Comparing Anthem And Ayn Rand's Fountainhead

Jean Cocteau, 1889-1963, once written, "The instinct of nearly all societies is to lock up anybody who is truly free. First, society begins by trying to beat you up. If this fails, they try to poison you. If this fails too, the finish by loading honors on your head." He meant to say was that people should not let their society take control of how they should live their own lives. People should not be threatened by their own society, but they should be themselves instead of mindless puppets of society. Ayn Rand, a Russian-born US novelist, creates related personalities between Equality, from Anthem, and Howard Roark, from Fountainhead. Both characters are different from the society they live in, have a female companion who supports their ways
First, Equality and Howard are different from their own society. Howard is an architect who designed many buildings, but the society does not approve his ideas because they want to have a Greek design on those buildings except Howard likes his buildings the way they are. Equality speaks out, "Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their altars." (Anthem 95). He does not want to serve the society for its own needs. In fact, Equality also tells himself, " I am done with this creed of corruption." (Anthem 97). He wants to be separate from the corrupted society's rules and laws that were preventing him from succeeding in his future life. Both, Equality and Howard, have shown that they are very different than society, but the same compared to each
Howard creates buildings that were not the same theme as the designers before him. Society wanted the buildings to have a touch of a Greek theme to his buildings, except he did not want them to alter his designs in any way. In the same manner, the World Council of Scholars was having a meeting, until Equality came in. Equality tells them that he is a Street Sweeper of the city. The Scholars answers, "A Street Sweeper! A Street Sweeper walking in upon the World Council of Scholars! It is not to be believed! It is against all the rules and all the laws!" (Anthem 69). People of their time are not allowed to enter unless the people are from the Council. Equality did not care about that rule, since he discovered a new source of light to show before the Council. As a result, the Council members have seen his design, and one of them says, "This would wreck the Plans of the World Council, and without the Plans of the World Council the sun cannot rise. It took fifty years to secure the approval of all the Councils for the Candle, and to decide upon the number needed, and to re-fit the Plans so as to make Candles instead of torches. This touched upon thousands and thousands of men working in scores of states. We cannot alter the Plans again so soon." (Anthem 74). The Council does not want Equality's invention to be introduced to the world and let it become the new source of light,