“To be free, a man must first be free of his brothers,” stated Equality on page thirty-eight. Yet, are we ever really free? Some people believe the answer is “yes,” that one day we will finally be one with ourselves and our thoughts.Others say “no” is a more truthful answer because we will always be slaves to our own body’s needs, wants, and desires. Ayn Rand made her opinion on this controversial subject very clear. She used the above quote to explain that she considers the independence Equality felt to be the same thing as true, untamable, freedom. While Ayn Rand may have given her readers her own point of view, she supported this idea of freedom throughout Anthem. When Equality is experimenting inside the room he found, his independence was unmistakable. He dissected frogs and other animals just to see how their parts worked. Ms. Rand did a fine job of helping further her idea of freedom by describing in depth the weight of the world slipping from Equality’s shoulders every time he entered that dark room.
This freedom was also demonstrated when he met The Golden One. Whenever he was with The Golden One, he was happier and even though he was out in the open, Ayn Rand makes his independence very evident. Ms. Rand uses this once again to show off her own brand of freedom. For instance, when he pretended to shield his eyes from the sun, he was showing that he is different in his own way. Equality was only encouraged to show off his freedom when The Golden One signed back to him. He was even showing his independence and freedom when he spoke to The Golden One and she spoke back.
Of course, their were also the moments when he escaped from prison, showed the Scholars his experiment, and ran into the forest. This was the ultimate in independence, therefore the ultimate in freedom, by Ayn Rand’s definition. When he ran, pell-mell, into the forest Equality showed that he was his own man. The Golden One proved he was doing the right thing when she followed him into the forest because she loved him. She was showing her own freedom, while showing him he was corect to be a free spirit.
In conclusion, Ayn Rand has clearly explained how she feels about the preceding quote. You can only be free if you are yourself, is what she is trying to say. The reader will find that they begin to believe in this opinion when they read Ayn Rand’s inspiring novel. Anthem explains in depth that you can only be free when you are independant.
