Anthem By Ray Bradbury: Literary Analysis

Jazzy Garcia
Often times in literature we find common themes, meaning the same idea can be conveyed by another writer. In Anthem by Ayn Rand and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury common themes of individuality, leadership, and broken societies that need to be rebuilt arise. As we see through reading Fahrenheit 451 and Anthem one must break through the norm of society in order to achieve true individuality, so they can become a leader, in order to rebuild a society which is otherwise broken. In Anthem and Fahrenheit 451 individuals must break through the norm of society in order to achieve their true individuality. In the novella Anthem by Ayn Rand Equality 7-2521 does things that can in his society are viewed as evil and illegal.
We have stolen
glass vials and powders from the Home of the Scholars. Now we sit in the tunnel for three hours each night and we study. . . We have stolen manuscripts. This is a great offence. Manuscripts are precious, for our brothers in the Home of the Clerks spend one year to copy on single manuscript. . . We are defying the will of our Councils. We alone, of the thousands who walk this earth, we alone in this hour are doing a work which had no purpose save that we wish to do it. (Rand 35, 36)
Equality is committing a great crime against the society he is in in order to peruse what he genially enjoys and to fill that curiosity.
Not only does Equality steal items from various homes, but he also spends his time and does work that has “no purpose” to the people on the earth. The norm of the society he is in is to do what the Council tells them to do, and in defying the council Equality had not only done illegal things, but he is breaking through the normal conformity of the society. As stated in the novel Fahrenheit 451 Guy Montag also is faced with breaking through the norm of society to discover his true self. “But Montag was gone and back and back with in a moment with a book in his hand….He looked at the opened page. A fly stirred its wings softly in his ear. ‘Read.’“ (Bradbury). Montag is a fireman and he is in a society where reading is illegal. Montag has had a taste of reading by accident now he is doing the illegal to find his true identity. Sometimes one must do what is not normal or even illegal to discover who they really
are. Individuals must become a leader order to achieve greatness. Once someone has discovered their true self they must then become a leader. “’Our greeting to you our honored brothers of the world council of scholars!’… ‘Give no thought to us, for we are nothing, but listen to our words, for we bring you a gift such has never been brought to men. Listen to us, for we hold the future in our hands.’” (Rand 69, 70). Equality had stepped up to show his invention to the meeting of Scholars. This has shown how he has become a leader and is trying to help improve the life of the people of the world. He is trying to lead and take action for an issue he thinks he can fix. Whereas the rest of the people in this society do not stand up in front of the leaders to tell them how they can improve their way of life. In leaving the city Montag is discovering his true leadership skills. “’Do you really think they'll listen then?’ ‘If not, we'll just have to wait. We'll pass the books on to our children, by word of mouth, and let our children wait, in turn, on the other people. A lot will be lost that way, of course.’” (Bradbury) What is happening is Montag is asking the leader of the book people what their plan is to do if the people so not listen. He is taking leadership and asking what the plan is so he can help execute it. Montag is becoming a leader for the books which have no voice. The books are being burnt and he must help with the cause of memorizing the books and preserving them in their mind. This action is helping ensure that other generations do not miss out on literature. The authors show that becoming a leader is nessicary. Once becoming a leader is achieved then one can rebuild a broken society.
This statement isproven in Anthem when Equality had fled the city. “They will follow me and I shall lead them to my fortress. And here, in this unchartered wilderness, I and they, my chosen friends, my fellow-builders, shall write the first chapter in the new history of man.” (Rand 101) Equality is talking about leading his fellow brothers to their freedom from the great we. In leading his bothers away from that he is creating a new chapter in the history of men, and they will record that chapter so they never go back to being identity-less. In Fahrenheit 451 the book people have formulated a plan to carry out for the rebuilding of society. “And when the war's over, someday, some year, the books can be written again, the people will be called in, one by one, to recite what they know and we'll set it up in type until another Dark Age, when we might have to do the whole damn thing over again” (Bradbury). Montag and the book people remember books so that when the anti-book society falls they can rebuild it again to not only be accepting of books, but they are eager to learn. The society has fallen apart by war and anti-learning. They are going to rebuild a society that is better and smart enough to not fall back into its destruction like it was before. Both works of literature use common themes to get points
across.
In both Anthem and Fahrenheit 451 we see that one must break though the norm of society to achieve their true individuality, so then they must become a leader, and rebuild a society that is broken. In both works of fiction there are common themes that we see. Common themes arise in different works of literature we can compare similar themes.