Anthem

Anthem

Individualism: The Greatest Gain at the Greatest Cost
Every great thing accomplished by mankind begins with the idea of a single individual.   One can describe a great individual as a person with strong moral character, who thinks on his or her own and acts on his or her own sense of right and wrong.   Ayn Rand’s novel, Anthem, tells the story of a man, Equality 7-2521, and his personal outcry against the accepted ways of his society.   Although Equality’s environment clearly represents a digression of the human society known today, the plot leads to a contrary feeling of liberation and hope.   Equality’s powerful sense of individualism and his positive outlook lead to his own personal success, as well as to the satisfaction of the reader.
Equality 7-2521 demonstrates immensely powerful individualism when going about his life.   In a world that denies man the right to set himself apart from his peers in any way, Equality recognizes his own gifts and makes it his mission to exploit these talents while simultaneously remaining a free man, and eventually freeing himself from the colossal constraints of his dystopian society.   In a time and place where it is unheard of to try to escape from jail, Equality takes risks and thinks thoughts so “out there,” so against what his society has taught him, that the majority of his thoughts are such that they would never cross the minds of many of his fellow citizens.   And the one key component to Equality’s ultimate success was something that anybody needs to accomplish anything: hope.
Hope is a thing, a state of mind that all people must sustain in order to achieve any feat in life, no matter how great or small.   Despite the major setbacks that Equality suffers, his hope never falters.   Despite the Council’s vicious rejection of his re-invention of electricity, Equality’s hope does not waver; on the contrary, it is fired up, and with his mighty sense of individualism, as well as his powerful moral compass, he...