Assignment #4

Ayn Rand’s Anthem takes place in the future where society has deteriorated so much so that it is based solely on the worship of the covenant of “WE.” Equality 7-2521 describes the world he inhabits whose collective ideals strip all men of their individuality by encouraging conformity throughout their lives from infancy to senility. Equality 7-2521 struggles to mature in this world because his elevated stature and curious intellect are constantly looked upon as transgressions by both his teachers and leaders alike. Because of this, when the time comes for Equality 7-2521 to step before the council of Vocations, he is granted the work of “street-sweeper”, the most menial of occupations assigned to citizens of the state. Equality 7-2521 along with his companions International 4-8818, Fraternity 2-5503, and Solidarity 9-6347 are all assigned to the Home of the street-sweepers for their high spirits had not yet been suppressed by their brethren. The Council of Vocations mistakenly encourages Equality 7-2521’s curiosity however because it is through his daily labor that he discovers an abandoned underground tunnel from the “Unmentionable Times” in the city cesspool. It is here where Equality 7-2521 secretly surpasses the world’s greatest scholars through his rediscovery of electricity, a great power unknown to man since before the “Great Rebirth.”

Since Equality 7-2521’s youth, he had been different from his brothers. While in the Home of Infants, Equality 7-2521fought with his brothers and was locked in the cellar most often of the children. “There are few offenses blacker than to fight with or brothers, at any age and for any cause whatsoever.” (ch.1) recited the Home’s council. From ages five to fifteen, Equality 7-2521 resided in the Home of the Students and was lashed more often than his brothers for his intelligence constantly surpassed theirs. “It is not good to be different from our brothers, but it is evil to be superior to them.” (ch.1) On the first day of Spring, when Equality 7-2521 and his fellow students reached the age of fifteen, they were granted what was to become their life’s work by the Council of Vocations. While other young men were assigned the positions of leader, cook, doctor, or actor, Equality 7-2521 was cast as a street-sweeper for the council feared he would advance above society if his mentality was not suppressed through toil and exertion. Although Equality 7-2521 longed to be sent to the Home of Scholars to explore the “science of things,” he honorably accepted his new life mandate as an absolution to his habitual transgressions of preference, intelligence, and curiosity.

As a street-sweeper, Equality 7-2521 develops mutual friendships with his fellow sweepers International 4-8818 and Union 5-3992. International 4-8818 was a tall, strong lad just as Equality 7-2521 had been. “Their eyes are like fireflies, for there is laughter in their eyes.” Union 5-3992 was a sickly fellow and was regularly struck with convulsions, “when their mouth froths and their eyes turn white.” International 4-8818 and Union 5-3992 were also made into street-sweepers by the Council for it saw them incompetent of any other positions in society. While working at the edge of the city, Equality 7-2521 first caught sight of Liberty 5-3000, a female field-worker of the Home of the Peasants beyond the city. “Their eyes were dark and hard and glowing, with no fear in them, no kindness, and no guilt.”(ch.2) After days of observing Liberty 5-3000 at work, Equality 5-2521 was spotted by Liberty 5-3000 and she acknowledged him in a subtle salute. In due time, Equality 7-2521 broke the cycle of their silent communication. “You are beautiful, Liberty 7-2521.” Liberty 5-3000 responded and the two conversed every few days. Because “women are forbidden to take notice of men” and “It is a transgression to speak to men of other trades,” it is apparent that Liberty 5-3000 was made a field-worker to punish her acts of defiance against the great “WE” just as Equality 7-2521 was made a street-sweeper for his non-compliance.

The Council of Vocations judged that by appointing Equality 7-2521 to street-sweeper, his inquisitiveness would perish beneath his strenuous toiling. However, while cleaning the city cesspool Equality 7-2521 made an astonishing discovery. Equality 7-2521 and International 4-8818 pulled at an iron grill to expose a bottomless shaft, Against International 4-8818’s protest Equality 7-2521’s overwhelming curiosity compelled him to go down the shaft and discover that it was from the remnants of the “Unmentionable Times.” Equality 7-2521 swore that he would protect his newfound secret and progressed to experiment with all the equipment he took from the Home of the Scholars. “Now we sit in the tunnel for three hours each night and we study. We melt strange metals, and we mix acids, and we cut open the bodies of the animals we find in the city cesspool.”(ch.1) When Equality 7-2521 discovered electricity and that it could be manipulated by man, he saw only opportunity for all humanity and he was determined to show the World Council of Scholars his findings, no matter the severity of his punishment. “They will see, understand, and forgive. For our gift is greater than our transgression.”(ch.5)

Ayn Rand’s Anthem depicts a future where the collective conquers the individual enough so that the word “I” is forgotten because of its disuse. Rand creates a world where man’s tolerance of the deterioration of society results in reclusion to the dark ages where all aspects of the human ego are lost to all whose spirits are broken by their brethren. Although the Council of Vocations attempted to suppress Equality 7-2521’s developing egotistical nature by granting him remedial work with no chance of advancement, it significantly aided his quest for knowledge considering if he hadn’t been cleaning the cesspool, he would have never found the tunnel from the “Unmentionable Times” and wouldn’t have been able to conduct the research that distinguished him from all other men.