Preview

Ego In Ayn Rand's Anthem

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
514 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Ego In Ayn Rand's Anthem
Does everyone have “ego”? In Anthem the citizens of the city grew up not knowing of this word, and in turn its power. They were taught to be a whole, rounded up like tagged mules, doing assigned work blatantly. In the song “Drones” by Rise Against, the lyrics,“The drones all slave away, they're working overtime. They serve a faceless queen, they never question why. Disciples of a God, that neither lives nor breathes (I won't come back!). But we have bills to pay; yeah we have mouths to feed! (I won't come back!)” is the perfect description of the society in Anthem. It is people doing what they have been told to do without putting in their opinion or even thinking of what they want. Although not everyone is indifferent, the beings Equality and Liberty have a lively spirit inside them which is called “ego.” A Latin word which translated to English means “I.” Ego is the enigma which drives one’s actions and thoughts, and separates the person from everyone else. …show more content…
It is the eighth wonder of the world. No one knows where it ensues from, but it is the force behind everything man thinks. Equality shows this the forest when he states,“We were thinking that these were thoughts without sense” (Rand 78). The phrase “without sense” is referring to his spirit doing it because it can, not because it should, which is a conundrum to the people in Anthem. Also, ego is the spirit of man to do work, care for one’s family and friends, and accomplish tasks, which affect everyone’s lives. Equality is driven to go against laws and make great discoveries when he first envisages his spirit, even though he does not know what it is or where it comes from. Among these include his clandestine hole, which “It is forbidden” (Rand 31) to go down, and the light box he

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    What is egoism? Something that Prometheus seems so interested in. Egoism is a doctrine that individual self worth is the motive behind all conscious action. In this day in age being an egoist is wrong, but in Prometheus society being an egoist wasn’t even heard of. Why is it that Prometheus writes down “ego” at the very end of the book on page 105 of Anthem.…

    • 254 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ayn Rand perfectly captured the idea of a collectivist society in her book, Anthem, by creating a vivid image of the dangers of losing one’s sense of self. This concept can be applied to modern times, much like Equality does when proclaiming his anthem: “I understood that centuries of chains and lashes will not kill the spirit of man nor the sense of truth within him” (98). His statement personifies a man’s spirit,the perseverance of man, and implies that there are no restraints strong enough to thwart human nature.…

    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Critical Lens

    • 1317 Words
    • 1 Page

    preconscious, and unconscious mind. The ego works to meet the demands of the id, while…

    • 1317 Words
    • 1 Page
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the short story Anthem, by Ayn Rand, a person named Equality 7-2521 lives in a socialist society and struggles through countless troubles. For example, everybody in this society is one body that thinks the same. They have a motto, or the great truth, that says: “We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but the great WE, one, invincible and forever.” He, however, is faced with the opportunity to augment his position in this economy, though he might also be judged for his motivation when taking the opportunity.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In today's world, the word "ego" is looked upon as a negative attribute. If one were to look up "ego" online, a very common definition that they would find is conceit, or self-importance. For some reason, the world has accepted synonyms such as these to mean the same as ego. The term can also be defined as "the 'I' or self of any person; a person as thinking, feeling, and willing, and distinguishing itself from the selves of others and from objects of its thought (Dictionary.com)." One can tell by this that egoism is not always a negative trait, and those with that in their personality are not always a bad influence on the direction of the world. This is shown by the character Prometheus in Ayn Rand's novella Anthem,…

    • 1117 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    essay 2 year 2

    • 2457 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The EGO can be seen whereby it seeks to hold an individual together as a whole, for example the EGO works with the ID. The EGO utilises many different areas of a person’s psychological functions that includes; the memory, the thoughts…

    • 2457 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    He left his adversaries wondering where he went. Along the way, Equality finds a stream nearby (Complex). “We knelt by the stream and we bent down to drink. And then we stopped. For, upon the blue of the sky below us, we saw our own face for the first time.” (27). At that moment, Equality realizes that he now knows the feeling of being free, and then he looks down at the water and sees his face for the first time (Compound-Complex). He is astonished by what he sees and admires himself. Then, from the shadows of the forest, comes Liberty. Liberty had heard that Equality had fled into the Uncharted Forest and decided to follow him (Compound). They both travel deeper into the forest until they stumble upon what would be Equalities biggest realization…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Why have I obtained a title known as the fuck up? The answer is astonishingly simple; I utilize a product known as empathy to a whopping 0% efficacy with the end result yielding no friends. Obliviously my prefrontal cortex foresees the poisonous byproducts empathy authorizes, altruism and compassion. Side effects of these ominous chemicals include friendship, sympathy, love and moral fulfillment. Ayn Rand is an example of a well known person with the same social build. The Ayn Rand beliefs include craftsmanship of a self center celestial being furthermore seeing Altruism as a necessary evil rather as common good. Patently, I follow the Ayn Rand philosophy in regards to social ordeals. Given Ayn Rand social status, one can deduce that a person…

    • 132 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Equality saw Liberty in a different way then he saw any other person. He felt happy with her and would think about her constantly when they were not together. He also felt fear for her in ways he would not feel for someone else. There is also a great fear that he felt for her that also had to do with him being jealous. “And we thought that we would not let the Golden One be sent to the Palace (Rand 17). All of these feelings revolve around him being in love with her.…

    • 1070 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Unit 8

    • 3956 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Ego: Initially the ego is “that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external world”. The ego develops in order to mediate between the unrealistic id and the external real world. Ideally the ego works by reason whereas the id is chaotic and totally unreasonable. The ego…

    • 3956 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    An Argument Against Egoism

    • 1742 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Shaver, Robert, "Egoism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2010 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), forthcoming URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2010/entries/egoism/>.…

    • 1742 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Since the beginning of life as we know it on earth, there has always been ego involved. If one were to take it from a biblical standpoint, the two egos to begin with would be Adam and Eve. Now granted they were not egotistical until later in there story, but ego was present. Adam was ego boosted because he prided himself in following the rules of God. Then, along came Eve and she succumbed to the “Dark Side” and her ego was temporarily degraded upon obtaining the knowledge that they were nude. Once she created sufficient clothing for them, her ego became boosted just as Adams was.…

    • 1018 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Egoism

    • 560 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Psychological egoism is the idea that people do everything with self-interest as their main motivator. If people help others, so even when people are being altruistic they are ultimately doing so because of the gain that they expect to get in one way or another. Psychological egoism is also a theoretical form of egoism because it describes only what is observed and not the way it is supposed to be like in a normative egoism. Thomas Hobbes felt that without some sort of supreme ruler people would live in constant violence because of his theory of psychological egoism stating that people would revert to a state of nature without some sort or ruler because everyone is ultimately selfish and there would be nothing to distinguish between people’s belongings.…

    • 560 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Psychological egoism, as a doctrine, refers to the notion and ideology that people tend to act and behave in ways that are purposed to fulfill their needs and wishes (Fiester, 2012). Generally, this point of view endeavors to highlight that most, if not all, human actions are actuated by rather self-motivated desires that are not easily noticeable. As such, it is unequivocal to expound that the proponents of psychological egoism do not advocate or advance for the fact that some of the events engaged or undertaken by some members of the community may be focused to assist and aid the other vulnerable associates of the concerned society. I agree the view of James Rachels that the psychological egoism is not true.…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ego is the individual’s conscious control. It functions as an internal monitor that attempts to balance the impulsive demands of the id and the sociocultural constraints of the superego. Seeking to balance the impulse, with slogans stating ‘a rare opportunity to experience the exhilaration’ and ‘requires a passion for performance to stay out in front in a fast paced world’; it also emphasises a balance via specific functional attributes of the product. Through learning and experience, the ego develops the individual’s capabilities of realistic thinking.…

    • 277 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays

Related Topics