Warm Up

1. Warm Up • Warm Up: • What does this quote mean to you? “A society that puts equality ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom.” • Today’s Agenda: • 10 minute readings (no library today) • Introduction to Anthem

2. Anthem (1939-1946)Ayn Rand “A society that puts equality ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom.”-Milton Friedman

3. Ayn Rand • Born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1905. • She witnessed both the Kerensky and Bolshevik Revolutions during her teenage years in Russia. • The communist victory in Russia resulted in the confiscation of her father’s pharmacy and periods of near starvation for her family. • When introduced to American history in high school, she immediately took to what a nation of freedom looked like. • She left Russia in 1925, to visit relatives, and she never returned.

4. Ayn Rand Philosophies… • Objectivism • Collectivism vs. Individualism

5. Objectivism • The idea that focuses on “man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity.” Has four principals: • Reality exists as an objective absolute. • Reason is man’s only means of perceiving reality and his basic means of survival. • Man is an end to himself. • Laissez-faire capitalism

6. Collectivism • Idea based on what you do is what is best for others . • Your purpose is to serve others without any care for your wants or desires. • Being “unselfish”, but someone else tells you how to be.

7. Your Turn… Can you think of some examples where you may have experienced some form of collectivism in your own life (at home, the classroom, etc.)?

8. Individualism • Regards every man as a independent entity who possesses an absolute right to his own life, a right derived from his nature as a rational being.

9. Your Turn… • Imagine if our society was an individualist society. What do you think would be different? Given the kind of democracy that we have, do you think individualism could even work here? (Ideally we do have individual freedoms, but how much of our society is individualist?)

10. Individualism vs. Collectivism Individualism Collectivism • The individual… • Has rights • Will not run anyone else’s life, nor let anyone run theirs • Will not rule or be ruled • Will not be a master or slave • Will not sacrifice themselves to anyone, nor sacrifice anyone to themselves. • The individual… • Is owned by the group • Has no right to a private existence • Has no right to lead his own life, pursue his own happiness, or use his own property • Exists only as a part of the group

11. Anthem • Written in America in 1937 • Type of Literature -Novella • Genre- Dystopian: the world presented as it should NOT be (ex. 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm)

12. Anthem • Narrator: Equality 7-2521 writes the journal of the events as they transpire over the course of several months • Point of View: Equality 7-251 speaks in the first person (plural) referring to himself as “we” instead of “I.” • Tone: Equality 7-251 records his thought and actions in a straightforward manner, with no trace of irony. • Tense: present, with some past-tense narration

13. Anthem • Setting (time)- sometime in the distant future, after the collapse of the social order becomes of the common acceptance of collectivist values • Setting (place)-an unidentified city; much of the first half of the novel, is narrated from a tunnel where Equality 7-2521 is hiding. • Protagonist- Equality 7-2521 • Symbols- light; the forest; manuscripts