In “Anthem,” Alissa Rosenbaum (Ayn Rand) had used the topic of “the
individual against the collective.” Equality 7-2521 and Liberty 5-3000
represent the individuals within the collective, which is represented
by the leaders of the City.
The concepts of Equality and Liberty and the leaders of the City are
presented in an antithesis of good and evil.
Equality had received that name, for he was different from all men –
smarter, wiser and taller. It had been his curse within the
collectivists, and gift as an individual. While Liberty had received her name, for she had chosen to live in freedom, with her own liberties and boundaries, along with Equality, in The Uncharted Forest.
The leaders of the City believe, and I quote: ‘We are one in all, and
all in one. There are no men, but only the great “We,” one, indivisible and
forever.’ They also believe: ‘We are nothing. Mankind is all. By the
grace of our brothers are we allowed our lives. We exist through, by and for
our brothers who are the State. Amen.’ – thus, where there are men, there
are power, unity and love; where there is one man, you find nothing. They
also think, that being, thinking and doing things alone, are planting the
seed of evil in a collectivist society; therefore, to avoid individualism and abate the contingencies of its appearance, and the parting of the
collectivism, they had made it illegal, so none may dare to be different from others.
Equality and Liberty, on the other hand believed differently. To be
more specific, Equality studies the manuscripts, and tells Liberty what he
believes, from what he knows: ‘Many words have been granted me, and some
are wise, and some are false, but only three are holy: “I will it!”’ To Liberty he has depicted the world before the Great Rebirth, from which the
manuscripts were written and how the words “We” and “They” had blighted the State: ‘I am done with the monster of "We," the word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery, falsehood and shame.’ Equality cleaves from their beliefs, and
abdicates from all he has been taught by them; he disagrees with the conviction of him owing anything to his brothers, or them owing him: 'I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask no one to live for me, nor do I live for any others.' His treasures are not his brothers, but thought, will and mostly, freedom: 'I guard my treasures: my thought, my will, my freedom. And the greatest of these is freedom.' - Therefore, he had felt as if in a prison within the city, broad through all men, to be equal, when he was not. As a crescent, the half seen were the collectivists, and the hidden one was he, hidden by the laws of the city. He honoured men with his love, but amidst honour, there is hard work, to earn it: 'I honour men with my love. But honour is a thing to be earned.'
Equality and Liberty had taken names which distinguish them from all
men, for no men are alike. He took the name of “Prometheus,” the bearer of
the light, which he was. Liberty took the name “Gaea,” the mother of Earth
and all gods, which she was about to be, in the new world she and
Prometheus would create.
The banner of Prometheus shows his step toward promising future with
complacency, where the crux is but one word: “ego,” and the farewell of
the past which will never be forgotten, again: ‘And here, over the portals
of my fort, I will cut in the stone the word which is to be my beacon and my
banner. The word, which will not die, should we all perish in battle.
The word which can never die on this earth, for it is the heart of it and
the meaning and the glory. The sacred word: EGO.’
The motivation of the State, is the belief in the collective,
undivided; they believe that it is the only way of living. All men have similar names, with numbers, to keep the collective strong and equal.
The words “We” and “They” abed the cohesiveness of the collectivists,
which is why they do not allow any men to mention the Unspeakable Word “I,”
which defines individualities, nor anything from the Unmentionable Times, for those who do, are sentenced to death, in front of all men, to daunt
them, so they will not seek to find the Unspeakable Word, which departs men, and makes them be different and shine through the unseen of its unity.
It is why men are not allowed to do anything alone nor be alone. The
leaders of the City attempt to call individualists “evil,” for they threaten
the unity, power and strength of the collectivists; therefore, they are
killed; also, the collectivists witnessing it, has apprehension inserted within their souls.
Prometheus’s and Gaea’s motivation is life itself. An individual is a
person with integrity, honesty and true love for life. “Earning your life is
living it.” - Britney Williams, 2005, (Andrea Noemi Krasznai). Therefore, in
order to live and earn it, they take their own decisions for what is good for them, not any council nor any leader of the City. They earn the food
which they eat, because they didn’t receive it for sweeping or any other
activity, but hunted it or collected the fruit with their own hands; they earn the air they breathe, by working.
But the most valuable of these are three things: the freedom of their
own will, the liberty of their decisions and the courage of leaving the
City for their individual rights.