Analysis Of Anthem, By Ayn Rand

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‘The achievement of his own happiness is man’s highest moral purpose’. Ayn Rand develops Equality’s character based on her beliefs of how a society should be run. This quote is from Rand’s The Virtue of Selfishness. Most of her work has the same base line, that individualism is what keeps ideas flowing and gives everyone their own rights so that they can be their own person and achieve what they want to as an individual.

In the story Anthem written by Ayn Rand, Equality, later known as Prometheus, is an egoist. Rand writes her story this way intentionally, she hates the idea of a collectivist society and being an egoist means individuality, which of course isn’t possible in a collectivist society. Rand proves to the reader that she is against …show more content…
His old society was based on keeping people equal, which was ironic because his name is equality yet he is the only one who is different. “It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil. It is as if we are speaking alone to no ears but our own. And we know well that there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone” (17). Equality knows what he is doing is considered wrong, but he does it anyways. The reader can somehow tell from these first few sentences that Equality is going to stand out. The fact that his first sentence was, “It is a sin to write this” is a sign. “We have solved secrets of which the scholars have no knowledge...and yet there is no shame in us and no regret. We say to ourselves that we are a wretch and a traitor. But we feel no burden upon our spirit and no fear in our heart” (37). Equality knows he has broken many rules and gone against everything his society stands for but he doesn’t care. He doesn’t feel guilty for being different than what his society is telling him he should be. In the beginning of the story is a sense of Equality’s guilt free feelings about this. It seems that Equality knows how serious his society is about everyone being equal and the same yet it seems like he has been told this for so long and followed all of these rules that it isn’t as bold anymore. It is faint and has been pushed to the back of his mind to accomplish things instead of using it to go through a checklist to making sure he is doing everything right. “No single one can possess greater wisdom than the many scholars who are elected by all men for their wisdom. Yet we can” (54). In this part of the story Equality is again realizing he is smarter than they give him credit
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