Anthem Case

In Anthem by Ayn Rand, a collectivist authority keeps its citizens in subjugation through lifetime indoctrination. In such a society where there is no sense of self, Prometheus had been taught that the things he desired to do were transgressions and sins. However, in the final chapter, Prometheus writes that he now understands "why the best in [him] had been [his] sins and [his] transgressions; and why [he] had never felt guilt in [his] sins" (98). He comes to understand that the reason he feels no guilt for his "sins and transgressions" is because of his realization that individuality is most important; his society on the other hand, regarded the "best in him" as sinful, namely because that part of him spoke out for one's ego.

The protagonist of the novel, Prometheus, is born into a dystopian civilization where society has progressed to the extent in which individual identity is erased. Everyone is equal and everyone performs the task in which they are assigned. Most of this society's population does not know how to see themselves as an individual person. However, Prometheus proves himself to be the exception. Throughout the novel, he comes to break away from society's collective thinking; he begins to secretly see himself as a separate person. He had always sensed the abyss of collectivism, but he had just not been able to clearly identify it. After his light box is rejected by the Council of Scholars, Prometheus flees the council in order to protect his invention. He then stumbles into the Uncharted Forest, and is later joined by Gaea (Liberty 5-3000). As Prometheus begins to read the novels in the house he and Gaea discovers, he starts to take pride in himself. When he discovers the word "I" he comes to understand the sense of individuality that he always longed for but did not really know. He finally understands the meaning of his existence as he declares "The miracle of me is mine to own and keep, and mine to guard, and mine to use, and mine to kneel before!" (95). Prometheus realizes that he is his own person with his own thoughts, and that he has the right to make his own decisions and live for himself. Prometheus' "sins and transgressions" let him see that there is in fact nothing wrong with being an individual. His mind is no longer fettered into the average mindset of the vehemently maintained society. He is able to transcend past the mediocrity that exists in such a society. Moreover, his sudden revelation in the Uncharted Forest causes him to finally see his society as a flawed one. Originally, he had tried to suppress his rebellious thoughts, but with his newfound epiphany, he takes in that he does not need to be a conformist. Because of this, he bestows on himself the duty to break his society away from the shackles of collectivism in which it is entangled in and to carve the sacred word "ego" back into the foundation of his society.