Prometheus And Egoism In Ayn Rand's Anthem

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“And now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the earth, this god whom men have sought since men came into being, this god who will grant them joy and peace and pride. This god, this one word: I” (97). The novella Anthem takes place in an altered society where all is equal with all, a collectivist society. Prometheus is in a frame of mind where he seems not have the corresponding points of view as his brothers as he struggles to be one with them. To Prometheus, ego is looked on as a holy word where one can experience the excitement and apply happiness to an individual. Egoism is defined as an ethical theory that treats self-interest as the foundation of morality. As a firm supporter in egoism, Prometheus looks upon the word ego …show more content…
He never fit in with the remainder of his brothers. He was a unique and curious individual who persistently questioned his teachers about all things he desired to have an understanding of and it came to the point where the teachers banned him from asking any further questions. Prometheus re-invented what we now recognize as electricity in a tunnel he encountered while sweeping the streets. He hid in the tunnel alone with a stolen candle, experimenting and examining new discoveries with a frog. He observed that the copper which the frog hangs has somehow merged with the metal in his knife and sparked electricity. Night in and night out, Prometheus is continually conducting experiments, all alone, all to fuel his interests. “And we know well that there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone” …show more content…
Prometheus never grasped the perception of all brothers have to be equivalent in every aspect. “We were just like all our brothers then, save for the one transgression: we fought with our brothers” (20). While Prometheus was in his tunnel making new inventions, he came to the idea that he should present his brilliant invention with the House of the Scholars and that they will admire him and his life-changing invention. He kept all these ideas to himself and he did not feel remorse about it either. In today’s society, it is a good idea to be an egoist. The ability and devotion to rise above the rest of the crowd should be your personal choice and no one should meddle with that. From the day one of his individuality, Prometheus knew he came across a totally new wonderful experience that was not obtainable in his society. “I am done with the monster of We, the word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery, falsehood, and shame” (97). In “The Soul of an Individualist,” the speech is against collectivism, that ideas that have changed the world have come from an individual mind. “But the mind is an attribute of the individual. There is no such thing as a collective brain. There is no such thing as a collective thought. An agreement reached by a group of men is only a compromise or an average drawn upon many individual thoughts” (6). In the novella that is exactly the way that Prometheus
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