Literary Analysis-Ha Marron

Ha Marron

Literary Analysis

Anthem

By Ayn Rand

Rotation #4

Part 7 & 8





What themes does Ayn Rand explores in Anthem?

Link to Literary Analysis

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Historical Context - Daphne M

Daphne M
Rotation #2
Historical Context



Why was this book controversial? Which themes or ideas were challenging to society?


I think that in the book Anthem, Ayn Rand (the author) is sending a controversial message about the "I" or individuality theme. In the book, being unique or an individual is a bad thing. You could be killed or tortured only by saying the word I, so instead, they referred to themselves as "we". On the other hand, she is trying to show in the book that being yourself is good. Its good to be different, and sometimes you just need to step out of the box. Like Equality 7-2521. He is not like the others and he knows it. He even knows its bad to be different in his community. 

Connection Captain - Daphne M

After reading section 1&2 of the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand I had many questions in my mind, but mostly connections. The first thing I most connected too were other books. The book seems to be a dystopian novel, and will further on show more of that. This reminds me of other dystopian novels such as, city of ember, uglies, divergent, the hunger games, etc. But, the one I most connected with was the Giver. It appers to be both societies are controled and don't seem to have freedom what so ever. The main charecter, who seems to be Equality 7-2521, reminds me of Jonas in The Giver. This is because they both are curious and intelligent. They both want to seek the truth. I have a feeling that Equality 7-2521 will try to find things he isn't supposed too, and will get in trouble like Jonas did. Additionally, as the book states in part 1, they don't know nothing about history or anything from the past. They call it the "Unmentionable Times". Equality 7-2521 is an individual. He is not like the others. His teacher got mad because he was too smart, and he even tried to be like Union 5-3992 a stupid boy in his class.


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In part 2 of the book Anthem, we see more about Equality 7-2521. We see that he falls in love with a girl named Liberty 5-300 or The Golden One. They fall in love with each other and talk for the first time. This reminds me again of The Giver. When Jonas falls in love with Fiona and starts having dreams with her. I predict, Equality 7-2521 will eventually learn more since he is so smart, and will pass his knowledge to the Golden One. But, I think she will betray him since in this community, it is wrong to keep secrets of things you should not know. On the other hand, something I do not understand is why the community thinks the ones who lived in the unmentionable times, are evil. Is it because maybe they think they destroyed those times? I dont know.

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Anthem Parts 9-10, Line Illuminator

Anthem, by Ayn Rand

     "We have followed you," they said, "and we shall follow you wherever you go. If danger threatens you, we shall face it also. If it be death, we shall die with you. You are damned, and we wish to share your damnation."

     I chose this quote because it ensured me that Liberty 5-000 truly loves Equality now and it gave me the thought that they will stay together forever. Now, Liberty 5-000 doesn't care about breaking the laws anymore. She thinks like Equality which was the cause of love between them and it made me more curious about what will happen in the story and if the love will impact the story.

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     "We bent to raise the Golden One to their feet, but when we touched them, it was as if madness had stricken us. We seized their body and we pressed our lips to theirs. "

     This quote clearly represents love between Equality 7-2521 and Liberty 5-000. I believe that it made the audience 100% sure that the two characters love each other. I have been thinking till now that love has been growing between them since they met each other. However, there were some people who thought that it wasn't love. They thought that it was a feeling of panic because they broke the laws. This quote ensured the readers that the strange feeling which Equality mentioned was love. 

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Line Illuminator

Anthem, by Ayn Rand, Parts 7-8

"We did not wish to move. We thought suddenly that we could lie thus as long as we wished, and we laughed aloud at the thought. We could also rise, or run, or leap, or fall down again. "

    
     For me, this quote was very touching because it showed me that Equality 7-2521 has finally found freedom. Now, he can do whatever he wants, think whatever he wants and create new inventions. It gave me a brief idea that Equality 7-2521is going to escape totally from the community and is going to start a new life. I am predicting that he will identify the secrets the Councils are hiding and is going to reveal them. I think that Equality thinks that he is no longer in the community because he now thinks that he can do what he wants. He now also knows how he looks like so this shows me that he is now knowing everything step by step. 

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"It took fifty years to secure the approval of all the Councils for the Candle, and to decide upon the number needed, and to re-fit the Plans so as to make candles instead of torches. This touched upon thousands and thousands of men working in scores of States.

     To me, I found this quote very interesting because it was very shocking to me. I realised that the Councils took very long to make one decision. To me, I believe that it took the Councils a very long time to secure the approval of all the Councils for the Candle because of the danger which might be brought to the community. They must think, consider and calculate the situation which might be brought by every single movement. 

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Question Commander Parts 3-4

Anthem, by Ayn Rand



1. Why do you think that the ones who are smarter than the others are treated differently and does jobs which are low ranking?

I think that there is a big secret which the Councils are hiding and should not be released. Since the Councils doesn't want anyone to discover the secret or know about it, I think that they didn't want anyone who can think beyond to exist in the community. According to this, they made Equality 7-2521 sweep the floor as their job hoping that he won't try to think beyond. I personally think that the Councils didn't want Equality 7-2521 to go outside in the community and communicate with others for he might discover something.  

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2. Do you think Liberty 5-3000 will be a important role in the story?

In the book, Liberty 5-3000 appears to be a transgressor like Equality 7-2521. This led me to think that Liberty 5-3000 will help Equality discover something new or maybe follow him through the journey because she has similar thoughts as Equality. I think that they will try to discover something new and bring a change to the community but has to fight silently with the Councils or they will both die. 

3. Why aren't the people allowed to express one's feelings or opinion?

While reading the book till now, I wondered why the people weren't allowed to express their feelings in the book and I think that this is because of equality. I personally think that the community does not want anyone to show their feelings or opinion and convince others. There is no such thing called opinion in the community and the answer is always there. They must all have the same thoughts and be equal without anyone being better than another. 

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Anthem Read Lucas L Connection Captain

My first connection is with the Giver. This book and the giver have many different connections. The first one being that the way the people arrange themselves. They both try to be dystopian, and they both believe what everyone believes. In the giver, out of the city is unknown to them and in Anthem, everyone believes that the world is flat. Another connection is that the elder's go to "daycares" in both books. In Anthem (after forty years old) they are called useless men and are put into a place called the Home of the Useless, and they are soon to die. If they live (rarely) till forty-five, they are called the Ancient Ones. In the Giver, the Elders are put into a home and are released, meaning they get killed.
Picture made by me

My second connection is to the Uglies. The Uglies is a book that a girl and her friend go to the unknown, and their teachers had told them that there was nothing beyond their little bubble place, just like in Anthem. The people there no nothing. The world is not flat, but in there world it is. In the Uglies, they find ancient ruins in there pathway to the unknown. In Anthem they were called the Unmentionable Times, and there was a great tunnel built by men in the past and it is called the Unmentionable Times because most of the things were forgotten. In the Uglies, its the same thing. People have forgotten about the ruins and what great things the past holds. Only the people who question there identity and location find out about these ruins. These are the connections to Anthem and the Uglies

(picture made by me)