But I still wonder how it was possible, in those graceless years of transition, long ago, that men did not see whither they were going, and went on, in blindness and cowardice, to their fate. I wonder, for it is hard for me to conceive how men who knew the word “I,” could give it up and not know what they lost.
Read the excerpt from Anthem.I stand here on the summit of the mountain. I lift my head and I spread my arms. This, my body and spirit, this is the end of the quest. I wished to know the meaning of things. I am the meaning. I wished to find a warrant for being. I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the warrant and the sanction.The excerpt supports the theme of
Perhaps they cried out in protest and in warning. But men paid no heed to their warning. And they, these few, fought a hopeless battle, and they perished with their banners smeared by their own blood. And they chose to perish, for they knew. To them, I send my salute across the centuries, and my pity.
In Anthem, the narrator’s name, Equality 7-2521, helps to develop a theme that
I AM. I THINK. I WILL. My hands . . . My spirit . . . My sky . . . My forest . . . This earth of mine . . . What must I say besides? These are the words. This is the answer.
It is my eyes which see, and the sight of my eyes grants beauty to the earth. It is my ears which hear, and the hearing of my ears gives its song to the world. It is my mind which thinks, and the judgment of my mind is the only searchlight that can find the truth.
Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their altars.I am a man. This miracle of me is mine to own and keep, and mine to guard, and mine to use, and mine to kneel before!
Read the excerpt from Anthem.But what is freedom? Freedom from what? There is nothing to take a man’s freedom away from him, save other men. To be free, a man must be free of his brothers. That is freedom. This and nothing else.Based on the philosophical concepts expressed in the excerpt, the narrator would most likely support a government that
According to the themes in Anthem, which word is the most destructive to human progress?
Read the excerpt from Anthem.The word “We” is as lime poured over men, which sets and hardens to stone, and crushes all beneath it, and that which is white and that which is black are lost equally in the grey of it.Which best states the effect of the imagery in the excerpt?
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