Anthem Essay

In the novel the Anthem by Ayn Rand the society has become corrupt and offers no free will to any of its citizens. The society and its leaders have made a system that makes all people fit in cookie cutter shapes. Whenever anyone tries to outdo the system and challenge the leaders they are eliminated and their presence is erased from society's mind, and the people accept it.

Despite society and it's efforts to keep every one normal, a few people will stand out and question authority. At first Prometheus feels as if he is set out from the rest in a bad way. He says, "And questions give us no rest. We know not why our curse makes us seek. We know not what, ever and ever. But we cannot resist it"(24). Prometheus feels as if his hunger to learn is an evil thing. This society has taught everyone that being normal is the best. If you are tall or have a weird physical disable, then society tells you that evil is inside you. Another time we see someone standing out in society is when Prometheus sees the transgressors. "And we stood in the great square with all the children and all the men of the city, sent to behold the burning. They brought the transgressor out into the square and they led him to the pyre"(50). The unnamed transgressor is being sentenced to death for saying an unspeakable word. This society has been trying to keep every one together in order to preserve hardships and to prevent another horrible event that happened during the unmentionable times. Soon all the people that were present will forget the event and their lives will go back to normal

Society has driven in the idea that citizens live their entire lives knowing they will amount to nothing. After men reach the age of forty they go to an isolated home that that stay in until they die. "They sit in the sun in the summer and they sit by the fires in the winter. They do not speak often, for they are weary. The Old Ones know they are soon to die"(28). One reason why the people have no will to survive is because they believe they can not achieve anything. The people in this society are obedient because not only do they know nothing else, they live on fear of what will happen to them. "There is fear hanging in the air of the sleeping halls, and the air in the streets. Fear walks through the city, fed without name, without shape. All men feel it and dare to speak"(46). There is a fear all across society that has taken ahold of people that prevents them from speaking out. Most don't even know what it is they are fearing, but they go on fading it just the same. Opposition