Ross Schonberg
Ms. Gubanich
English
April 8, 2016
Anthem Discovery
In the book Anthem the theme of discovery is a very important one. The reader is taken on a journey, with our main character Equality, about figuring things out and realizations. Many of the things that Equality “discovers” are concepts that the reader already holds as fact. Within this story Equality discovers so much about the past, his present, and who he is, or at least, who he wants to be.
First, in the story we learn that Equality has always thought differently and “that the learning was too easy”(Rand 9). So he is also able to process ideas at a much higher thinking level. He realizes this about himself rather quickly, because he always says that he wants to be a scholar rather than just a petty street sweeper. Early on in the story Equality was sweeping a street behind a theatre and as he is doing so he finds a dark underground tunnel, but uses a candle to see, and as he was walking around “the flame of the candle stands still in the air. Nothing moves in this tunnel save our hand on the paper”(Rand 5). He begins to write in his journal, filled with curiosity and wondering if this is a place from the unmentionable times, but for the first time in his life he realizes that “We are alone here under the earth” and in his society “it is a fearful word, alone” (Rand 5). In Equalities society, everything is based around the community, like sharing ideas, and if someone brings up an idea that no one else has thought of than the idea is useless and no longer exist. This is the first time that Equality is alone, so this really gives him time to think about who he is and what he thinks life should be about, which is to find new things.
Another discovery that Equality makes throughout the story is his love of learning. He continuously goes into the tunnel from the unmentionable times and Equality makes a discovery that was unimaginable to him before, he discovers electricity. As he was working on figuring out this new found wonder he was learning that “This discovery haunted us. We followed it in preference to all our studies” and so he is so infatuated with it that, and he craves more knowledge, and so for him to learn more about electricity “We worked it, we tested it in more ways than we can describe, and each step was another miracle unveiling before us” (Rand 36). So rather than him just believing what the rest of society is supposed to believe, he has seen actual proof of new things, so he can make them facts and say that this logically makes sense (as Ayn Rand Would say).
Later on in the book once Equality has realized who he is and how he wants to live his life, with the Golden One, he does not want to live by the rules of his society. No longer does he use the word We when referring to himself (with the government), instead he finally decides that he is his own person and uses the forbidden word by saying “I am.”, that he is his own person, “I think.”, he has his own thoughts and ideas, rather than the collective people, and “I will.”, which is saying that he will do whatever he wants. (Rand 71). Equality has discovered that he can be himself and not what some government assigns him to be.
In conclusion, I believe what Ayn Rand was trying to convey within this story would be to discover your true self and work on becoming the best “you” you can be. Also, that we should have our own ideas, identities and desires, and no one should just be a follower, rather that a person should do what drives them the most, to learn and love. Discovery isn’t just an important theme within this story, but it is an important theme in life as well
No comments:
Post a Comment