Anthem

The Unmentionable Times in Ayn Rand's Anthem refer to the times that occurred before the Great Rebirth. Readers can realize that the Unmentionable Times refer to our modern world, particularly the...

The major point of this society's existence is for all men to work for the benefit of all mankind. Work-this doesn't mean to play or to relax. Every minute of a person's life in the society in...

Fear is the most prevalent emotion in the society depicted in Anthem because Ayn Rand wants to point out the many flaws of any kind of collectivist society, which is a society that puts the needs...

Doing or thinking anything by oneself without government permission is among the gravest of transgressions in the extreme collectivist society conjured by Ayn Rand in Anthem. Thinking one's own...

Rand uses a simile in Chapter 2 when Equality says, "The fields are black and ploughed, and they lie like a great fan before us, with their furrows gathered in some hand beyond the sky, spreading...

Equality lives in a society that places the highest importance on everyone being equal; hence the irony of his name, because he does not want to be equal deep down inside. He does his best to...

Simile: an example of figurative language in which a comparison is made between two different things using "like" or "as." Equality 7-2521 uses similes to describe The Golden One. Given that he...

"Anthem (1938) is a science fiction novelette of a future primitive society in which the word "I" is forbidden. Rand's point in this work is that the individualism which had built a complex...

Anthem takes place in the future, but this 1937 work is a commentary on Ayn Rand's contemporary world of the first third of the twentieth century. It reflects her opinion of the Soviet society that...

Another allusion in the novel Anthem is seen with Liberty, the girl Equality finds in the woods upon his escape from the society. He first meets Liberty as she is spreading seeds in a field while...

Equality 7-2521's growth in knowledge and embrace of individual talents and gifts is symbolized by his movement toward light. When he begins to think for himself, he invents, or reinvents, the...

For four years, Equality 7-2521 works as a street sweeper. His day begins when the bell rings at the Home of the Street Sweepers. He has half an hour to dress and then to eat breakfast at one of...

The society in Anthem obliterates the individual mind and self through a number of ways; It outlaws solitude and proclaims that solidarity is the cause of all evil. In fact, the society believes...

Moreover, Equality is taller than the others, physically symbolizing difference which is not allowed in the dystopian society. I think the intent of the council is more to relegate him to a...

Prisoners never try to escape from the Palace of Corrective Detention because none of them dare defy the authorities by planning to evade their fate. This is despite the fact that the locks to the...

Quite simply, in the book, Anthem, written by Ayn Rand, the Saint of the Pyre is trying to communicate the banned word "I." Of course, uttering the word "I" is punishable by imminent death in the...

As the other answers have noted, Rand does not use much taste or smell imagery in this novel. Like most authors in our primarily visual culture, she relies on images we can see in our mind's eye....

Situational irony occurs when events turn out the opposite of the way they were expected. The central irony that run through this dystopian society is that its most important organizing principle,...

The protagonist for Ayn Rand's Anthem is named Equality 7-2521 and the first physical character trait that he points out is the fact that he is six-feet tall. His teachers and leaders have told him...

The main character in Rand's Anthem is named Equality 7-2521 and he lives in a community that has brain-washed everyone into believing that man must live for the community and not for himself. The...

Verbal irony is when a speaker says something that's the opposite of what is intended. It can be intentional, as when a friend who hates my hat says, "Nice hat!" It can also be intentional on the...

Euphemism: This is the use of pleasant or inoffensive wording to describe something unpleasant. The initial members of the council who developed their society found nice names for even unpleasant...

Equality 7-2521 is an independent thinker who researches whatever information he can get his hands on. At one point, Equality is thinking about the Unmentionable Times and the wars he has heard...

The Council of Vocations is a group of men who decide where each person will work when they come of age (18 years old). Each person must go to that job until s/he is about forty years old, at which...

All of the characters have names which convey unity and collectivity. The society of this novella is a dystopia in which all forms of individuality have been purposefully erased or forgotten. Even...

In Anthem, Equality 7-2521 and Liberty 5-3000 have to cope with the problem of being trapped in a dystopic world that denies people their individuality in favor of rigid conformity. Because nobody...

Some motifs that are found in Anthem by Ayn Rand are Fear, Uniformity, and Naming. Fear In many ways control over the society is exerted by the presence of fear. The Street Sweepers with whom...

Just like many other authors, Ayn Rand uses color to suggest to the mind images for the reader to understand. There are colors that are associated with seasons, for example. If an author describes...

The Uncharted Forest in Ayn Rand’s Anthem can be interpreted in multiple ways, but a primary symbolic meaning directly relates to the growth of the individual. Since the city in Anthem is composed...

Equality 7-2521, was sent to the Palace of Corrective Detention because he refused to tell the Council of the Home about the Tunnel when it was discovered that he had gone somewhere alone and that...

Chapter two is where the story is found about the evil ones discussed in Ayn Rand's Anthem. Equality, the main character, discloses the history of a war that happened many years before the current...

One of the allusions used by Ayn Rand in the Anthem is "Saint of the pyre." It is used with reference to those who had understood the concept of a self identity and attempted to enlighten others by...

In Ayn Rand's philosophy, the greatest evils are the suppression of individuality and the requirement by society that a person subordinate his own will to that of others. The dystopia of Anthem...

In a charged moment in the novella, Equality 7-2521 breaks the rules of his society to tell Liberty 5-3000, a young woman he privately names the Golden One, that she is beautiful. In saying this,...

Ayn Rand puts simple diction in the mouth of her narrator, Equality. He also frequently uses repetition. This reflects the simplistic education of the collectivist society in which he has grown up...

Equality 7-2521 is brave and intelligent. He stole a candle so that he could work in the tunnel at night, despite the heavy sentence that such a transgression carries; this displays his courage, as...

The opening words to Anthem by Ayn Rand reveal the overwhelming effects of a lack of individuality. "It is a sin to write this..." allows the reader a glimpse of the world in which Equality 7-2521...

In chapters 8 and 9, Equality 7-2521 begins his sojourn in the forest. Being alone in nature is a new experience, and at first (in chapter 8) he luxuriates in its wonders. He comes to a new...

The use of "we," or first person plural, can be quite a confusing thing to understand when first reading Ayn Rand's Anthem. The society in which Equality (the main character) lives has eliminated...

The Council has intentional and what could be called "sinister" motives in assigning Equality 7-2521 to be a street sweeper. He is very intelligent and seeks out knowledge on his own, stealing...

Anthem has religious denotations as a choral work or part of a prayer service, although a more prevalent usage of the word finds it in combination with the word national. The national anthem of a...

One literary device used in Chapter 2 is that of flashback. Equality 7-2521 actually speaks to Liberty 5-3000, but he also takes us back, in flashback, to the first time he noticed her: Equality...

Anthem, like all of Ayn Rand's books, is as much a theoretical essay expressing her ideological claims as a novel. In this book, the character Equality 7-2521 is a classic Rand superman, living in...

One of the reasons why fear is the prevalent emotion of the society that Rand depicts in Anthem is because of its collective nature. Rand depicts a world where the collective vision must supplant...

Equality 7-2521 is intelligent, independent, passionate, and stubborn. He stands out from others in every way. Equality 7-2521 speaks in the third person, but he is neither royalty nor crazy. He...

The Uncharted Forest is an instance of a motif that recurs in dystopian literature, representing a forbidden place to which the protagonist is drawn as a symbol of the elements missing from, or...