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Renee Muniz
Y. Garza
English II 4
th
period
October 29, 2013
Character Names: Behind the Scenes of Anthem
Strange names are given to the characters of Anthem, the book by Ayn Rand. The names
were given to them based on the year they were born, by the council. The council are the group
of people, made up of mostly elders, who know many secrets of this dystopian setting. They
believe that whatever is not known, by all, is untrue. Ayn Rands philosophy was taken into
consideration while giving the each individual character a name. Her philosophy is objectivism,
not letting opinions get in the way of things, in which four categories stand out to her: reality,
reason, man, and capitalism. She believes in reality, truth, as well as reason, the fact that if man
wants to survive he has to think for himself. Furthermore, she believes in man and how a person
should not make himself of a higher or lower standard than others. Capitalism brings out her
beliefs in how goods should be sold and bought freely and fairly, while the government protects
the rights of the people doing so. The names in this book were given to them for a reason inside
and outside of the book.
The protagonists in this book had peculiar names as well. The main character was named
Equality 7-2521. His name is ironic because he caused trouble in his society by trying to break
the walls of equality. The place he lived in made everyone equal such as height, hair color, and
even knowledge; they had to refer to themselves as we and could not use first person nouns.
Equality did not look the same and was much more intelligent than everyone else. He knew he
was made this way for a reason and he has to find out why. He soon fell head over heels for
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Liberty 5-3000. She became known to Equality as The Golden One because her hair glistened
gold in the sun. Likewise, she gave Equality the name of The Unconquered One because he
would not settle for the society he lives in, he knew there was some sort of great unknown. He
loved her very much and she loved him, but it is forbidden to love someone because everyone
should be equal to one another; being together was very dangerous. Equality 7-2521 and Liberty
5-3000 were born with these names, this is all that they knew.
The antagonists, the Council of Scholars, also had unusual names. These names included
Collective 0-0009, Fraternity 9-3452, Democracy 4-6998, Unanimity 7-3304, International 1-
5537, Solidarity 8-1164, Alliance 6-7349, Harmony 9-2642, and Similarity 5-0306. These
names all have the same definition of unity. This is what the council is all about, they believe in
unity and equality even to the point of legitimate insanity. For example, if Similarity 5-0306 has
an idea, he cannot say his idea unless he knows for a fact that everyone else in the room is
thinking the same thing; otherwise he gets in a heap of trouble. This council is the leader of
everything. They know what is right and wrong, the Unspeakable Word, and about the
Unmentionable Times. They know everything, and they invent everything. As smart as these
scholars think they are, in reality they are very dull. They just recently invented the candle,
when in fact it was already invented 200 years before. They are not troubled by their names and
have much pride in the society they live in.
After many obstacles, and being separated a few times, The Unconquered One and The
Golden One ran away to live their lives the way they wanted to. They ran away into the
Uncharted Forest, the place every citizen is forbidden to go. They found a house to live in, with
many books in it. There they changed each others names one last time. The Unconquered One
wished to be named Prometheus, the Greek god who gave knowledge and fire to humans. The
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Golden One longed to be called Gaea, the mother of the world and all the Greek gods. These
name changes are significant because they begin to realize that they have the freedom to do what
they want with their lives. They got these names from the Greek mythology books they read,
and it was there that they also found the Unmentionable Word I. Instead of we love you,
Gaea told Prometheus I love you and felt so much more power and love using I than she
ever could with we. They used I from that point on because it gave them freedom and they
felt fulfilled.
They plan to stay in the Uncharted Forest, begin a new life, and rebuild a new society.
This society will have freedom and provide all the wonderful things that the council did not.
Prometheus and Gaea plan to have children and grandchildren, so they can have an enormous
family born into true liberty. Ayn Rands philosophy, objectivism, is seen throughout the ending
scenes. Reality is shown when he steps into an entirely different world. Even though the people
in the dystopian society do not know what is in the Uncharted Forest, it is still real and true.
Whereas, the council would challenge that it is not true because not everyone knows about it.
The reason is how Prometheus never made himself of lower or higher standard than anyone, he
just simply knew what he was talking about and wanted to share his knowledge. Unfortunately,
nobody wanted to listen to his ideas because he was not up to societys standards of being heard;
which is totally contradicting because everyone was supposed to be equal. As man, he thought
for himself. If he had not listened to his own conscience and used his brain wisely, he might not
have been able to make the family he did. Prometheus wanted capitalism, in which everyone
could do what they wanted freely and fairly while the Council protected the citizens rights.
Clearly, the total opposite happened in which citizens were controlled by the Council.
Prometheus never let the rules stop him, his objectivism was what helped him make the new
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society in the Uncharted Forest. It may be a challenge for Gaea to leave the society which she
knew her whole life, it was worth it. The end of what they knew as their life, was only the
beginning of the best days of their lives yet to come.