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Questions and Answers
Why was Equality 7-2521 pleased when the Council of Vocations assigned him to be a street sweeper?
Why was Equality 7-2521 pleased when the Council of Vocations assigned him to be a street sweeper?
- He saw it as an opportunity to atone for the sins he had committed. (correct)
- He felt it was a position that would bring him closer to the Transgressor of the Unspeakable Word.
- He thought it would allow him more time to conduct experiments in secret.
- He believed it was a role that would allow him to exert power over others.
What motivates Equality 7-2521 to protect his lightbulb from the Council of the Home?
What motivates Equality 7-2521 to protect his lightbulb from the Council of the Home?
- He recognizes the lightbulb as a symbol of his unique individuality and scientific achievement. (correct)
- He intends to use it as a means to escape from the city and its oppressive rules.
- He fears the Council will steal his invention and claim it as their own to control the population.
- He believes the lightbulb will grant him favor and recognition among the World Council of Scholars.
How does Equality 7-2521's discovery of the abandoned tunnel in the Unmentionable Times impact his sense of self?
How does Equality 7-2521's discovery of the abandoned tunnel in the Unmentionable Times impact his sense of self?
- It reinforces his loyalty to the collective and strengthens his commitment to societal norms.
- It provides him with a personal hideaway, fostering his individualistic thoughts and desires. (correct)
- It instills fear and guilt, leading him to seek absolution from the Council of the Home.
- It ignites a desire for power and control, driving him to challenge the authority of the World Council.
What does the World Council's reaction to Equality 7-2521's invention reveal about the society in which he lives?
What does the World Council's reaction to Equality 7-2521's invention reveal about the society in which he lives?
What is the significance of the Transgressor of the Unspeakable Word in Equality 7-2521's development?
What is the significance of the Transgressor of the Unspeakable Word in Equality 7-2521's development?
How does Equality 7-2521's relationship with the Golden One contribute to his journey of self-discovery?
How does Equality 7-2521's relationship with the Golden One contribute to his journey of self-discovery?
Why does Rand use plural pronouns extensively in the narrative?
Why does Rand use plural pronouns extensively in the narrative?
What does Equality 7-2521's decision to rename himself 'Prometheus' signify in the context of the story?
What does Equality 7-2521's decision to rename himself 'Prometheus' signify in the context of the story?
How does the setting of the Uncharted Forest contribute to the themes explored in Anthem?
How does the setting of the Uncharted Forest contribute to the themes explored in Anthem?
Which of the following best describes the central conflict in Anthem?
Which of the following best describes the central conflict in Anthem?
Flashcards
What is Anthem?
What is Anthem?
Ayn Rand's dystopian novella that explores the dangers of collectivism and the importance of individualism.
Who is Equality 7-2521?
Who is Equality 7-2521?
The protagonist of Anthem, who defies his collectivist society to pursue knowledge and individuality.
What is the Uncharted Forest?
What is the Uncharted Forest?
A place rumored to kill those who enter, but actually offers the opportunity to build an individual life in Anthem.
What is individualism?
What is individualism?
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What does the lightbulb symbolize?
What does the lightbulb symbolize?
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What is the meaning of 'I'?
What is the meaning of 'I'?
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Who is the Golden One?
Who is the Golden One?
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What is the World Council?
What is the World Council?
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What is the tunnel?
What is the tunnel?
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Study Notes
- Equality 7-2521 finds a hidden tunnel where he hides to write, even though he knows his solitude goes against the laws of his society.
- He asks for forgiveness from the ruling Council but realizes solitude suits him and he begins to crave more of it.
- From his hideaway, Equality 7-2521 records episodes from his childhood.
- Equality 7-2521 wanted to be a scholar as a child, due to his terrific curiosity.
- He fought with the boys at the Home of Students.
- His teachers reprimanded him for being too smart and tall.
- Equality 7-2521 was assigned to be a street sweeper by the Council of Vocations and was pleased, seeing it as atonement for his sins.
- When he was ten, Equality 7-2521 witnessed the public execution of the Transgressor of the Unspeakable Word, who discovered the word “I”.
- The Transgressor was burned to death in the town square as punishment for using the word “I”.
- The Transgressor showed no pain but locked eyes with Equality 7-2521 as he burned.
- Equality 7-2521 believes that moment anointed him as a disciple of the Transgressor's crusade.
- Equality 7-2521 conducts experiments and discovers electricity.
- He builds a lightbulb from materials found in his tunnel.
- Equality 7-2521 resolves to present his invention to the World Council of Scholars, believing he must share his invention with the world.
- Equality 7-2521 meets the Golden One, a beautiful peasant girl.
- He talks to her and they fall in love.
- The Golden One offers Equality 7-2521 water from her hands, reminding him of the Palace of Mating.
- Equality 7-2521 returns late to the Home of the Street Sweepers.
- When he refuses to tell the Home Council where he has been, Equality 7-2521 is thrown into the Palace of Corrective Detention.
- He is tortured, but he does not divulge the lightbulb for the World Council since he wants to keep it a secret for the World Council.
- He remains incarcerated until the World Council convenes.
- Equality 7-2521 breaks out of the Palace of Corrective Detention and goes to the World Council, expecting to be exonerated.
- The World Council rejects him out of fear and anger when Equality 7-2521 tells them his story.
- It threatens to kill him and get rid of his lightbulb.
- Equality 7-2521 grabs his invention and flees the city, unable to bear the thought of his lightbulb being destroyed.
- He runs to the Uncharted Forest.
- Equality 7-2521 discovers that he is free at last to do as he pleases in the Uncharted Forest.
- The Golden One appears and follows Equality 7-2521 into the woods.
- They vow to live together in peace and solitude.
- They find an abandoned house from the Unmentionable Times.
- The Golden One revels in the finery she finds in the house.
- Equality 7-2521 consumes the library and discovers the meaning of the word "I”.
- He vows to protect his home and launch a new race of men who will believe in individualism and the supremacy of the ego.
- The novella Anthem is allegorical and enables Rand to challenge the political landscape.
- The fictional world allows Equality 7-2521 struggles to assert his individualism.
- The notion that a government would prioritize the collective over the individual comes from Rand's experiences in Communist Russia.
- The narrative arc of Anthem acts as a representation of Rand's vision for overcoming the harm that collectivism causes.
- Equality 7-2521 senses that he is different from his brothers.
- Despite the illegality, he continues to find ways to satisfy his desire for self-actualization.
- The tension between Equality 7-2521 and the oppressive structure of his life is the central conflict of Anthem's fictional narrative.
- The conflict between the rise of totalitarian governments and Rand's Objectivism lies underneath this allegory.
- Totalitarian governments aim to sacrifice individual freedom for the common good.
- Rand believed strongly in individualism, creating a bleak image of the alternative.
- Rand establishes the laws and norms of Equality 7-2521's dystopian world.
- The World Council forces sameness onto each citizen.
- Rand highlights the potential dangers of real-world political systems through the laws and norms of the dystopian world.
- The most extreme aspect of Equality 7-2521's world is the fact that the word “I” is illegal.
- Rand emphasizes that collectivism is unnatural through linguistic choice.
- Equality 7-2521 describes his regimented upbringing and his "curse" that tempts him to think about himself individually.
- This background heightens the stakes of Equality 7-2521's choice to turn an old tunnel into a personal hideaway, a moment which serves as the novel's inciting incident.
- Equality 7-2521's discovery of the tunnel marks the first time he has acted in a way that puts his own desires ahead of the collective's.
- Equality 7-2521 steals objects from all over the city to study them.
- This develops his sense of individualism.
- Performing these experiments allows Equality 7-2521 to satisfy his own curiosities and advances his cognitive abilities.
- This personal development manifests itself in his invention of a lightbulb.
- Equality 7-2521 sees this invention as a means of convincing his community to accept him despite his crimes.
- The lightbulb ultimately serves as a symbol of his undeniable uniqueness.
- Equality 7-2521 says that the lightbulb’s “wire is a part of [his] body,”.
- He becomes increasingly focused on protecting his invention and fails to follow his government-organized schedule.
- Equality 7-2521 is caught by the Council of the Home.
- Officials torture him at the Palace of Corrective Detention but Equality 7-2521 refuses to divulge his secrets.
- This choice to protect his lightbulb highlights just how precious individualism truly is.
- When Equality 7-2521 presents his invention to the World Council of Scholars, he experiences that challenging the collectivist culture is impossible to do from within.
- Escaping is the only way to truly discover who he is.
- Equality 7-2521's arrival at the Council meeting serves as the climax of the novel.
- Equality 7-2521 comes face to face with those who have the power to uphold mankind's new, regimented way of life.
- Equality 7-2521 does not succeed in making his case, reflecting the totalitarian tendencies of collectivist governments and reinforcing Rand's argument about the harm they cause.
- The falling action of the novel follows Equality 7-2521's journey after he flees into the Uncharted Forest, a place rumored to kill those who enter.
- The wild, unstructured nature of the forest makes it an ideal symbol for freedom.
- Equality 7-2521 discovers a sense of joy and purpose that his previous life never provided him.
- Equality 7-2521 vows to celebrate individualism, fight against the smothering “we,” and ensure the survival of “the sacred word: EGO.”
- The novel's final chapters turn into Rand's political manifesto and outline the tenants of her philosophy, Objectivism.
- The only way to truly empower the individual is to relieve them of all external pressures to think and act on behalf of others.
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