Implications Of Egoism In Ayn Rand's Anthem

Ego. A word shamed upon in western society, because of negative implications. Men who have become wealthy through their hard works and sacrifices are depicted as “self-centered”. Since, society is angry toward people with huge amounts of wealth. Although egoism is portrayed as a bad thing, it should be a reward and gift. In our world today and language, the word “I” is significant, because it presents individualism. Everyone has knowledge that no one is the same, everyone has unique characteristics. However, to live in a collectivist society, individuality is impossible, as everyone is oppressed under a leader or government. Sadly, a person cannot challenge authority or meet goals, because of the limit to one’s thoughts. Moreover, a collectivist
In Anthem, Equality is for sure being an egoist, but he is using his ego for the greater good of himself and his domineering society. Ego is a word that describes ones self-pride and sense of accomplishment towards themselves. In theory, ego is a synomyn of self-esteem, which is ultimately what all must possess. It is always good to have a good self-esteem and a sense of worth and purpose in this scary world. Unfortunately, without a normal level of self-esteem, people will not progress in a natural and smooth pattern, as someone who believes in themselves. There are two sides to every ego, two different paths that can be taken. The first one is a negative impact, for example, using your sense of worth and ego to ultimately wreak havoc and misery on yourself or others. An example of this would lie in leaders, such as Hitler, who was in actuality very egostical and a brillant leader, however, he used his brillance and his ego to kill 6 million jews. That was his choice; his mind thought and processed his ego in a totally different way, a way that is understandable and unfanthomable by society’s standards. Furthermore, the second path of ego is the positive direction; the direction in which one uses their ego as motivation to help themselves or others. One who feels good about themselves, will not sit back and do nothing with their lives, as they are presented with a gift; a gift of good self-esteem which is worth the world. Nevertheless, Equality uses his ego to better himself and others, for example, he creates a lightbox, something that is unknown to his domineering society. This lightbox shows progress and motivation for his society, although it is not seen this way in the society’s mindset, itself. Equality has a gift, a gift that is worth as much as gold, a gift that is unknown to his society; he possesses an ego. His ego makes him progress, however, it scares his