Ayn Rand Anthem Essay Example

Discovering your identity is key to attaining freedom from your own worst critic, yourself. Further, finding and accepting your identity will help you believe in yourself more and help you live a free life. Self-acceptance is something some of us dread but, in the case of Anthem. Equality 7-2521 was forced to avoid it. In Anthem by Ayn Rand, the character Equality was living in an oppressed variant of our lives. In a world that praised equal mindedness and discouraged free will and free thought. I sensed this due to many circumstances but mainly by the way the character perpetually referred to himself as "we" instead of "I".

Although this could be easily overlooked, I believe this is crucial to the understanding of how Equality's society operated. Replacing "I" with "we" is a superfluous example of doing your best to overlook who you are. While living amidst a perception that everyone should be the same and rule follower, that free thought is a thing of the past and even a sin. "It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil." (Rand part one). Throughout the novel, Equality slowly begins to realize the harm the word "we" has done to him. More than the word "we" but what living by "we" entailed. Equality was an inquisitive person remarkably interested in innovations and science.

Though due to the oppressed world he lived in, and his position in society, creating innovations and studying science was illegal. He slowly began progressing through the novel, daring to love someone and going to a secret area to study science were all examples of this. He ultimately worked up the courage to reveal his scientific findings and that was when it clicked for him. When he was sent to jail for thinking freely. He ran away finally ready to find his identity and learn about who he was, he stated something incredibly compelling yet uncomplicated when he began referring to himself as "I" “ I am, I think, I will.” (Rand) Through his experiences and his observations of the society encompassing him, he finally accepted that living as "I" was powerful and that having power, or even freedom was not by any means a "sin".

Accepting himself set him free to learn more about the world around him, and not feel as if he was doing something ill-advised. It let him vocalize naturally and not dread punishment from “we”. He learned that "I" does so much more than “we”. Therefore, finding your identity sets you free, whether it be in a fictional world in real life. Learning to accept who you are, fixing what your not happy with, and embracing the new you grants you freedom in your life that will enable you to do much more. Just like Equality's eureka moment, when he accepted who he was and decided he would write his future. 

Works Cited

Rand, Ayn. Anthem. General Press, 2019.