Due Monday, October 15th - "Anthem" Ch. III - VI (pages 52-67)

Overview: In this following section, Equality-2527 makes an amazing discovery. Time alone allowed him to think, be creative, and now he wants to share his genius with society. Much like the protagonist from “The Allegory of a Cave” Equality found enlightenment. He stared directly into the sun, the symbolic light of truth. Now he will venture back into the cave (which ironically, is the other way around in the novel, as he leaves the cave to visit the council). Taking into account what we learned from Plato’s allegory, how do you think the elders will respond to his discovery? How will this impact Equality-2527?

Directions: Please read and review parts III-VI of Anthem by Ayn Rand, pages 52-67. Next, compose a blog response using four of the questions below (one for each chapter) as a guide and four direct quotations (one for each question/chapter) in your response. Remember to read each other’s comments and have a discussion. Note: If you see a number of your classmates writing about a particular question, please choose a different one. Let’s try to cover everything as a class! I look forward to your responses.


Ch III.

• What has Equality discovered and what has he learned from it? 
• Why does Equality think that the Council of Scholars is blind? 
• A euphemism is defined as "the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant; also : the expression so substituted" For example, Equality is not assigned a job; he is given a "Life Mandate". What other euphemisms have you discovered in this book? 

Ch. IV.

• What name has Equality given to Liberty? Why? 
• What name has Liberty given to Equality? Do you think that the name is appropriate? Why or why not? 
• What is Liberty's Life Mandate? 

Ch. V.

• What did Equality intend to do with his discovery? 
• What is the World Council of Scholars and why is it significant? 
• Why now does Equality feel the need to guard his tunnel? 
• Why does Equality want, for the first time, to know what he looks like? 

Ch. VI

• Why was Equality put in the Palace of Corrective Detention? 
• How was he treated in the Palace? 
• Why was he able to escape from the Palace, and why was it suddenly necessary to escape? 
• Why did Equality not try to escape earlier? 
• In this chapter, how does Equality refer to the pages that he has been writing?