Individualism allows people to make their own decisions and follow their own path. It is not supported by collectivist governments. Ayn Rand portrays a collectivist government in her novel “Anthem”. In this novel, Equality 7-2521 was not given the chance to decide his own path. Since he lived in a time when individualism was eliminated, and a time when leaders take total control of people’s decisions, he was not allowed to decide his own career. He was not even allowed to think about what career he was going to take. The Council of Vocations had chosen him to be street sweeper instead of his much desired job as a scholar.
However, Equality 7-2521 had a lot of interest in being a scholar, “the science of things.” He is much smarter, and had much more potential than many others. As a result, he could have been an outstanding scholar. The Council of Vocations must have chosen him to be a streets sweeper because they fear that if he was a scholar, he could discover something the leaders wanted to get rid of. They also might have chosen him to be street sweeper just to keep people equal and fair, or maybe simply because he was not always a law abiding citizen, and did not deserve to have this job. Or maybe he was just too complicated, and they were not able to know him.
The society in “Anthem” loved being equal, and hated anyone with any form of difference or superiority. Unfortunately, Equality was much smarter and much taller than many people. Teachers disliked him because of these traits. They especially hated the fact that he craved to know more things. And they were afraid that he was going to know more than the rest of the class, so they never answered his questions. This could be the reason that he was chosen to be a street sweeper, because he had the potential to make more discoveries. The Council of Vocations might have been hiding secrets that they wanted to keep people from discovering. They might have taught people that it is best not to ask questions, because they did not want people to find the truth.
If that was not the reason and if the leaders really did want people to be equal, then the Council of Vocations must have chosen Equality 7-2521 to be street sweeper because they wanted to make sure he did not get the job he wanted, just like they tried to do with anyone else, and they knew that he wanted to be a scholar. If he would have been a scholar, then people would have been very angry and they would have caused uproar. The Council of Vocations made sure everything was equal so that people could stay quiet.
If that was not the case, then the Council of Vocations probably decided to assign Equality 7-2521 as street sweeper simply because he was not obeying the laws, and was disliked by the teachers and leaders. He found himself in a great number of fights, and was lashed more than most of the students in his school. He was also lashed because he asked too many questions. He was too smart and too tall. He was too unique. He did not deserve to get the job he wanted. He did not deserve to get the job he was best for. He was a troublemaker needing some sort of disciplinary action. This disciplinary action affects the rest of his life. This was the disciplinary action that was the most effective and fair at the same time.
One more possible reason might have been that the teachers and the Council of Vocations simply did not really get to know Equality 7-2521. The teachers were looking more at his flaws than his qualities. The teachers would lash him all the time and he was only known as “trouble maker” rather than a curious enlightened thinker. They only recorded his bad behavior and never noticed the good qualities. Therefore, the teachers only reported his bad qualities to the Council of Vocations. They might have not noticed that he had the potential to be a scholar, and only looked at him as a street sweeper rather than what he really was.
The main reason why the Council of Vocations had made the decision to assign Equality 7-2521 remains unclear because the book does not really mention the main reason; however these reasons are the most logical, because the government in the novel was not foolish. They were smart enough to be aware of what their actions are. As for Equality 7-2521, he was not very disappointed when he did not get the job he wanted. In fact, he was very glad, because he had sinned before, and that gave him the chance to pay for his sins.
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