Anthem Rough Draft - Paper
Anthem Rough Draft
Ayn Rand’s “Anthem” illustrates a series of ironic connections between great successors of Greek mythology and to her two main characters. The main characters, Equality 7-2521 and Liberty5-300, both contain very interesting and unique personalities, which makes them incompatible with their collectivism society due to who they are and what they believe. Ayn Rand disperses random clues throughout the book that provide evidence and reasoning of why she chose to rename her characters after two significant creator figures in Greek mythology. So, why did Ayn Rand chose the names? How does it explain her philosophy?
Prometheus was a Titan from Greek mythology. He sided with the gods and created humans out of clay without Zeus’ approval. After Zeus discovered that Prometheus was creating humans, he decided to punish Prometheus by prohibiting him from teaching the ways of civilization to man. This made Athena chose to convince her father Zeus to teach Prometheus so that he would teach man. Zeus became furious with the actions of man and Prometheus. This made Zeus conclude that it was forbidden for the gods to give fire to man. Prometheus was upset from Zeus’ proclamation, which made him decide that he was going to bring fire to humanity. Prometheus entered Olympus cautiously to steal hot burning coals, which he placed in a fennel stalk to prevent anyone from finding out. With his success, he reached his destination of man and presented the gift of fire. Zeus angered after discovering what Prometheus did, again decided to punish Prometheus by having him chained to a rock for a great eagle to constantly eat at his liver, only for it to grow back again.
The interesting character Equality 7-2521 has ironic connections to the myth of Prometheus, which is strongly exemplified throughout the story. Equality’s quote “At first, man was enslaved by the gods. But he broke their chains. Then he was enslaved by the kings. But then he broke their chains” (Rand 101)
Ayn Rand’s “Anthem” illustrates a series of ironic connections between great successors of Greek mythology and to her two main characters. The main characters, Equality 7-2521 and Liberty5-300, both contain very interesting and unique personalities, which makes them incompatible with their collectivism society due to who they are and what they believe. Ayn Rand disperses random clues throughout the book that provide evidence and reasoning of why she chose to rename her characters after two significant creator figures in Greek mythology. So, why did Ayn Rand chose the names? How does it explain her philosophy?
Prometheus was a Titan from Greek mythology. He sided with the gods and created humans out of clay without Zeus’ approval. After Zeus discovered that Prometheus was creating humans, he decided to punish Prometheus by prohibiting him from teaching the ways of civilization to man. This made Athena chose to convince her father Zeus to teach Prometheus so that he would teach man. Zeus became furious with the actions of man and Prometheus. This made Zeus conclude that it was forbidden for the gods to give fire to man. Prometheus was upset from Zeus’ proclamation, which made him decide that he was going to bring fire to humanity. Prometheus entered Olympus cautiously to steal hot burning coals, which he placed in a fennel stalk to prevent anyone from finding out. With his success, he reached his destination of man and presented the gift of fire. Zeus angered after discovering what Prometheus did, again decided to punish Prometheus by having him chained to a rock for a great eagle to constantly eat at his liver, only for it to grow back again.
The interesting character Equality 7-2521 has ironic connections to the myth of Prometheus, which is strongly exemplified throughout the story. Equality’s quote “At first, man was enslaved by the gods. But he broke their chains. Then he was enslaved by the kings. But then he broke their chains” (Rand 101)