Literary Analysis Blog Juho

Literary Analysis

Juho Kim

Humanities 3.8

Mrs. Hancock

How does the protagonist change from the beginning to the end of the novel?  What does this character learn about himself (or herself) and about how the world works?

During the course of the novel, Equality, the protagonist undergoes a series of changes that narrow down to one specific main idea. He realises the power of each individual and the concept of individuality.

In the beginning he Equality 7-2521 was more like everyone, thinking about everyone, and believing the power of the group. But after he discovers something called light, he starts to believe in the power of an individual. He realises there are some parts that only some know and only some should know which is also the concept of individual secrets. For his entire life, he has been told one thing, had his entire story being planned out before him. "For our face and our body were beautiful. Our face was not the faces of our brothers, for we felt not pity when looking upon it. Our body was not like the bodies of our brothers, for our limbs were straight and thin and hard and strong" (Ayn Rand, part 8) In this line, it is clearly visible the change in his thoughts. If this were to be evaluated in the first chapters of the novel, it would have been pitiful, wrong and impossible for him to see his own beauty, to accept himself or even get rid of himself from the group. Now, he is able to realize his true identity. He believes in his own potential and what life truly is about. Now, Equality was able to see that men are able to discover and shape their own destinies. He has finally made a decision based on his own interests rather than the group's. By fleeing, he is able to take control of his actions and what he chooses to do.

individuality

Risk taking Researcher Juho

Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism. In 1985, Rand's heir Leonard Peikoff established the Ayn Rand Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting Rand's ideas and works. In 1990, philosopher David Kelley founded the Institute for Objectivist Studies, now known as The Atlas Society. In 2001 historian John McCaskey organized the Anthem Foundation for Objectivist Scholarship, which provides grants for scholarly work on Objectivism in academia. The charitable foundation of BB&T Corporation has also given grants for teaching Rand's ideas or works.

The book Anthem was written in 1937 and first published in 1938 in England. She didn't have the idea of writing Anthem until she read a little bit of The Saturday Evening Post. The summary until now is that Equality 7-2521, writing by candlelight in a tunnel under the earth, tells the story of his life up to that point. Later, he realized that he was born with a "curse", that makes him learn quickly and ask many questions. He excelled at the Science of Things and dreamed of becoming a Scholar. However, a Council of Vocations assigns all people to their Life Mandate, and he was assigned to be a Street Sweeper. He accepts the assignment as a penance for his "Transgression of Preference" in secretly desiring to be a Scholar. He later finds out about electricity and presents it to the World Council of Scholars. He thought the World Council of Scholars would like it yet, they wanted to destroy it but he flees to the Uncharted Forest. The next day Golden One comes and they live together in the cave.

Citations:

Ayn Rand

Imagining the Golden One

Historical Context Week 3

Which ideas in your novel are connected to its particular setting, and which ideas are still relevant today?

There are some ideas in this book which are connected to the past world. An idea that connects to the world is during the time of Edison. In part five, it is mentioned that "we" make up something called light and that "we" shall be forgiven for what we say tonight. This idea of being forgiven for saying something is connects to the time of Medieval times because people were thought to be forgiven if they did something kind. They thought they would be forgiven by god that time. But when it connects to light and making it, it goes to the time of Edison, who made the lightbulb. Which shows the reader that this is not a straight connection to a particular period of Earth's history.

Light bulb

Another idea is when Equality 7-2521 goes to Palace of Corrective Detention. This can be connected to the idea of when Copernicus goes to the church to get judged on either if he should die or not because he has stated that Earth wasn't the middle or the center of the Solar system. Equality 7-2521 was taken to the Palace because of the light but then, Edison who made the lightbulb didn't have to go anywhere. While Copernicus who stated that the Sun was the center of the universe, which made the "church leaders" or the bishops to kill him. Equality 7-2521 didn't die during part six but we never know if he would be fully connected to Copernicus. But for now, a reader can see that he is fully connected to Copernicus.

Copernicus

Anthem Connection Captain Juho Kim

Chapter 3

"But we think that the Council of Scholars is blind. The secrets of this earth are not for all men to see, but only for those who will seek them. We know, for we have found a secret unknown to all our brothers."

This quote has many connections that we can see to our world. One of the connection to our world which I thought of was The Council of Scholars being Earth and that there are facts that only some men know some secrets. We know because there are some top secret  documents only known to some governments and no other men knows it. For example, the government in South Korea contains top secret documents not shown to anybody else except for the president and the members of the parliament. Making this story connected to real life.

Top secret document

"One night, we were cutting open the body of a dead frog when we saw its leg jerking. It was dead, yet it moved. Some power unknown to men was making it move. We could not understand it. Then, after many tests, we found the answer. The frog had been hanging on a wire of copper; and it had been the metal of our knife which had sent the strange power to the copper through the brine of the frog's body." 

This is mentioned in the book and it is when the people find out there is something called energy and that energy in our world is mentioned as electricity. So electricity is all around us but before there would only be candles lit in houses to study. But there was also the same thing that happened to mankind's history. Luigi Galvani at the year 1780 found out a dead frog's legs twitched because of his forks and knifes (Wikipedia). He was curious and researched and found out that copper and zinc were making it twitch which makes electricity flow. Which means that he was the first one to find out and was the first one to only know the reason why it twitched until nearby scientists saw that and also tried it out to see if it was magic or logic.

Photo of Luigi Galvani

Citations for information:

"Luigi Galvani." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 21 Apr. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Galvani>.  

Line Illuminator Juho

"We are one in all and all in one.

There are no men but only the great we,

one, indivisible and forever."

I have selected this quote because first, this quote has been cut out due to the laws, the Palace of World Council, which reminded me of some historical facts that many kings and royals banned the words having to do with knowledge, freedom, and re-unity because they thought the words would influence the citizens and they would be overthrown because of the reason. Secondly I chose this quote because its a sign of like a rebellion or a coup' de tat so that many people would get the laws as they wanted. But these were cut out a long time ago which makes it people not wanting to repeat this.

name tag

"It is only we, Equality 7-2521, we alone who were born with a curse."

This quote that I have selected brought a question up to me which was why were people born with curses when the ancestors or rather others have made mistakes which brought out the last supreme transgression? I think its because Equality 7-2521 has mentioned that they made crimes that weren't seen but it probably has nothing to do with the people who were born later. So I think this quote is interesting due to the fact that people thought of weird stuff which was creative but made no sense.

Anthem