Summary
In this section , Equality 7-2521 presents his invention to the scholars and they reject his idea. They want to destroy it because they hadn't come up with it in a group. They threaten him because he has broken all of the laws of society to bring them the light bulb which they condemn. He runs away in order to protect his invention and ends up in a forest . In the forest , Equality 7-2521 discovers what freedom is like. He is not confined to the rules that society had set up for him. He has a choice in everything he does. During his experience with freedom he sees his own reflection for the first time. He also does not care that he is damned from society because he realizes his freedom. The golden one joins him in the forest and he realizes that living in solitude brings him happiness , more than he was when he lived with his "brothers". The golden one brings up the first incident where referring to herself in third person, as everyone in the book does, is not enough to express what she wants to say. Equality 7-2521 soon discovers the word "i". he has not realized it has been missing from his vocabulary until that moment. After his discovery, he believes his purpose was to treasure his thoughts and his will and to be free. He completely disregards the old society and plans to live out the one from the unmentionable times. He decides to raise his son based on this new society and to recruit some of his old friends to live under this new society as well.
Quote
“I am. I think. I will.” (Rand 94)
Reaction
This quote is significant because it is the first time that Equality 7-2521 refers to himself in first person. This causes him to want to build a new society based on fulfilling ones own will.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Anthem Rand (chapters 1-6)
Summary
The first half of Anthem tells about a boy named Equality 7-2521 who lives in an totalitarian society. When he was younger he was different from the other boys his age. He was smarter and taller and asked many questions. His teachers disliked him for this reason and forbade him to ask them . The Council of Vocations, the rulers of this society, control what occupations its inhabitants hold when they become of age. Equality 7-2521 wanted to be a scholar but was told it was a sin to want it and given a job as a street sweeper. Here he works with his friend,International 4-8818, and keeps a journal. He seems to question authority more than once in this section.He is told its forbidden to be miserable. Its ironic because he sees misery all around him, since none of his "brothers" as they are called seem to be happy. When he discovers electricity, Equality 7-2521 begins to question whether the scholars he wanted so badly to be apart of knew everything there was to know about his world. He decides to go against what his society believes and believe that he knows more than the scholars, which was also a taboo in his society. He invents a lightbulb and is determined to bring it to the scholars in order to share his knowlegde with them. From this point on he begins to defy the decorum of his society more and more.He wants to do things like see his reflection and become reassigned as a scholar which were all forbidden things. He escapes from a corrective center ,which was also forbidden, in order to go to a council meeteing to present his invention to them. From the moment he found the tunnel he has been going further and further against his societys rules.
Quote
“Many men in the Homes of the Scholars have had strange new ideas in the past . . . but when the majority of their brother Scholars voted against them, they abandoned their ideas, as all men must.”(Rand 54)
Reaction
This quote shows how in this society, everyone is controlled even the people in a position of power such as the scholars. If an idea endangered the workings of society it was voted againsted and abandonded with no questions asked.
The first half of Anthem tells about a boy named Equality 7-2521 who lives in an totalitarian society. When he was younger he was different from the other boys his age. He was smarter and taller and asked many questions. His teachers disliked him for this reason and forbade him to ask them . The Council of Vocations, the rulers of this society, control what occupations its inhabitants hold when they become of age. Equality 7-2521 wanted to be a scholar but was told it was a sin to want it and given a job as a street sweeper. Here he works with his friend,International 4-8818, and keeps a journal. He seems to question authority more than once in this section.He is told its forbidden to be miserable. Its ironic because he sees misery all around him, since none of his "brothers" as they are called seem to be happy. When he discovers electricity, Equality 7-2521 begins to question whether the scholars he wanted so badly to be apart of knew everything there was to know about his world. He decides to go against what his society believes and believe that he knows more than the scholars, which was also a taboo in his society. He invents a lightbulb and is determined to bring it to the scholars in order to share his knowlegde with them. From this point on he begins to defy the decorum of his society more and more.He wants to do things like see his reflection and become reassigned as a scholar which were all forbidden things. He escapes from a corrective center ,which was also forbidden, in order to go to a council meeteing to present his invention to them. From the moment he found the tunnel he has been going further and further against his societys rules.
Quote
“Many men in the Homes of the Scholars have had strange new ideas in the past . . . but when the majority of their brother Scholars voted against them, they abandoned their ideas, as all men must.”(Rand 54)
Reaction
This quote shows how in this society, everyone is controlled even the people in a position of power such as the scholars. If an idea endangered the workings of society it was voted againsted and abandonded with no questions asked.
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