The Anthem Society

In 1776 the New World was ravaged by a conflict between Britain and the people living in the colonies on the east coast of America. In her book "Anthem", Ayn Rand draws a picture of a future utopia society in which people live manageable lives, unified by their conformity to a lifestyle diligently created by the superior elders of the City Council. The people of this future society have very ordinary and dull days. There are no holidays or special events. The whole community lives in perfect order and harmony. Everything during the day is done upon the sound of a bell - when it rings people wake up and go to work; when it rings they go to lunch; and when it rings for the last time they go back to bed. This unbelievable orderly manner is maintained by a group of elders that form the City Council. Anthem describes a society in which no one is allowed to question the will of the Council, and no one does. It is a natural manner that has been known to the people for so long that none of those who live have ever seen anything different and can't imagine a world in which people would think for themselves. To sustain this order the people are constantly bound together by songs, poetry, and the strong belief that they now have, and which was implanted in their minds as they grew up - that there is no "them", but only a conglomerative, conformative "we", which is above everything else and that nothing done alone by one man can be any good. Those people live sad lives in which they have no right to privacy, no right to smile when they are happy and no right to be alone when they wish to. The greatest transgression possible is having a free will, preference or a desire to choose. The true and sole source of happiness is a life devoted to serving their brothers, they are told. It is a model life to which they must all conform, not only mentally but also physically. If their bodies do not exactly fit a given template, they are condemned to have evil in their bones, but are spared from eternal damnation, supposedly because of the love of their brothers. The true reason for this "forgiveness" is a bit more profound. This community is based on perfect order and this order needs a lot of people to work actively to preserve "this great society", in which all men are equal and cherish their brothers everyday with love and respect. If everyone who wouldn't fit into those very restrictive physical properties would be excluded from the community - who would bake the bread, paint the houses or sweep the streets? This future world, managed by a group of elders who control all knowledge, and run the people's lives for them, is a tragic place where all individuality and human emotion has been lost. The utopia society the people live in, is a place where the true nature of man is held in shackels by those who know all, separated from those who know nothing. In order to prevent this future doom Ayn Rand described in here novel, the people of today cannot let the ones in power know everything, but have to care and know about the world themselves. You must know.