Nataiya Locklear (English 3 Honors – 1st – Mrs. Crystal Hester) 10/2015
Anthem Study Guide
Chapter I
1. (a) In a well-organized paragraph, describe the society in which Anthem is set. Some areas to consider are the
p
...
Nataiya Locklear (English 3 Honors – 1st – Mrs. Crystal Hester) 10/2015
Anthem Study Guide
Chapter I
1. (a) In a well-organized paragraph, describe the society in which Anthem is set. Some areas to consider are the
political structure, degree of technology, social relationships, quality of life, and education.
(b) Would you want to live in this society? Explain why or why not.
The society in which the Anthem is set is very strict, controlling, dehumanizing, and gloomy. The people
there are not looked at as individuals; they often refer to themselves as “we”, “they”, “us”, and so forth.
The society is overly controlled. No one is allowed to choose the job they would like. No one is allowed
to go to college unless they are told they are allowed to, and people are not allowed to do certain things
unless they are told they may, or if there is an appropriate reason to. There are no social relationships
allowed, because the rules in the society say that no one person should be liked more than another. The
people are not allowed to get married, not allowed to love, and not allowed to show feelings or opinions
what so ever. Babies are made, but you are chosen who you are to mate with and when you are to mate
with them.
I would rather not live at all than live in such a stupid society such as this one. It makes no sense at all
that such people can live this way and put up with it for all these years. I, personally, think that if I lived
there, I would be the one who would take a stand and stand up for what I believed in. Being an artist and
all, I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t just take a moment to doodle on a piece of paper, or draw
something in my sketchbook. I would dress how I wanted and act how I wanted. I would laugh when I
wanted and stay up as late as I wanted. I would break all of their rules no matter how much trouble I got
in, because I would know that somewhere out there, there is a person who wishes they were brave
enough to break free of such a horrid civilization. I would know that someday, that brave person would
come and help me. They would break me out of my prison cell and help me create a new, free society
where people can do what they please, with laws here and there, but certainly not nearly as extreme as
the laws in that civilization.
2. In this chapter Equality 7-2521 states that it is very unusual for men to reach the age of 45. Offer several possible
explanations as to why life expectancy is so short in his society.
Lack of happiness, lack of proper food. Some men go crazy and run away into the Uncharted Forest. Others break
the rules and get to put to death, or whipped to death.
3. Copy and complete the following chart, and continue to add to your entries as you read each chapter.
(The first entry is partially completed, as an example. You may expand the chart as needed.)
Term and Definition Examples from Anthem
(Find several examples per term)
(b) Why is this character or act
condemned in Anthem?
(c) Should it be condemned? Explain
why or why not.
Transgression: the
breaking of a law or
oath
Transgression of Preference: Equality
chooses International 4-8818 as his
friend (p. 30)
(a) They are taught that the
individual is nothing, mankind is
everything, and that everyone
must be treated with absolute
equality. To choose a friend is to
single out, and elevate, one man
from the group. Also choosing a
friend requires individual
thought, personal choices and
value judgments, all of which are
forbidden. They are expected to
be mindless, and thus selfless.(b)
Sin:
Curse:
Crime:
Evil:
Damned:
4. Clearly, Ayn Rand intended Equality to stand out from his “brothers.” Explain how she accomplishes this by
contrasting Equality’s physical qualities and character traits with those of his fellow men.
Equality is very handsome. He is strong and muscular. His limbs were thin and straight and hard and strong. His
brothers are very weak. Their limbs are thin and lanky.
5. Why does the Council of Vocations assign Equality the job of street sweeper? Is it due to error, incompetence or
a more sinister motivation? Explain.
I’m not sure if they knew what he was capable of. Either they did and they didn’t want to put him in a place
where he could possibly corrupt the order of their civilization, or they had no idea how brilliant he was and they
just randomly put him in the street sweeping job.
6. When does this novel take place—in the past, the present or the future? How do you know?
The future. In the story, Equality finds an old tunnel. The tunnel was filled with our present day objects and light
sources, such as the light bulb, yet everyone in the story says that those things which they found were from
hundreds of years ago, so it obviously must be in the future.
7. (a) How would your teachers react if you had Equality’s “curse”?
(b) Why do Equality’s teachers disapprove of his quick mind?
Well, knowing most teachers, I would say that is Equality put his “curse” to use at school, the teachers would be
absolutely ecstatic. I’m almost positive Equality would be in some sort of gifted program, or he might just go to
Pine view’s school for the gifted. I think Equality’s teachers were angry with him at how smart he was because
they want him to be like everyone else. Everyone in that society must be alike, so if there’s one thing different
everyone flips out. The teachers might have also been scared that Equality might use his brains to figure out
things from the past and try to change their way of life.
8. At this point in the novel, does Equality accept the moral teachings of his society? If so, why doesn’t he feel
shame or remorse when he knows that he’s committing a crime? Find textual evidence to support your answer.
Equality has lived in this society all his life and he knows that the consequences of disobeying the laws are
extreme he doesn’t agree with the moral teachings of his society but he is afraid of what they might do to him if
he does not follow the rules. When Equality and his friend find the hidden tunnel from the past, they knew that
they probably shouldn’t explore it, but they do it anyway because curiosity is purely human nature and
sometimes you just have to go with your instincts rather than what other people say for you to do. Equality
knows he is getting older and his time on earth is shrinking. He’s sick of having to live a life with so many rules
and so little fun. Equality is a very deep thinker. I’m sure he thought about his life so far and the future of his life
and what it was worth to him. That’s why he took a stand. He didn’t wanted to live and unhappy life. Equality
wanted to act like an individual and do what pleased himself, rather than what pleases others. It’s ok to do nice
things for other people and help people sometimes, but it’s not healthy to live you entire life living for not
yourself but for others.
“We shall go down,” we said to International 4-8818.
“It is forbidden,” they answered.
We said, “The council does not know of this hole, so it can’t be forbidden.” And they said, “Since the council does not know of this hole, there can be no law permitting to enter. And
everything which is not permitted by law is forbidden.”
But we said, “We shall go, nonetheless.”
9. Would you want to be friends with someone like Equality? Why or why not?
I would. He’s one of the only normal people out of the entire city. He’s smart, good looking, and he’s kind.
Chapter II
1. Reread the account of Liberty 5-3000 on page 38. What character traits are revealed in this brief description?
Appearance and personality.
Appearance: straight body, thin as a blade of iron. Dark, hard, glowing eyes. Hair as golden as the sun.
Personality: there was no fear in her eyes, no guilt, and no kindness.
2. Find several examples of the ways in which this society tries to obliterate each individual’s mind (and self) by
quashing personal choices, desires and values.
The society these people live in forbid anything done without reason/purpose. You cannot sing without a reason,
laugh without a reason, or talk without a reason. In this society, you cannot have marriage and marriage has a lot
of desirable assets. Love is not allowed. Especially a love for a person. The people there think that no one should
like anybody more than another.
I think the reason why this society doesn’t like individualism is because in previous years (our present
day time) being individual caused a lot of problems because when you can do what you want and you have all of
this freedom, people take advantage of it. People begin to do bad things such as murder, steal, commit adultery
and do other crimes. It’s ok to want to prevent bad things from happening in the world, but to not even allow
someone tossing a tune to themselves when they feel like it is absurd!
3. Contrast Equality with the rest of the men living in this society (p. 46).
The rest of the men living in the society with Equality have pretty much given upon life. They think they might as
well just stop hoping for a change and face the fact that this is how they are going to be forced to live the rest of
their lives. In the story, the men walk around with their heads bowed and droopy. Their eyes are dull and they
never look anybody else in the eyes. The shoulders of the men are hunched, and their muscles are drawn. These
men are full of fright, while Equality still lives to believe that he can change this way of life.
4. Of the whole range of feelings possible to man (joy, excitement, anger, embarrassment, etc.), why is fear the
prevalent emotion in this society?
Fear keeps everything intact. As long as everyone is scared, they won’t want to do anything that would get them
in trouble. As long as no one gets in trouble then the society remains the same. Orderly and over strict.
5. Start a personal glossary in which you explain the following terms: the Great Truth, the Unmentionable Times,
the Uncharted Forest, the Evil Ones, and the Great Rebirth.
The unmentionable times: the times period way back when people lived how our society lives today.
The uncharted forest: a forest that is not charted on the maps and is said to be very dangerous. This is also the
place that at least one man a year goes to try and escape from their civilization, and never returns.
The evil ones: the few normal people that live in the civilization who wanted to be individuals.
The great rebirth: when the evil ones get burned alive and the civilization goes “back to normal”.
6. (a) What word is Equality struggling to recapture on page 49?
(c) In your opinion, why is mentioning this word the only crime punishable by death in this society? How does this
word contradict the ideals of this society? What could its rediscovery possibly lead to?
Well first of all, you only have to know the definition to understand why the word ego is forbidden.
Ego: the “I” or self of any person; a person as thinking, feeling, and willing, and distinguishing itself from the
selves of others and from objects of its thought.
This word is the polar opposite of this civilization’s entire meaning. This civilization is exactly trying to
prevent the entire meaning of that word. They don’t want anyone to refer to him or herself as “I”. They don’t
want people to express themselves or show their opinions or separate themselves from others. They don’t
want anything to do with individualism. If anyone rediscovered this word, it could cause a great uproar, such
as curiosity, confusion, anger, distaste, longing to want to be and individual and so forth. If anyone found thisword, they would take it for granite and people would start to break out of their routine-like lives, therefore
making the world just how it was back in the Unmentionable Times (our present day). Maybe they just didn’t
want to have war. Maybe these people were afraid of argument and didn’t want to cause any harm to any
other country. Maybe they were afraid that if they didn’t live this way, the human race would be somehow
wiped out.
Chapter III
1. (a) What does Equality discover in this chapter?
The power of electricity, which he explores in his tunnel underground. In his journal, he recounts his
experiments: he makes a magnet move using electricity and creates a lighting rod outside the tunnel.
(b) How important is this discovery? Describe four or five ways in which it would help society, and make life
easier or more enjoyable.
This discovery is very important. Today, our world wouldn’t be able to survive if there wasn’t electricity.
It provides light, hot/cold water, air-conditioning, power for your hair-dryer, power for your toaster,
power for you iPod charger, power for your fan in your room, power for you television (etc.). This
discovery could be a turning point in this civilization’s life, and yet they do not allow it even when
Equality shows the Council how he can make a light bulb shine.
2. Outline some of the Council of Scholars’ beliefs, and Equality’s refutation of those beliefs.
They are taught that the individual is nothing, mankind is everything, and that everyone must be treated
with absolute equality. To choose a friend is to single out, and elevate, one man from the group. Also,
choosing a friend requires etc
Chapter IV
1. Discuss the appropriateness of Equality’s new name, “Unconquered.”
Unconquered isn’t just some common-day cheesy name we hear all the time, although there are plenty of those.
I don’t think anyone in the world has the name Unconquerable. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that this name
has a very obvious meaning.
Unconquerable: Impossible to overcome or defeat. Equality’s personality is exactly like the definition of this
word. Equality does not back down even though the consequences of his actions are life-threatening. He knows
that if he ever wants to be happy in his life, he must make a stand against his own society and find a way to
escape.
Chapter V
1. Equality understands that his invention will benefit mankind greatly; however, this was not his main motivation
in conducting his experiments, and it is not the primary source of the great joy he experiences. Discuss.
He's not happy in his life, so he's excited to find that there's something more. He's curious and likes science,
but he was assigned as a street sweeper instead of scientist. He knows that he doesn't fit in with the others,
and this will be his redemption for that. He's been raised believing the others are right, so he must feel guilty
for his curiosity and hopes that his discovery will redeem him. Ultimately, he puts his love for science above
what he's taught is right making him feel guilty, but he believes his discovery will better mankind thus
redeeming him.
2. In your opinion, why is Equality so interested in seeing his own image at this point in the novel? What emotion is
he feeling?
I think Equality has always wondered what he looks like, and since there was no way of knowing what he
looked like where he used to live, when he has an opportunity to see his own face he looks. He wants to see
how other people see him, and of course he’s just curious about what he looks like. When Equality finally
sees himself, he is overwhelmed with joy because he’s handsome and muscular, like a model unlike his fellow
brother men who are less attractive and plain looking.
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