anthem v. the giver

In a world of “WE”, where the individual has no sovereignty, where each person has an obligation to the community, where authority stamps out dispute, and where those who discover self strive to free the minds of those imprisoned by conformity—collectivism and dystopia dictate law. Ayn Rand’s Anthem and Lois Lowry’s The Giver demonstrate two archetypal dystopias. War, hunger, violence, and pain don’t exist in these ostensibly “perfect” societies of interdependent existence. When one dissenter finds Ego in a world of Nos, and appreciates the wickedness of the collective through enlightened, unbiased eyes, the society becomes a dystopia. Prometheus of Anthem and Jonas of The Giver discover truth and endeavor to bestow their wisdom for the betterment of mankind.

Each person contributes to the collective through his occupations and altruistic behavior. The Committee of Elders resolved that Jonas should assume the job of Receiver, the most venerated position in the community. At the age of fifteen, Equality 7-2521, or Prometheus, faced the Council of Vocations, which assigned him the humble job of street sweeper. In both societies, each person m

Finally, in the ultimate act of altruism, Jonas and Prometheus wish to divulge the secret of their enlightenment to others. Jonas and his Giver concoct a plan to force the community to share the burden of memories—to found a society reawakened to emotion and self-importance. Prometheus prepared to conquer the world in order to destroy dystopia and offer free thought to all; he vowed to create a society based on freedom. He would do this by gathering followers, and teaching his friends from the collective all about the self. Jonas would escape Utopia and thus release all his memories back to the community. His transcendent self-sacrifice is for the greater good of mankind, as opposed to the concept of self-sacrifice in collectivism.

In a world of We, in a dystopic society, everyone has an occupation, and they have to perform that vocation no matter what their opinion of it may be. These drones have lost all sense of selfness, identifying as Us and not I. Any time they have something to say about their dystopia, they are punished or killed. If they find themselves, their Ego, they have committed the ultimate Crime. Prometheus and Jonas, the We, find their Ego, and desire to give it to Them, the lost souls bonded to the Collective, blind to their own plight and selfhood. They have challenged their societies’ status quo, raising questions, finding alternatives, and creating an opportunity for improvement in the future of these dystopias. With the knowledge of Jonah and Prometheus, mankind can recover, find its voice, and create the self that makes us what We are.

ust place his own needs behind the needs of the whole. He becomes a slave to the ethics of self-sacrifice, enduring his job and performing it to the best of his ability for the good of all.

However, the societies in The Giver and Anthem create different gender oriented situations. Anthem illustrates a male-dominated society in which the elders assign wom

Some topics in this essay:
Jonas Giver, Giver Anthem, Giver Rand, Likewise Giver, Unchartered Forrest, Mating Anthem, Lowry’s Giver, Hence Jonas, Jonas Ego, Collectivistic Society, equality 7-2521, liberty 5-3000, forbidden word, giver anthem, love sex, strictly forbidden, jonas giver, ceremony naming, male female,