from everyone else. Once Equality 7-2521 leaves this world to be by himself, he begins to question the world he lives in. This is the first time he has dared question the world he was given. We all accept the world we live in. Equality 7-2521 is happy being by himself. He asks himself that if this is evil then what is good. He begins to realize the true nature of life. He realizes that being with other people all the time is only good if you choose to. He meets up with the woman he loves and cherishes every moment he spends alive. For the first time in his life he is happy to be alive. Before he always didnt care either way whether he was alive or dead. When he is at last introduced to the word I, he weeps. He lived his whole life with never knowing why he was alive and never believing he had a purpose. Our hero is an individual now and he knows it is not evil.