Student Question
In Anthem, why did Ayn Rand name her main characters Prometheus and Gaea?
Quick answer:
Ayn Rand named her characters Prometheus and Gaea to symbolize their roles as bringers of enlightenment and creators of a new world. Prometheus, like the mythological Titan, brings fire (electricity) to humanity and suffers for it, paralleling Equality 7-2521's quest for knowledge and progress. Gaea, the Earth mother, represents Liberty 5-3000's role as the progenitor of a new society, embodying creation and renewal.
Prometheus, of Greek mythology, was a Titan, the forerunners of the Greek gods, who stole fire from Zeus (who was not a Titan) and gave the fire to mortals. Prometheus was horribly punished for this crime against Zeus and against order. He was also the god of forethought and the molder of humankind from clay. It was his desire to better the existence of humans that led to his conflicts with Zeus.
Gaea (also Gaia) was a Protogenos goddess, one of the original deities
connected with the original primeval elements of the universe. Some of these
were Earth, Air, Sea, Sky, Fresh Water, Underworld, Darkness, Night, Light,
Day, Procreation, and Time. Gaea is the mother of Earth, the begetter of the
universe. Her anthropomorphic depiction shows her as being at one with and
inseparable from the Earth: her legs remain only partially risen from the
ground.
In Anthem , Equality...
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7-2521, was a scientist unrecognized.
We loved the Science of Things. ... we awoke in the night ... and we thought that we wished to be sent to the Home of the Scholars when our time would come.
All the great modern inventions come from the Home of the Scholars, ...
He is consigned to street sweeping for his life's work; rediscovers
electricity, a form of fire; and takes it to the the World Council of Scholars
in order to improve the lives of his fellowkind. He is horribly punished for
his actions. In this, you can see the parallel to Prometheus as each brings the
potent power of the world as a gift to improve life and is then horribly
punished. Equality 7-2521 parallels a Titan since he is the first of a new line
of free people.
When Equality 7-2521 is working in an isolated area one day he meets Liberty
5-3000, having the mischance of falling in love with her--falling in love is
directly forbidden in their land.
It is our second Transgression of Preference, for we do not think of all our brothers, as we must, but only of one, and their name is Liberty 5-3000.
She follows him as he flees his punishment and they resume their forbidden love in the forest. Equality 7-2521 tells her that she shall be the mother of all that is to come. From the books they find in the forest's abandoned house dating from before the Great Rebirth, they choose names for themselves: Prometheus because, like Equality, he was a light bearer and Gaea because she was known as the mother of all that was new, as Liberty would come to be known.
He took the light of the gods and he brought it to men, and he taught men to be gods. And he suffered for his deed as all bearers of light must suffer. His name was Prometheus. And I have read of a goddess who was the mother of the earth and of all the gods. Her name was Gaea. Let this be your name, my Golden One, for you are to be the mother of a new kind of gods.
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