Anthem

The theme of Anthem is the importance of individuality and life along with the things you can get out of both. Anthem is another novel that deals with censorship. However, the level of control the government has over people is far more extreme than in Fahrenheit 451. In Anthem, people do not even have names or view themselves as one. They are named in groups, and refer to themselves as "we" and refer to others as "they". Our main character takes the name Equality 7-2521. They do not fit the same mold as all the others in their society, for they have a secret fascination with knowledge and discovery. Groups are given professions at the age of fifteen, and Equality 7-2521 wants nothing more than to be named a Scholar so that they can finally go after their dreams of intelligence. However, when they are given Street Sweeper, they hide their disappointment and carry on the "will of their brothers". As Equality 7-2521 finds a tunnel and discovers light, they realize life is not what it was supposed to be, there was something more. They bring this discovery to the Scholars and are shunned for it; they are forced to run away into the Unchartered Forest. Equality 7-2521 goes on into the forest, followed by their love Liberty 5-3000 or The Golden One. Finding a house from the Unmentionable Times filled with books and knowledge leads Equality 7-2521 to use the word "I" and name himself Prometheus. This is his revelation that has been building up throughout the entire story. He realizes now that life is what he makes it; he is his own individual and lives for himself. Rather then living for their others, men can be their own men. Life has to offer so much to him: love, knowledge, variety, happiness, and whatever he wants for himself. This theme makes us realize how truly grateful we should be to use the word "I" and be an individual. Life is precious and we need to do whatever we can to enjoy every minute of it.


"We do not wonder at this new sin of ours. It is our second Transgression of Preference, for we do not think of all our brothers, as we must, but only of one, and their name is Liberty 5-3000. We do not know why we think of them. We do not know why, when we think of them, we feel of a sudden that the earth is good and that it is not a burden to live" (41).

This quote shows how little Equality 7-2521 knows about themselves and what certain emotions mean. Because men are not allowed to notice women and women are not allowed to notice men, they have never felt the feeling of attraction before. They are intrigued by Liberty 5-3000, yet they don't know why. All they think about is the Golden One, and they cannot figure out what this feeling signifies. It ties into the theme of importance of life and individuality because most people today know exactly how this feels, to be attracted to someone and feel so much for them that they control their every thought. Equality 7-2521 cannot grasp the meaning of such a feeling we are so familiar with.


I loved Anthem. The story gripped me right away as soon as I began reading. I could not begin to imagine living in a world without saying "I" or knowing what that means. There was no individuality, no names, no differences, and no variety. The control the government in this city had on the entire population was mind blowing. The plot kept moving and the things happening in Equality 7-2521's life made us sympathize with him and want him to find knowledge and discovery. I loved the aspect of romance between Equality 7-2521 and Liberty 5-3000, another thing that people did not know of in this world. When our main character finally finds the word "I" and realizes the importance of his life and individuality, it made me realize how important this word really is. I loved Equality's drive to be different than all the rest. This book really opened my eyes to all the things we have today in our world: family, friends, originality, knowledge, love, and so much more. It was also written very well; there was never a dull moment throughout the entire story. I give Anthem two thumbs up.

Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 was based on the topic of censorship. This novel was based on censorship in which the government puts a ban on books. This ban on books combined with the brainwashing through television the government has induced upon them leads people to believe that books are in fact wrong. People are led to believe that things said in books are false and they have no knowledgeable quality. Instead, citizens were "stuffed full" of facts so they felt intelligent and didn't need to read, as Beatty states late in the novel. People who were in possession of a book of any kind were forced to give up their books; they would be burned along with their house. Throughout the novel, the topic is displayed as the government continues to control citizens and punish them for a crime that has become so dangerously wrong. In such a restricted government, people such as Montag had to choose between books or burning them. I'm sure situations such as Montag's would have been common in such a world. Montag had problems with picking his destiny, being a book burner or a book lover as well as dealing with the broken marriage between himself and Mildred. This topic is fascinating and I'm sure most readers questioned the possibility of an event so serious happening in our time. Could it really be possible now? This topic had me asking myself this continuously throughout the novel.

"It was a pleasure to burn ... his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history" (1).

This quote is in the first passage of the novel Fahrenheit 451. Montag speaks of the pleasure it is to be a fireman and burn books. He feels as though he is a conductor, producing something beautiful while he is ironically destroying beauty to some. I find this quote significant because it shows how being a fireman for so long has led Montag to believe it is right; he is portraying this belief. Later in the novel he realizes just how much he hates what he has been doing all of his life; he cannot bear to be destroying others' books while he possesses some of his own. I like this quote because it shows the drastic transformation we see in Montag from the beginning to the end of the novel.



My initial thought on the novel was that the topic was a great one. I love reading about censorship upon others. I find it interesting to read about and try to process how such a thing can be happening. The censorship we see in Fahrenheit 451 is almost hard to believe. Controlling people so much that you choose the things they can do or not do, in this case banning the use and possession of books, seems so extreme. I could not imagine being told I could not read my favorite books anymore because I didn't need them and the things they said were wrong. I think I enjoyed the book so much because I could never live in a world without creativity and variety, and the thought of not having those is hard to bare.

While I loved the topic Fahrenheit 451 was based on, there were some elements of the novel that confused me. It took me so long to understand the concept of the "walls". Actually, I did not really understand the meaning of these until I read others' post on nicenet over the summer. Other concepts such as the relatives, the salamander, the hound, and others were hard for me to understand.

I also thought that in some ways the novel was very unrealistic. I do not understand how owning books was such a serious crime with such a harsh punishment. The government needed a better reason so that people could understand more why they couldn't have them. I would not follow the rules either if I was unsure of the government's motives. I couldn't believe a punishment such as burning down someone's house was entirely realistic either. Overall, Bradbury needed to produce a strong reasoning for the banning of books. Also, how did people keep books over so many years? Book supply had to run out over time unless their was illegal publishing going on. There is no way that people could still have books over such a long period of time. The firemen could not have found so many people with books over this time period either. I do understand that it was a Science Fiction novel, but some aspects seemed too far fetched to ignore, even for a fiction novel.

Overall, I really enjoyed Fahrenheit 451. It was a great, intriguing read. It had some confusing and unrealistic aspects, but I think the topic was awesome and a novel like this is so fun to read; I wanted to know what would happen next constantly.