Anthem
By: Steve • Essay • 861 Words • November 11, 2009 • 986 Views
Essay title: Anthem
In the end of "Anthem", Prometheus comes to the realization that his society's teachings and ideas were not helpful in advancement to the society. Ideas like individuality, that the society tried to squash out of its people, is beneficial to the society as a whole because men are meant to think for themselves. In the book Prometheus made the light bulb back when he was in the society, but once he showed it to the World Council, they but him in jail. After this incidence he realized that no matter what brilliant things he invents, it will never be something that particular society can use. At first he is confused, but realizing that he was acting like an individual made him see that maybe society is the evil one and he is the good one. All of this made him realize that maybe he is not meant for this, and he is thrown out into the uncharted territory. He learns that men are meant to think for themselves, and that if they do society will become more advanced and they will be able to move forward instead of staying at the same spot forever. This is how he realizes his "sins" were actually good and that men are supposed to think for themselves.
In Prometheus's society, being an individual is considered a "sin", but as events occur Prometheus begins to comprehend that being an individual is the way men are supposed to think. In the beginning of the book, he has a name like everyone else, and like everyone else he is living in a world that thrives off fear. Everyone is afraid to think, act, or be different from the rest, because as society has taught them being different and an individual is a "sin". As he began to grow up, he noticed that he was somewhat different from the rest of the people. He disliked many things such as the way society made people mate because he thought this was despicable and grotesque. The more he began to grow up he was becoming more of an individual and this scared him, he even began to see himself as an evil person. When he started to play around with science and began inventing things like the light bulb, this scared him but then he reasoned that maybe even though he was acting as an individual the council would let it go because it was such a remarkable invention. He let this pass, but when he found himself being proud of himself and when he found himself falling in love with the one he called the "Golden One" be became frightened. No one ever had felt the way he had, and love to him was scarier than feeling self-pride. For once in his life he was feeling a strange entrancing feelings towards another. The turning point was really when he showed the council the light bulb and they threw him in jail. To him this did not make sense. He was only trying to help society, and this is when it hit him. Society did not care