Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Haunting Connections to Ayn Rand's Anthem

After creating and discussing the frightening picture of society Ayn Rand creates in her novel, Anthem, explain to what extent our society today reflects similar "haunting" realities. For example, have you experienced oppressive rules personally, or do you see conformist behavior at school, in our country, or in the world at large? Write a meaningful paragraph explaining similarites or differences to the dystopian society in Anthem.

32 comments:

  1. Our society in the 21st century is somewhat similar to the society of the future in
    Ayn Rand’s novel “Anthem”. We have some of the same principals and morals that they have. A couple of examples are cliques or groups that we have everywhere. In school,m at work, at home and around our lives. In “Anthem” there are groups of jobs such as “doctor” ,”street sweeper”, and “teacher”. We have jobs and we refer ourselves by our rank in that job. In “Anthem” their society they are taught to think as many and not as an individual. We teach young children to share and to be good to the group and that the good of the group comes before the good of one. For example, we tell kids to help an old lady cross the street. That isn’t looking out for yourself. However, this may not necessarily be a bad thing though it is in a certain context such as in Anthem’s society. Our society is not at all perfect, but perfection cannot become so without conformity.

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  2. Our society does not compare to the society in Ayn Rand's novel “Anthem”. The fact that Anthem's society is so much like communism that they aren't even allowed to think differently makes me positive that they are not at all like us. Sure, there is still some communism in our world, but only in a few countries. Even in these countries, communism is not even close to as much of an extreme like Equality has to face. In our world, communism mostly affects the economy, not as much every day life. In Ayn Rand's novel, people live completely differently from us and have no chance of becoming a single person ever. They are divided up into groups, and aren't allowed to think, act, or do anything that they want to do. They are united by the will of one, and nothing that is accepted by all of the society can exist. I do see conformist behavior at school, but not to as much of an extent as in Anthem. In our society there are certain social groups, not necessarily groups of people that are obligated to work one job that is decided by somebody else for the rest of their life. Eventually what will happen to this society, just as what will happen to communism, is that it will collapse because if you're being paid just as much as the person next to you, why should you work hard? People will give up because they know that no matter what at the end of they day they will get their paycheck. There is also conformist behavior in the world, just not very much of it. Pretty much the only groups are different religious and ethnic groups, but they are not necessarily all against each other. In Ayn Rand's novel, there are no ethnic groups, no sign of any religion or race, and everyone is equal.

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  3. Some similarities I see in Equality's world and our word is that in both worlds we have rules; rules that can protract us her but in the other world the rules prevent them from discovery. The teachers in Equality's world will not let them learn ahead of the rest of the class; here in our world that is encouraged. But some times here we never get the chance to go ahead, we never get the chance to speak up. In the book Anthem by: Ayn Rand, there are many differences and similarities. Thats good it shows us how lucky we really are.

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  4. I think I do see conformist behavior at school by how all the kids make cliques and groups of people who look like them and talk like them and none of them think individually, they always have to be told what to do and what to wear and how to talk and they put up with it. There are a lot of differences from our world and from Equality's world, he can't think for himself and he can't do anything for himself. But in our world we do think for our selfs occasionally. We are also similar by how we have groups with leaders and the followers don't think for themselves they don't dress or are like themselves, the followers are following what there leader is doing and not what they what to be doing. We are similar to Equality's world by how in our would we have cliques and groups, and in Equality's they are one big group not being able to think for themselves.

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  5. There are only a few similarities between Ayn Rand's world and ours. First, we have cliques or groups of people for example in school or wherever you look. Also our worlds create a sense of haunting or scariness, now those may be the only similarities because our worlds are so different. Although there aren't many thing alike, there are definitely various amounts of differences. For example, the characters don't have names, they have numbers, like Equality 7-2521. Another example is they are brutally punished if they don't follow all of the rules, they also cannot use the words “I” or “me” they use “we” and others. Ayn Rand's world in “Anthem”, would be considered a dystopian society because of the many flaws showcased in the book.

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  6. I think there is behavior like this in school all the time. It is high school like you can look anywhere in the school and tell who is friends with by the way they dress or act.

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    1. Maybe in 2009 it was different, but in 2015 the 'cliques' that you would see in any 80's movie doesn't exist anymore. Today you can't tell what group some one belongs to because of the clothes they wear or the way they act. There's more blending of groups. Poor or rich, black or white, nerd or cool.

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    2. Where I go to school you can definitely see different cliques of people, it is very obvious. People buy clothes to try and fit into a certain clique.

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  7. The society in Anthem is very different and, in a way, haunting. This is similar to our society today in a couple of ways. On way is that we have groups or cliques. In Anthem, the people are split up into different homes and groups. That's similar to the groups we have at school. There is the smart kids, the popular kids, the jocks and cheerleaders, and the band kids. It's like a social class system, similar to upper class and lower class. This can be haunting because there is always someone who doesn't fit in or who doesn't want to be in the clique that they are in. This also relates to Anthem in that the individuals have to refer to themselves as “we” rather than “I” or “me”. Sometimes people refer to each other with there groups, so they talk about “them”, not “he” or “she”. The society's aren't very similar, but when you think about the groups that our society splits us into, they aren't really very different.

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  8. I think our society in small ways is like the society from Anthem, but these little thing have a huge affect on who we all are as one. With all the friend “clicks” we dress alike, talk alike, act alike, which symbolizes “we”. With pure pressure and just who you become because of the people around you, you can't always think for yourself. With strict parents or just a hard life path, you have rules to follow even if you don't like them or you will loose the freedoms you do have if you don't live by those rules. Rules can be hard to abide by, but as you change the rules seem to change with you and that can be over whelming. As I grow up and more people come into my life, I get more and more lost in myself and sometimes I just want to run.

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  9. The society in Ayn Rands book “Anthem” is nothing like our own today. There might be some very small similarities like there are groups like there are in the book. But not job groups there are friend groups like jocks, preps, nerds. People are not assigned jobs we have that freedom and we can be alone and I can make a whole list of stuff that is not like the book. I don't think we have it that bad we have a lot more freedom than equality and his friends do.

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  10. There may be many major differences between our society and the society in the novel, Anthem, written by Ayn Rand, but some of the most obvious differences are in how we live. In the novel Anthem, the world of Equality 7-2521 and his peers is very contained and distant. The men and women get told their jobs, how to live, their names, and if they are supposed to be smart or not; though in the schooling they are only to be as smart as their brothers. Today in our society, you see so many young people that know more than their elders in some ways and so many kids go off to college beyond the normal schooling years. That right there would be forbidden in Equality's world. If a student were smarter than the others he could not show it and wouldn't be able to go to a college or another school unless they are told to. Also in the book the men and women are not allowed to communicate on a normal day. Another difference, because today men and women go to school with each other, work together, and are allowed so much more freedom than in the Anthem world. As you can see, there are many differences between the world today and Equality's world that we would not be able understand.

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  11. There's both similarities and differences equally In our world and in Any Rands. There's plenty of conformist at school, many cliques leave out kids that don't look the same or anything like them. There's also plenty of haunting things in our world like Anthem. People still beat and do the things the same depending on their religion if they have one, other people don't do those horrific kind of things. And like its very similar like in the old days. Also people always think the same. We do work and think of things together more than one person, sometimes people do work and think alone, and is different more than a group, but like I said I think it's mostly about the different religions in different countries. However we use ourself as “I” most of the time. And we” or “us” if they are in a group but not just cause they can't use “I”. But also we have more freedom and are not controlled by someone or something.

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  12. Ayn Rand's novel Anthem is frightening, so is our society in the United States. In Anthem,Equality
    7-2521 is presented with some laws/rules that are extremely unfair. Equality 7-2521 was presented with the job of a Street Sweeper, the only reason was because he was born different from all the others. This might seem unfair to us, but it is totally normal for them. For example, we get in trouble for doing a bad deed. So our parents are obligated to punish us. We believe that this would be an unfair punishment. This is just our society and how we are taught. Equality shows a sign of conformity, which happens with everyone. At school people may ask you to ditch class, some people would conform and ditch. Others would say no. Equality 7-2521 is a group of people that are conformed because the way they were born. Clearly, their society and ours have haunted similarities.

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  13. The society of Equality 7-2521 and ours, though different, in many ways are also very similar. The society in which Equality lives, a dark and depressing world, everyone is sought to be part of a group and individuality is frowned upon. The society we live in today, the 21st century, is one that doesn't discourage individuality, suggests an interactive life with other humans, but also expresses the importance of a personal identify and individuality. However, both our societies have groups within our world that make up “clicks”. Some argue they are non existent, but when viewed closely these groups are very much there. In the society of Equality, as a young teenager the children and sent to work and live in a group, to preform a job. Though our society is not so strict with the limitations of what group we belong, the individual person has the choice which group they join, but a group none the less. This would be the greatest similarity between our two societies, but the restrictions and limitations of Equality 7-2521 are much greater then ours.

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  14. In Ayn Rand's Anthem, the society looks somewhat like our world today. In Anthem, the people are all told that everyone is exactly equal and that people are the same in every aspect of their life. Our world today portrays a similar message, that everyone is equal and that it's good to do what everyone else is doing. In our own school, kids are told that if you not like everyone else, or if you are different in any way, then you aren't cool. In Anthem, the citizens aren't allowed to be different, and if they are, then they are punished. It seems terrible that the people in the book have every aspect of individuality taken away from them, but in a sense, the same concept is starting to surface in our world. People can't express themselves as much as they used to because it's wrong to express yourself in society's eyes. So our world is starting to turn into the world in Anthem, and it is frightening to think that this could become a reality for us.

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  16. The ideas that Anthem and our world have in common is nature vs. nurture. In Anthem, Equality and most of his friends had their own ideas and thoughts. In our world we all grow in our own way and grow as nature intended. In Anthem they are nurtured to believe what higher authorities tell them. In our world we are shaped by our habitat, but can think freely and aren't told what to do. The life in Anthem is like life with a lid on it. In our society (unless your a communist) we have life without walls.

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  17. In the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand the society is very different compared to ours. Yes, we do have rules that we aren't suppose to break but we don't have rules that are ridiculous. In example the rule that no student may be smarter then another student. In our world students are encouraged to grow academically. These rules are based off of everyone is the same, nobody is different but our society isn't like that. Our society does say that everyone is equal but not to that kind of extent. At school I do see acts of conformist. There are different groups or cliques at school and in the different cliques the kids talk and act the same, but not all the time. The kids in certain groups are encouraged to act like "the leader". At school there are groups such as the jocks, preps, cheerleaders, popular, scene/emo, weird, skater, stoners, and more. In Anthem the society chooses the group that you will be in for life. They a sign you jobs like street sweeper, teacher or doctor. Our society doesn't show acts of conformist like Equality's society does. We do have acts of conformist but not to the extent of Equality's society.

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  18. The dystopian society in Anthem is related to our society today because Equality 7-2521 goes through some of the same difficulties as regular people do. For example, equality has to struggle with being the same as everyone else and not outgoing. Also he disobeys societies rules because he wants to talk to “The golden one” but he knows that its against the law, and he talks to her anyway. Also I see conformist behavior at school when everyone tries to be like everyone else or fit in. Such as, cliques or groups. The members in these cliques people dress, act, and all speak alike. Its very hard to find the certain group of people you want to be with. These “haunting” realities are happening everywhere in this country and the world we live in.

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  19. Our society has many similarities and differences between the dystopia's society in the novel “Anthem”, by Ayn Rand. Of course our society is know where near dystopia's, however there are many similarities. In high school there is groups and clicks. Everyone is split up in groups. There is jocks, preps, nerds, and more. Groups are everywhere, but everyone gets to choose where they want to hang. If our society was like the dystopia society, I wouldn't even know what I would do. I like the differences in people. Everyone is a little different, and with out those differences and working together, we wouldn't be where we are know. We use are differences to solve problems and change the future. The more you share the farther you will end up going. Our society has similarities and differences between the dystopia society, however our society is much greater.

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  20. Our society has similarities to the world in Anthem by Ayn Rand. There are groups at school similar to the groups in Anthem. The people, on their own, divide the school into groups and people are often stereotyped for being a part of one group or the other. Other similarities to our society would include strict rules. Some people around the world feel the oppressing power of someone and their strict rules and live their oppressors view of a harsh way of life. Being similar in some ways doesn't make our society as miserable as Anthem. Our society has differences as well. Our nation has less rules and we have the right to think of ourselves as an individual instead of as a whole. In the novel Anthem people are to be thinking as a whole and to think as an individual is a crime. Also, for students to be intellectually curious and wanting to gain more knowledge than the class is wrong. In the book people are thought as numbers, they do not have names or individual identities. All the people are supposed to benefit their society rather than benefit themselves.

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  21. Our society, in some ways, is like Ayn Rand's novel, Anthem. In Anthem, it is a very dark mid evil setting where no one can speak their mind and everyone has to be equal. In today's world, people can speak their minds and be free to be who they want to be. Sadly, there are some similarities between Anthem and the world that we live in today. For example, everyone in Anthem has to be equal and no one person can be smarter or know more than another. America is slowly becoming a socialist country because every time hardworking people earn a certain amount of money the government takes away up to 50% of that and gives it to people who don't work and people who don't deserve it; This is basically like saying no one can have more money than another and everyone has to be equal. But overall, I think that our society is very different from Equality's.

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  22. I think that there are not a lot of similarities between our society and Equality's society. In Equality's society the people are grouped according to the jobs that they are assigned to and they are not suppose to socialize with anybody outside of their group. This is sort of similar to our society, but mainly in the high schools. In high school you see all different types of cliques that people are in. For example, you have the nerds, the jocks, the band people, the cheerleaders, the popular people. This list has many more, but this helps explain that our society in little ways is a little bit like the society in Anthem.

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  23. In Ayn Rands book Anthem, I think that the society that she showed in this book has “haunting” similarities to todays socialites that we live in. In Anthem it shows what looks like extreme communism, where every thing has been corrupted in there efforts of trying to make a utopia. Sadly are world still has countries that run off of this form of government that strips people of their right of being an individual. Such countries like North Korea, which pay the same wages to all people no matter the job. They tell them what religion to follow, and more rules that if they are not followed it could lead to jail or even death. This show similarities to Anthem where Equalities is punished just for not speaking about were he was when he was missing. Even thought we still have communist ruled countries, I think that are world is still far off from being this “haunting”.

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  24. There are many ways our World relates to Ayn Rand's World in Anthem. Peer pressure is prominent in most every situation involving multiple people. Peer pressure influences people to think what every other person thinks. Innovative entrepreneurs are constantly bombarded with taxes in order to even out the economic spectrum. People become conformists and betray themselves in an attempt to be accepted by others. Even in the government some officials are striving to make people the same. Our government's graduated tax system (in which we are presently entrenched), makes those who earn the most money pay the highest percentage in taxes. This is a communistic trait that many government officials have adopted. A graduated tax system encourages mediocrity, and sameness. Already many encroaches on our freedom are being put forth. More laws are being passed, and more freedoms have been infringed. It is in these ways that our world is similar to that of Ayn Rand's Anthem.

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  25. The novel Anthem by Ayn Rand appears to be of a futuristic society that has few similarities with our own world today; contrarily, both societies actually have much in common. The world has, to begin, always considered America the land of the free. But in truth, no culture is. There are always rules and laws that have to be obeyed, so while the U.S. isn't as dictatorial and oppressive as Equality's civilization, there is still an air of control about our country. Hope, furthermore, has almost been completely banished from Equality's world. Today, many people have lost hope. They feel there is no meaning left to life and are depressed. While, the citizens of Equality's conformist society don't realize these emotions, there is no doubt in my mind that many of the characters have lost hope. The tone of the novel clearly comes across as despondent and forlorn, which suggests that there really is nothing left for the characters to live for. All their life includes is school, work, and then death. It is short and quite honestly boring. Life quickly becomes routine and since it never changes, there is absolutely no point to it. They are being told how to live and can't escape the oppressiveness. Some people today feel like this. They believe that their lives are routine; there is nothing left to live for, no point. It leads them to depression, anger, and hatred. All these emotions ran high in Equality's community. Also, Equality's culture has been divided into sections and groups. While we are free to choose our cliques, we still have them. There are the jocks, nerds, emos, goths, preps; there are so many different groups that they can't even all be explained. It might not be so obsolete as in Anthem, but they are still there. There is, however, one large difference in our community and Equality's. Yes, we have laws and rules that must be obeyed, but our society is not a completely orthodox community. They have to follow all the rules that are made and they have to do it the way their leaders want them to. Here, we have more... flexibility. More control over how we do things. I, for one, do not care too much for the conformist way of life, all the time. I will admit that it is occasionally the best course of action, but more often then not, I am a completely unorthodox person. If the citizens in Equality's society even think about doing that, they would be brutally punished, for they are one and one must do the exact same actions as each other. Equality's culture may appear to be completely different then ours, but there are actually many similarities.

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  26. Even though we have everyday conflicts in our society few limit our freedoms or control what we choose to do as much as the ones in the novel Anthem. The dystopian society in Anthem reeks of communism and collectivism. In the story the government controls what jobs each member of society is to have when they become adults. Even though our modern society does not place us in jobs, we have groups similar to the ones depicted in Anthem. School happens to be an environment where social classes such as jocks, preps, nerds, and goths thrive. The members of these specific cliques may dress or act alike in order to maintain a certain association with the other members of society. The U.S. is a country where every individual is paid attention to. In Anthem however, each member of society is treated like a number on a pie chart, a statistic. The dystopian society sees only groups, not the individual.

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  27. There is a very small similarity with our society today and the society in Ayn Rand's novel Anthem. In the novel their society is very different than ours. They can't think of themselves as one or go outside of their social working groups, and the day is very structured: different from ours today. In Anthem the lives of every man and woman is set up the same. They go to school for 15 years, are assigned a permanent job whether they like the job or not, have to go threw “mating season” once a year, and if man lives to be 40 years or older they go and live in a home for elders. The only similarity with our society and theirs is that there are social groups. In school there are nerds, jocks, preps, weirdos, posers, and emos. In Anthem there are doctors, street sweepers, scholars, and many more. In both societies it is odd for someone of one group to go and speak to a group not like theirs. That is the only similarity, other than that one there are no other similarities.

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  28. I think, no I know, that our society today is similar to the society in the book Anthem, written by Ayn Rand. The schools in our society have many cliques, for example: Jocks, nerds, drama kids, preps, cheerleaders, emos, and many more. The people who tend to get sucked into groups that make you want to change yourself, might be the insecure ones. Or the ones who act like they're better than you, well they might actually be better. But don't let that get your hopes down. Some people are just not likable. But I also think that some of our rules are very, whats thee word? Lets say bizarre, or just plain stupid! Which proves that the book is similar to our times nowadays. Because they have stupid rules too! For instance a stupid rule from the book is that you are not allowed to talk to anyone from a different job. Which is like saying the jocks are never allowed to talk to the drama kids. Or the nerds can't talk to the jocks! But it happens anyway, that is what Equality 7-2521 does. He goes against the laws and speaks up. He learns how to build a light bulb but the council of scholars wants to destroy it , all because he built it on his own. But how would it be if we had those rules for our schools? How many people would break, those unbelievably stupid laws? I for one, would. I have been told by teachers in the past, to stand up for whats right, even if your standing alone. That is exactly what would happen, someone, a brave someone at that, would stand up and many more would follow. I know how hard it is to stand up alone. Most the time I got shot down at a single word that came out of my mouth. But I kept trying, trying to stand up. If you ever get shot down, keep trying. Like the 10 paradoxical commandments written by Kent Keith state:
    1.People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love and trust them anyway.
    2.If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
    3.If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
    4.The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
    5.Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
    6.The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest people with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
    7.People favor underdogs but follow top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
    8.What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
    9.9. People really need help but may attack you if you help them. Help people anyway.
    10.Give the world the best you have, and you may get kicked in the teeth. Give the world your best anyway.

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  29. In the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand; Equality has to face many oppressions by his society. In several ways our society is alike the one in Equality's communistic world. In many high Schools there are “clicks” “groups” that kids join and hang out with the other kids in that group; and in a way the society in Anthem is very much the same way. Everyone is forced to be confined to certain “homes” where other people with the same career all live in. But in a lot of ways we are not like the fiction society in Anthem; in Equality's society it is complete communistic, the government controls and directs everything. The citizens get no individuality they are not given names but numbers instead, and progressive thoughts or ideas are denounced and forbidden. Our society is the exact opposite, progressive thinking is encouraged; individuality and self choices are what America's society is made of.

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  30. Athough there are many similarites and diffrences from the book anthem and our real world, I think that there are very important ones that need to be adressed.First of all we have segrigation in our school from what I have seen, kids hang out with there own kind. There is emos,preps goths and more that like to be together. This is the same in the book anthem, but the people dont choose for themselves. Second our worlds arnt the same we have new technolgy that is way farther along than the inventions in anthem but there in the future. It is the oposite and is very strange. Third they are comunists and have very strange rules, in my opinion I think there socioty dosnt work wright.Overall there are many diffrences and similarites between our society.

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