Sunday, November 2, 2014

Literary Analysis Question - Ji Won Jung

The biggest choice Equality 7-2521 has made was to do actions against the laws the Council of Scholars has made. The first big choice he decided was to defy the Council of Scholars. This decision led him to the re-discovery of the light bulb. After he and his brothers were caught in suspicion, he was sent to jail which he escapes later on. The reason was to present the re-discovery to the Council of Scholars. For today, we had to read chapters seven and eight which revealed how the Council of Scholars accepted this unexpected event.

Equality 7-2521 risked his life to do this. He had a reasonable purpose for doing this. He was very curious about what was in the tunnel and he wanted to help the Council of Scholars. He wanted to install the light bulbs in the world and become a part of the Council itself. The book itself doesn't explain why Equality 7-2521 made this decision so far but we can make some simple assumptions that he wanted to improve the world. In order to do that, he had to go against the rules: you are not allowed to go in restricted areas, you are to do what you have been told, you work for the group and you work for the community, and you obey the rules of the Council of Scholars because they know everything.

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People are obligated to do what they are told to, do their assigned job, and obey the Council of Scholars. Ayn Rand is telling us that this dystopia represents the USSR. 

Obviously, what happened in chapter seven isn't what Equality 7-2521 expected to happen. "'How dared you think that your mind held greater wisdom than the minds of your brothers? And if the Councils had decreed that you should be a Street Sweeper, how dared you think that you could be of greater use to men than in sweeping the streets?'" (Chapter 7, Rand) They didn't welcome this new science and they found it as some sort of magic or trickery. I think Ayn Rand is trying to show us that this was what happened in Soviet Russia. The Council of Scholars represent the communist government and Equality represents people that have the courage to express their feelings. Ayn Rand expressed her thoughts about communism through this book but the government didn't accept any "unusual" and "daring" thoughts or ideas.

2 comments:

  1. Ji Won,
    You post shows great information.

    As you can clearly see from Anthem, Equality 7-2521 has a head strong personality, in somewhat a selfish manner. We see Equality as the protagonist in the book, as he re-discovers or discovers electricity and is against the dystopian society. As coming in the World of Scholars, sure that they would accept his invention made him bitter in a way. He ran out into the forest, breaking all laws made by the Elders. Did he want a better utopia for all, or for himself?

    We sometimes have to take about the protagonist in a different perspective; was not accepting Equality 7-2521's invention for the greater good?

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  2. Ji Won,

    Great job with your analysis for the quote. Something I noticed that was eye catching was the quoting you put in your explanation saying "'How dared you think that your mind held greater wisdom than the minds of your brothers? And if the Councils had decreed that you should be a Street Sweeper, how dared you think that you could be of greater use to men than in sweeping the streets?'" (Chapter 7, Rand). For me, this quote is pretty peculiar because it is showing that it is not Equality 7-2521 who is showing wisdom over the minds of others, and the Councils are the ones who show power over everything. This is something I wanted to reflect on because it shows how men cannot be the same and sacrifice within each other. In fact, even when prohibiting the fact that "I" is not allowed shows that one person has more power over the others. Therefore, having a say about something would make you different and important, while you are supposed to be like the others.

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