Anthem By Ayn Rand: Literary Analysis

To be in full control of a man, dictators must not only enslave his body, but also destroy his mind. A man’s mind and the knowledge that a man has is his most powerful weapon. By depleting the mind of knowledge, a man cannot be in control of his own self and therefore is more easily conquered. In Anthem by Ayn Rand, the leaders and society in her book seek to accomplish control by choosing the jobs for the people, keeping the word “I” unknown, and maintaining a sense of unity from birth. In Anthem the leaders of the society in the novel, the High Council, examine the students and based upon their observations, give the students their jobs accordingly. In Anthem’s society, students are given jobs not to who will fulfill them the best, but based on how intellectual the student is. A smart and eager student such as Equality 7-2521, the protagonist in the story, receives a job that will dull his brain. Equality 7- 2521 is given the job of a street sweeper; he is extremely smart and the council
By keeping this word unknown, the High Council is not only causing the society to think of themselves as one, but they are also causing the people to fear what is outside their world. Each person believes that without each other, nothing is possible and that thought instills fear into the society’s mind. By implanting fear into the minds of the people, they are afraid of what would happen if something in society were to not be the norm. The society, together as a whole, rejects anything that violates their comfort level and they destroy it. We see this happen when Equality 7-2521 goes to the World Council and presents to them his inventions, electricity and the light bulb. The World Council decides that since this invention was created by one person and not a group of people that it would ruin their society and they threaten to kill Equality 7-2521 and obliterate his