801 words

The Irony of Being Too Well Suited for A Task
In the short story “Anthem” by Ayn Rand, the author argues against the evils of collectivism by creating a society in the future where technology and individualism is no more. In this book, she champions objectivism and individuality as some of the most important things known to humanity. Through the main character and his experiences in this world, Equality 7-2521, Ayn Rand gives us a first person view into a society where individuals and their ideas are not welcome. In this society, the only thing that matters is the benefit of society as a whole and any act portraying any signs of individual thought are thought of as a crime.
As a child the main character Equality 7-2521, had always suffered from being too smart and too tall. In Equality 7-2521’s society, where differences in people were not only frowned upon but also punished by the authorities, being smarter than the rest of the children meant not only that Equality 7-2521 was indeed very different, it also meant he was a threat. Anything or anyone that could upset the delicate balance of society was considered a threat in that society. And although he strived to be like all the rest of them, he understood and remembered everything the teachers taught. He tried to fight his intellect by pretending to be dumber that he actually was but this attempt at being normal ended up being futile. When Equality 7-2521 was a child he was chastised for being too tall by the authorities. As his childhood years went by, he discovered he had an innate curiosity towards things, which led him to believe immensely that he should be a scholar. When Equality 7-2521 turned fifteen he, along with all the other fifteen-year-old boys, was assigned a task that would remain with him for the rest of his life. The Council of Vocations, whose sole purpose is to determine which people are right for which task, would set this lifelong task. The Council of Vocations assigned Equality 7-2521 the job of street sweeper instead of Scholar, what Equality 7-2521 desperately wanted to be, not because Equality 7-2521 was unfit to be a scholar but because he was too fit to be a scholar. This backwards logic for assigning Equality 7-2521 as a street sweeper instead of a scholar was due to fear the Council of Vocations had for Equality 7-2521’s intellect. The Council of Vocation’s decision to assign Equality 7-2521 the task of street sweeper was an attempt at limiting Equality 7-2521’s potential for changing society. The Council of Vocations believed that as a street sweeper, Equality 7-2521 would be unable to invent anything that could be a potentially innovative and therefore unable to redefine the very structure of their society.
Later in the story, Equality 7-2521 begins to conduct illegal experiments and shortly discovers electricity. After many weeks at work, he successfully builds a light bulb from the scraps of materials he finds in his tunnel. He decides that he must share his invention with the world and resolves to present it to the World Council of Scholars when it convenes that year in his city. When Equality 7-2521 arrives and tells the World Council his story, however, the World Council rejects him out of fear for what this means. The World Council knows that because the light bulb is innovative it also threatens their society. Just as the World Council took 100 years to enact candles as a standard of living, it would have possibly taken more to introduce the light bulb. The World council threatens to kill him and to get rid of his light bulb. He cannot abide having his light bulb destroyed, so he grabs his invention and flees the city. He then runs to the Uncharted Forest where he discovers that he is free at last to do as he pleases. These events prove that the motivation for placing Equality 7-2521 as a street sweeper was indeed correct.
Some may argue that the Council of Vocation’s decision to assign Equality 7-2521 the job of street sweeper may have been caused by some sort of incompetence on behalf of the Council of Vocations; however, it is obvious that the Council of Vocation knew damn well, what they were doing. The Council of Vocation knew the implications of assigning Equality 7-2521 to being a street sweeper instead of a scholar. They knew that Equality 7-2521 was well suited for being a scholar because certainly a plethora of reports on his behavior would have been filed to the Council of Vocations. When deciding on Equality 7-2521’s task the Council of Vocations sinisterly decided to place him in a job where he would be reduced to doing physical labor for fear he would redefine society with innovative albeit revolutionary inventions and ideas.