Individualism In Ayn Rand's Anthem

People think they know who they are. Personal characteristics and ideas turn a body into a human. Equality lived his life not knowing who he was nor did anyone else living in this world. The novella Anthem was a short story about how Equality discovered himself in a society where people never discover themselves or their abilities. In this world an individual does not exist only a collection of people working for the group. Ayn Rand, the author of Anthem, wanted to shine a light on common values which are now fading from todays society. Ayn Rand, the author of Anthem, was able to create individuality, identity and egoism in this world using repitition.

Individualism was expressed in the form of repitition with the following quote stated by Equality, “I think, I am I will.” (page 94) Equality says this once he discovers the word “I”. Equality uses this word repititively to express that he is his own person and only he has the power over himself and none other. Equality truly knows
Ayn Rand wrote Anthem to put an many ideas in your mind. Three of them, individualism, identity, and egoism, I’ve shown light too. These ideas are not commonly thought about in our society due to the current idealogy of being a part of the crowd or fitting in. Many children are taught to treat others like they want to be treated. This idea is direclty related to equality, an idea which Ayn Rand exaggerated in Anthem. Currently the world is pushing for equality among everyone, but is that really a good thing? Ayn Rand exposed the dangers to a so called perfect idea for society and made sure her readers still carry values based upon self benefit . Although she used many literary tools to show these ideas, I choose to focus on how repitition was a key tool used by