ASSIGNMENT # 4

In this society, and in these times, it is extremely hard to have an opinion of your own and speak out, since there is always someone there to change it, including the media. “Anthem” by Ayn Rand is one of the stories we have read, and one that I actually enjoyed. The whole book revolved around a central theme, which was freedom of speech. And whoever breaks this rule, in the book, got kicked out of the house in which these “people” live in. The main character in the story, Equality 7-2521, actually breaks this rule and gets kicked out. Throughout the story, Rand uses three different quotes that have significance involving the main theme of the story.

The first quote is "To be free, a man must be free of his brothers." This quote is found in chapter twelve and it is an example of the central idea of the story. The main idea of this quote is that to be free, you have to find freedom by yourself. This means no “brothers” on your side, either to help you or to distract you. This also means that to be free you have to listen to nobody but you. Again, this means no one to help you or give you advice. For example, Equality 7-2521 and his group of people had to follow and listen the rules that the elders told them to. But Equality 7-2521 broke away from the system. He even took someone with him, Liberty 5-3000, the love of his life.

The second quote in “Anthem” is found in chapter eleven and it is, "It is my mind which thinks, and the judgment of my mind is the only searchlight that can find the truth." This means that one’s mind and heart is the only thing that a person must follow. With all the media these days, society has changed people to what they want people to be, and not what a person wants to be. In “Anthem”, everybody was too scared to speak up, except Equality 7-521. Of all the people in his community, he was the only one who was brave enough to actually break out. If there were more people like Equality 7-2521, maybe he and his people could have overthrown the elders and could have had a community of their own.

The last quote in “Anthem” comes from chapter eight and it says, “And we thought that we could trust this being who locked upon us from the stream, and that we had nothing to fear with this being.” Of all three quotes, this one is the deepest quote, but also the one that is the hardest to comprehend and explain. Basically what it means is the reason why people are afraid of something may never be clear to them. Someone might be afraid of something just because people around him lead him to believe that. Sometime those people don’t even know why they are afraid of them. For example, if someone is locked up, people fear him less than if he is released into society. When he is released, people are going to start fearing him once again.

“Anthem” by Ayn Rand is a great novel because it teaches us the importance of why freedom of speech is important in our society. Without it, our society would be more like the one in the book. The author includes three quotes which revolve around the main idea in each chapter. For Equality 7-2521, it was a challenge to speak up and go against the beliefs he has always followed all his life. If we start not speaking out, then our society will start turning like the one in “Anthem”, and that will be a horrible idea.

ASSIGNMENT # 3 - Irony

1a. Dramatic Irony - irony that occurs when the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play

1b. Situational Irony - an outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected

1c. Verbal Irony - a figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant

1d. Ambiguity - uncertainty of meaning


2a Dramatic Irony is used throughout the second part of the story and it is heavily used in the ending. In my opinion, dramatic irony was more powerful than situational irony since it played a bigger role in the ending of the story.

2b. Situational irony is used because we never expected Mary to feed the lamb to the police officers.

3c. I think the title means to slaughter someone with lamb not vice versa. This is verbal irony since the meaning means something else