“The truth is not for all men but only for those who seek it.” Ayn Rand had this notion and conveyed it in her book Anthem with the main character, Equality. He goes on a literal and figurative journey to discover the truth about him and his society. The spiritual journey he goes through leads to a development in his character and the actual journey leads to a development in the theme.
Anthem follows Equality as he discovers the truth about his dystopian society. Although the government tries their hardest to keep everyone in line, Equality finds a way to dabble in inventing even though only the Council of Scholars is allowed to, and he talks to a female, Liberty, which is illegal in a sense. He breaks the law by inventing a “light box” or a light bulb and shows the society, however, they aren’t appeased and…show more content… Inventing the lightbulb, falling in love, showing his invention, running away, discovering new feelings, new places, and new words. The physical adventure develops the main theme of the book which is individualism. He starts as a part of the institution and listens to what he is told, however, he knows that he was made for greater. He wants to invent items that could help humanity but, as a street sweeper, he can’t do much. He finds an abandoned subway and he discovers stuff from the “old” world. He makes a lightbulb and he’s proud of it and knows that it could help his society so he goes and shows it to the council. They reject it and say that he can’t make something like this without the support of other people and this is when he realizes that being in a group and caring for what everyone wants isn’t the right way to live. He leaves and discovers freedom to do whatever he wants, not what his society wants. He learns that he, as an individual, is what matters. He wants to spread this ideas to his friends from the society he left and show them how to have an opinion and be an
