Anthem, by Ayn Rand
First of all, I totally agreed with the people who claimed that Anthem is a lot like with the book "Uglies." I personally think that The Tunnel in Anthem represents The Smokes in Uglies. They both are a place for the transgressors in the book to stay as themselves. In Uglies, Tally goes to the Smokes and finds the real her. She actually finds out that she doesn't want to be pretty like everyone else. Similar to that, in the book Anthem, Equality 7-2521 starts thinking beyond and as time flows, he is being unlike others. He starts wondering things he should never know. In Uglies, Tally figures out the secret about the surgery and she is not supposed to know the secret. I am willing that the tunnel in the book Anthem is not found by the Councils just like the Smokes in Uglies was found.
Tunnel
Magnifying Glass
Image created by Ryoung Kim
Secondly, I though that this book was connected with The Giver too. I felt that the part of the main character thinking differently from others and seeing things differently was very similar. For example, in The Giver, Jonas finds out things by memories and in Anthem, Equality finds out things which were discovered in the past but was hidden. Also, in The Giver, Jonas tries to hide from the Council and runs away from the community. In result, the citizens had to feel all the pain Jonas left in the community. In Anthem, Equality, tries to hide the tunnel by giving up him self and getting beaten. His curiosity gets deeper and deeper as time goes by. Overall, to arrange my last thoughts, I think that the part when Equality was whipped was similar with South Korea's history. This is because in the past, they used to beat people when they won't follow the rules.
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Ryoung,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the tunnel represents Smoke. It is hidden from everyone and no one knows that it exists. To add, I think Equality 7-2521 is similar to Ailin, in the book "Ties that Bind, Ties that Break" because Ailin was different, and wanted to change the world regarding dictatorship and wanted to discover new things. Equality 7-2521 wanted to change the world too, but he wanted to add information to the community and wanted to make it a better place to live in. I really likes your montage, as it describes the tunnel and the council trying to find out what Equality 7-2521 is hiding. Good work!
Ryoung, I agree with you that Anthem is similar to The Uglies. However, I disagree with what you said about the Smoke and the tunnel in Anthem being a place for Tally/Equality 7-2521 to find out who they really are. Since Tally was with Shay, she already doubted wether she wanted to be pretty or not, I don't think it was only when she got to the Smoke. Although, when she was there, she did confirm that she wanted to stay Ugly. Also, in Anthem, Equality 7-2521 was different since the time when he was in school. It wasn't only when he got to the tunnel, but he already knew he was different from others a while back. Lastly, I have a question: do you think the Scholars will be pleased with Equality 7-2521 and his "gift"?
ReplyDeleteUglies is not as connected to Anthem as Anthem is to the Giver. In Uglies it is clear that a resistance is occurring and is continuing to occur. In The Giver and Anthem the high power is rarely questioned and has very large amount of control over the citizen of the community. This is what sets the books apart Uglies has a group of resistors for the main character to join but in Anthem the main character must resist alone and find his own way. To add to this in Anthem the council allows no rules to be broken whereas in uglies some rules are encouraged to be broken to help decide what job you are placed in. This again sets the book apart. This few examples prove that Anthem and Uglies are not even close to being as connected as The Giver and Anthem.
ReplyDeleteRyoung,
ReplyDeleteI agree that Anthem has a somewhat connection with Uglies. Although I feel that I can connected more to The Giver. In Uglies, the people know there's something out there they know that they can get somewhere. However, in The Giver and Anthem they don't feel that way they don't know if there is anything out there. Even though I don't totally agree with your post I still enjoyed reading your reasoning.
-Julianna(Juli)