Sie sind auf Seite 1von 3

Delgadillo 1 R.J. Delgadillo Mrs.

Garza English II 5th Period October 29th, 2013 The Darkness of Ignorance The society in the novella Anthem is plagued by a terrible case of ignorance. Throughout the story, Ayn Rand demonstrates this through the use of light and darkness. Darkness is used to show ignorance, and light is used to show knowledge. Not only does light represent knowledge, but it also represents truth. There are many examples of this as the story progresses, and it begins to grow more obvious throughout. Some of the most important examples are the tunnel from the Unmentionable Times, the Council of Scholars, Equalitys invention, and the House from the Unmentionable Times. The use of light and darkness starts as early as chapter one. Equality 7-2521 is writing in his tunnel and says, It is dark in here. This is significant because the tunnel that he discovers is from what this society calls The Unmentionable Times. This was the time when people had individuality, although they do not know that. All they knew is that they are not to speak of those times, hence the name. Now, the tunnel is abandoned, and it is dark. There is no more individuality. Although, there is also a use of light in this section. Equality is in this dark tunnel alone, writing with his candle next to him. This may not seem significant, but it seems to me that in represents how he is becoming to think more like an individual. He is not supposed to be writing his own thoughts, because he is thinking on his own, which is a great transgression. The candle next to him represents the knowledge he is gaining by writing alone.

Delgadillo 2 Another example is used with the Council of Scholars. In this novel, the Council of Scholars is the group of people that come up with new inventions. They are the people that supposedly know everything, and are the main thinkers in the society. Although, this is not exactly true. Due to this society with this whole idea of The Great We, when making inventions, every single person must agree with the idea. If even just one person disagrees or does not like the idea, it must be aborted. So as you can guess, not many inventions are made frequently. The last invention was invented two hundred years ago. That invention was the candle. I think this is very significant for a very good reason. Because of the fact light is used to show knowledge, this shows how ignorant the Scholars ways are. All they have invented in the last two hundred years was a candle, which gives off little light. Imagine if they hadnt had to scrap so many ideas because one person disagreed. They could have come up with something much greater than just a mere candle. Another example, and probably the most important, is the light box. When Equality was experimenting, he discovered something truly amazing that no one had ever seen (in these times, anyway). He had discovered electricity. He wanted to show his invention to the World Council of Scholars when they came to his city, so that way, maybe he too could be a Scholar. When he does show his invention to the Scholars, they hide in fear when they see what it does. This is one occasion where light not only represent knowledge, but truth. The scholars are afraid of the truth. They mock Equality because he claims that he has made an amazing invention, and he is only a street sweeper. They get angry with Equality because he worked on the invention alone. They also tell him how the invention is useless, and that if it makes mans life easier, it is evil, because men live for working to help each other. This is an excellent example of how ignorance has taken over the society in Anthem.

Delgadillo 3 This last example isnt one that is exactly very obvious, and is very subtle. Despite this, I felt it was an important example to mention for this. Close to the end of the novella, Equality and the Golden One discover a house. After looking at it from the outside, they figured that it was from the Unmentionable Times. Regardless of this, they went in. This is where the example comes in. He notices that there are many windows, and when he is inside it is stated that Never had we seen rooms so full of light. This is similar to the significance of the light in the tunnel from the Unmentionable Times. Equality and the Golden One have found the light in this home from the Unmentionable Times. Even though this was a very short example, I thought that it was needed. With some analysis, one can see how important the use of darkness and light is in this story. Of course, these are not the all of the examples in the whole book, but these are some of the most important. They are subtle yet important references to understanding the meaning of this book, which to me, is the importance of individuality, and the danger of ignorance. By the end of the book, Equality 7-2521, now known as Prometheus, discovers what he had been looking for the whole time; freedom. He had discovered the words I and ego, and was proud of it. He did not let this collectivist society get to him. He truly was The Unconquered.

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen