Anthem Essay
Anthem, a novel by Ayn Rand starts with the sentence "It is a sin to write this." This phrase holds significance to both the opening storyline of the novel and also to the entire meaning of the book. The significance this line holds in relation to the story is one of knowledge. Equality, the main character who writes this line knows the way he acts is fundamentally different from the way society believes he should act. Because he is doing something different, it is viewed as sin. In his society, to think alone or to do alone is to sin. This is important to the storyline because it provides conflict. This movement in the plot is essential to the punishment of Equality, which eventually leads him to realize the wrongs of his society. Furthermore, he does not have the encouragement of his brothers and sisters to write, to think, to be original. The beginning line of the book not only holds significance to the story, but also to the meaning of the novel. In the very end of the book, Equality comes to the conclusion that the most important idea was ego, the sense of a self distinct from the world and other selves. Looking at the first line of the novel, we realize that deep down inside Equality has always known the importance of ego. We know this because Equality, by writing down these first words has created a self different from other selves, he has created an individual separate from the group. He has created ego.
The opening line embodies a view of morality interesting in its own right. In Equality's society, there is no person apart from the group. "The laws say that none among men may be alone, ever and at any time, for this is the great transgression and the root of all evil." Equality is aware of this, and knows that his actions are in disobedience to the laws of his society. He knows that it is a sin to be alone, a sin to write without the permission of another group of men, and a sin to have original ideas. Equality knows what he is doing is viewed as being wrong, however, Equality's sense of morals is fundamentally different from those of his brethren because he knows that he is different from everybody else. Equality knows that not all people are the same. He knows that the differences between men are what make them unique, and different selves from the group. Equality has the need to be different, and therefore does things that are considered wrong by the morals of his society.
Equality goes through a journey of thinking about his sins. "If this is the great evil of being alone, then what is good and what is evil" (page 85) is one of the questions Equality asks himself in this quest to find what is truly good and what is truly evil. His newfound doubt is expressed on pages 85 and 86, "Everything which comes from the many is good. Everything which comes from the one is evil. Thus have we been taught with our first breath. We have broken the law, but we have never doubted it. Yet now, as we walk through the forest, we are learning to doubt." Eventually, Equality comes to understand the concept of one. In the penultimate chapter of the novel, Equality starts using the words I, my, and me. On page 96, Equality comes to the conclusion that he is a single person, "I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask none to live for me, nor do I live for any others." and in this conclusion Equality knows that he has not really sinned and that being different is not evil.
In conclusion, the phrase "It is a sin to write this" in the beginning of Ayn Rand's Anthem holds significance to both the story and the meaning of the novel. The phrase embodies a sense of morality in which every man is part of the common society, and no person is individual. The character Equality finally realizes that this moral sense is false, and that his sins against his brothers are void.