Comparitive Essay of Anthem and Farenheit 451

The novels Anthem, by Ayn Rand, and Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, have completely different storylines but many similarities and differences. Anthem is about a city where the people do not know of the personal pronouns “I” or “my;” They know “we” or “our.” “We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One indivisible and forever,” (p.19). The government in Anthem is set up of a World Council, and a City Council. The laws are very restrictive and do not give any “lee-way.” Fahrenheit 451 is about a city where the government banned books. No one was allowed to read a book, touch a book, or keep a book. When someone “calls in,” or lets the fire department know that there was a book being kept or read, firemen go out and burn the books. “Stoneman held out the telephone alarm card with the complaint signed in telephone duplicate on the back: Have reason to suspect attic; 11 No. Elm, City. E.B.,” (p.36). In modern day America, firemen put out fires. In America in Fahrenheit 451, firemen start fires. The world in Anthem and the world in Fahrenheit 451 are very different than the world today. Not only is the world different, but so is the government. In Anthem, the government is communist. Everyone is completely equal. Everyone is completely controlled by the World and City Councils. No man gets to pick his job, no man is allowed to communicate with the opposite sex, and no man is allowed to think of himself as more or less than any of his brothers. The government controls everything. In Fahrenheit 451, it is questionable that the government is a democracy because it is in the U.S.A. It is also believed that since the book takes place in the future, it cannot be decided if the government is a democracy or not. Although the government may or may not be a democracy, the government banned books. No one was allowed to read, touch, or have a book. If anyone was caught, they would go to jail and the book(s) would be burned. The governments in