Monday, November 5, 2018
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Due Friday, June 14th - All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Mr. Pellerin's Freshmen English
Overview : Go back to our first blog, and walk through the 2018-2019 school year. Revisit the books we read and our class responses. Look...
-
Directions : 1) Read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, "Part II: The Sieve and the Sand," pages 33-77. 2) In this blog space, a... -
Overview : Please view and take notes on the Charles Dickens documentary. Then read and study the biographical information below, as well ... -
Overview : In the first chapter of Anthem , Ayn Rand establishes the dystopian world of Equality 7-2521. Much like The Giver , it appears...
Suhani Karki
ReplyDelete“Their goals differed, but they all had this in common: that the step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed, and the response they received- hatred.” - Soul of the Individualist. In this quote, it perfectly explains why Prometheus might foresee a struggle with his collectivist world. Prometheus is now a man with wisdom and great ideas, but sharing this information with his brothers can cause upbringings within his world. “No creator was prompted by a desire to serve his brothers, for his brothers rejected the gift he offered and that gift destroyed the slothful routine of their lives.” - Soul of the Individualist. This quote relates directly back to the book and how Prometheus’s brothers (most likely) won’t be supportive with his idea because it is new, unfamilliar, and they will be wary of trusting him. Therefore as a consequence, Prometheus will get a lot of hatred, disagreement, and conflict because of this new idea.
“Standing up to the bullies is the hallmark of a civilized society.” - Robert Reich. In this quote by Robert Reich, this is what Prometheus intends to do (stand up to the ‘bullies’). The bullies in Anthem are the Council of Scholars which conveys collectivism. The Council of Scholars is a collectivist group that bases on valuing the needs of a group over an individual. As The Council of Scholars is a collectivist group, this explains why the Council does not think that Equality is right or accurate because the Council decides to remain with what all the other Council group members say. “And when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the cave and his fellow-prisoners, do you not suppose that he would felicitate himself on the change, and pity them?” - Allegory of a Cave. This quote lets us expand further on why Prometheus thinks that he will prevail. Prometheus thinks that his brothers will be elated finding out what he has discovered, but some may be scared or nervous accepting change into their lives.
Dowol Lee
ReplyDeleteIn Anthem by Ayn Rand, the main character Equality 7-2521 forsees a struggle with his collectivist world. He knows nothing is right and seeks for a solution.”I am done with the monster of "We," the word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery, falsehood and shame.” This is quote from Anthem that shows that Equality is done with his collectivist and wants to see a change. In his world he is forced to use “We” and not “I” because the world wants a collectivist society. Throughout the book he goes on a journey to change that. He hates that he can’t show his true identity and has to conform to his society. He is more knowledgeable than anyone and recognizes that there is a problem.“There is no danger in solitude. We have no need of our brothers. Let us forget their good and our evil, let us forget all things save that we are together and that there is joy as a bond between us”. Equality says these words showing that there is no problem in being your own individual self. He means that there is no danger in being alone and is a good thing.
Equality knows he will prevail because he knows there are more people like him in his world. Other people that foresee the same struggle in the world.”Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision.” This is from The Soul of a Collectivist by Ayn Rand. It basically states what an individualist is, people that were armed with their own vision and stuck beside it. ”No creator was prompted by a desire to serve his brothers, for his brothers rejected the gift he offered and that gift destroyed the slothful routine of their lives”. This is also from The Soul of an Individualist. It shows what Equality went through. When he discovered electricity, he showed it to the Council of Scholars and was punished for straying away from the society and being an individual. He was rejected by the society the gift Equality offered even though it would be helpful to society. "Are you afraid?"But they shook their head. So we walked to the door, and we threw it open, and we stepped together into the house of the Unmentionable Times.” This quote from Anthem by Ayn Rand shows that Equality is not scared of his vision and is willing to seek it. In the end Equality 7-2521 does prevail and then chooses a new name: Prometheus. He chose this name because he wants to be like him. He wants to free mankind from the lies set by the Gods of society. That is a perfect name for him. He goes against things that are wrong even though his opinion is not favored. That shows that he is a true individualist.
Celia Hoffman
ReplyDeleteIt was embedded in the citizens of Anthem to obey. They were taught that there was no other way of life then to comply the teachings of their leaders. “It was easy to escape from the Palace of Corrective Detention. The locks are old on the doors and there are no guards about. There is no reason to have guards, for men have never defied the Councils so far as to escape from whatever place they were ordered to be.” The government doesn’t think the prisoners will understand that there is a way to get out. The prisoners don’t understand the concept of escaping, which includes escaping their own society.
Even in less modern times, there was collectivism. “Before the rise of the nation-state, between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries, the world was mostly tribal. Tribes were united by language, religion, blood, and belief. They feared other tribes and often warred against them.” It's interesting to see how far collectivism has been carried through time. This quote explains how tribes all worked together as one, through language, religion, blood and belief, to protect the group.
Shruthi Saravanan
ReplyDeleteThe reason why people don't break out of prison was because they accept it. They have been taught their whole life what they are supposed to do “The Council of Scholars has said that we all know the things which exist and therefore the things which are not known by all do not exist.” So if there’s anything that equality’s brothers don’t know if they are not going to do it cause they know nothing better than to listen to what others instruct them to do. This also means that they would accept their punishment if that is necessary for them. “You wont need a whip - he’ll bring it to you and ask to be whipped”.
They would also not break out because they might be too frightened to do it. Due to there being harsh punishments if they did something wrong in general "Take our brother Equality 7-2521 to the Palace of Corrective Detention. Lash them until they tell”. They might be too scared to try something else that might break the rules. Equality on the other did it anyways even though he was scared “We cannot stop now, even though it frightens us”. Which how he was even able to break out, he had the courage to go and break another rule and risk it. The councils are very strict when it comes to behavior so misbehaving could cause you to get punished severely “we looked upon the faces of the Council, but there was no curiosity in those faces, and no anger, and no mercy”.
Yasmiin Ali
ReplyDeleteIn the collectivist world, Prometheus was in, his people were controlled by the Council of Scholars. “We were born with a curse. It has always driven us to thoughts which are forbidden. It has always given us wishes which men may not wish. We know that we are evil, but there is no will in us and no power to resist it. This is our wonder and our secret fear, that we know and do not resist.”(page 18). The collectivist world Prometheus was in was so controlled so that people didn't know the words ‘I’, ‘me’, and ‘my’. They were so controlled that Prometheus believes it will be a struggle changing their ways. “And if there were a contest, and he had to compete in measuring the shadows with the prisoners who had never moved out of the cave, while his sight was still weak, and before his eyes had become steady would he not be ridiculous?”(paragraph 32). Same with Allegory of a Cave, The man doesn't see what the enlightened person sees as right. That's what Prometheus is afraid would happen however he is confident that it won't.
Prometheus think he will be victorious because he knows he isn't the only enlightened person there. He knows that some of his brothers were like him: an individual. “We were born with a curse. It has always driven us to thoughts which are forbidden. It has always given us wishes which men may not wish. We know that we are evil, but there is no will in us and no power to resist it. This is our wonder and our secret fear, that we know and do not resist.”(page 18). There are more people in the collectivist world that are an individual like him, however, they are just hiding as he did. “An agreement reached by a group of men is only a compromise or an average drawn upon many individual thoughts.”(The Soul of an Individualist).
Nick Entner
ReplyDelete“It was easy to escape from the Palace of Corrective Detention. The locks are old on the doors and there are no guards about. There is no reason to have guards, for men have never defied the Councils so far as to escape from whatever place they were ordered to be.” (Rand Chp 6) People chose not to to escape because they were afraid of the individualist. People don't want change, they don't want to be seen as different,they are scared of what is going to happen. People don't escape because they haven't been able to seen the greater things that can happen. They only seen what is in front of them.
The leaders are scared of change. They want to make the rules they don't want others thinking for themselves. This is why they declined his offer for the lightbulb. They have seen what has happened when everyone is free to do, say, dress, and be who ever they want. But they think that, that is wrong. This is a terrible thing that even might happen in the future.
Jacob Moore
ReplyDeleteIn the collectivist world that prometheus once lived in, He foresees a struggle. I believe that he sees this struggle because everyone in that society only listens to their leaders the council of scholars “But the Council of Scholars has said that there are no mysteries, and the Council of Scholars knows all things” (Anthem chapter 1). Because they only listen to their leaders The Council of Scholars they will most likely not listen to Prometheus for what he has to say or they Might just not want to listen to him because they are scared of the truth. This also plays along with Plato's “Allegory of a Cave” because when the enlightened person comes to tell the people the truth about the real world they do not believe him and they do not want to believe him because they have grown up thinking one thing when it actually was something completely different.
I believe that prometheus thinks that he will prevail because he Knows that he is very intelligent and also very humble “And the day will come when I shall break all the chains of the earth, and raze the cities of the enslaved, and my home will become the capital of a world where each man will be free to exist for his own sake” (Anthem chapter 12). I also believe that he will prevail because he thinks that there are other people in the collectivist society who are intelligent like him but haven't done anything because they are too scared. This statement can also play along with a quote by Robert Reich “Standing up to bullies is the hallmark of a civilized society”. I believe that this quote plays along with it because If Prometheus stands up to the Council of scholars the people similar to him in the collectivist society will also stand up to them as well.
Dylan Brenner
ReplyDeleteIn the book Anthem, Prometheus foresees a struggle with the collectivist world. Prometheus lives in a collectivist world that is controlled by the council of scholars, this is why I think he foresees a struggle. He knows that something is wrong with the world he is in now so he tries to fix it, “ I am done with the monster of “We” (part 11). This demonstrates that obviously Prometheus wants to make a change to his collectivist world. Since, he is in a collectivist society he can’t express his thoughts as well as he wants to, “We were born with a curse. It has always driven us to thoughts which are forbidden. It has always given us wishes which men may not wish. We know that we are evil, but there is no will in us and no power to resist it. This is our wonder and our secret fear, that we know and do not resist” (part 1). This shows how controlled his society was and how they put so many limits and restrictions on everyone in it.
Prometheus thinks he will prevail because he knows that other people feel the same way as he does with the collectivist world. He has also become more of a leader and sees himself more of an individual, “A leader is someone who steps back from the entire system and tries to build a more collaborative, more innovative system that will work over the long term” (Inequality for all). Prometheus have evolved into a leader and is trying to win his freedom as well as getting rid of the collectivist world. “Standing up to the bullies is the hallmark of a civilized society” (Inequality for all). This is what Equality is trying to do against the council of scholars. The council of scholars is a group that puts any group in front of any individual.
Griffin Littlewood
ReplyDeleteIn the book Anthem we read how Equality or now called prometheus is becoming an individual after seeing how flawed his society really is and how it must improve. While he was still brainwashed he was in the palace of corrective detention where he later escapes. It is so easy to escape as he realizes in the process. He realizes that the people see no wrong in these actions against them. It seems like average living to them."The locks are old on the doors and there are no guards about."chapter 6. This quote shows how easy it is to escape the palace.
We see the importance of obedience in this society and how they have been taught they will amount to nothing. Prometheus and his brothers are tortured in the prison. This is what made him want to escape as well. ''Then we saw a fist before us. It knocked our chin up, and we saw the red froth of our mouth on the withered fingers''chapter 6. This shows how brutal they were to prisoners as well as Prometheus to make sure they were afraid to leave although how easy it was due to the consequences.
Robbie Mahlebjian
ReplyDeleteMind of an Individualist
In Ayn Rand’s book Anthem the old locks and lack of guards in the Palace of Corrective Detention indicate that prisoners never try to escape. I think they never try to escape because they don’t want to leave even know they easily escape, but they are afraid what would happen if they do. So instead of escaping they just stay with the group instead of being enlightened.
First let us get an example from real life like college. Everyone thinks they need to go to college but do we. The people that think they don’t want to thinks they need to. This directly connects to the Corrective Detention where you can get out easily but should? People want to be stay in a so people don’t make fun of their ideas and make fun of them. So I made a direct connection to real life and the book what is next?
The escape of the individual is easy at first you made your own choice finally and you ready to do things your way. After awhile it will get harder and harder and you wish you were back in a group or should have just went with the program. The individual will try and find their way, some will fail but they will still respect their decision. Just like prometheus people will ridgicoil the individual with a group. Though they will ridgicoil the person the idea of that person will spread through their minds making them think about the individuals idea, and that is all it takes to make them the individual.
Evan Lin
ReplyDeleteBefore the imprisonment of Prometheus, nobody has escaped the Palace of Corrective Detention. When he was thrown into his cell, he noticed that "the locks are old on the doors and there are no guards about"(67). The reason that no one had dared to escape was because that they were taught into thinking that the Council can do no wrong. The teachers tell everyone that “Council of Vocations knows in its great wisdom where you are needed by your brother men, better than you can know it in your unworthy little minds”(22). “You won’t need a whip-he’ll bring it to you and ask to be whipped”.
The people that have been put in prison before Prometheus have never had the idea that the Council is wrong; that they are right. “He can survive in only one of two ways-by the independent work of his mind or as a parasite fed by the mind of others”. The Council is the mind, and the people under them are the parasites. The Council decides what everybody has to do, and they just do it. Without the Council, they are helpless, “he needs others. Others become his prime motive”.
Sean Curtis-
ReplyDeleteIn the book Anthem we read how Equality or now called prometheus is becoming an individual after seeing how flawed his society is. While brainwashed he was in the palace of corrective detention. It is so easy to escape he realizes that the people see no wrong in these actions. It seems like average living to them."The locks are old on the doors and there are no guards about."chapter 6.
We see the importance of obedience in this society. Prometheus and his brothers are tortured in the prison. This is what made him want to escape. ''Then we saw a fist before us. It knocked our chin up, and we saw the red froth of our mouth on the withered fingers''chapter 6. This shows how brutal they were to prisoners as well as Prometheus to make sure they were afraid to leave the prison although how easy it was due to the consequences.
Michael DiCenzo
ReplyDeleteI think Prometheus will prevail because there a lot of people like him that are different. “The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see”. These people could help Prometheus on his conquest to prevail. For example Prometheus is smarter than most people. “Prometheus feels god like because he feels enlightened”.
Prometheus feels that people should be able to live how they want with minimal consequences and they don't have to be judged because of their abilities or differences. Prometheus will prevail because he has already escaped the corrective center and learned possessive words. “That’s not the point. The point is, who will stop me”?
Anthony Dimuzio
ReplyDeleteI think Prometheus wants to make a civilization so he can let people live and grow up how they want to and so they can have feelings and show emotion. And some s won't want to come to the new civilization because they are afraid of what might happen to them and what the council might do if they find out that they are leaving. This relates to allegory of a cave because some people don't want to go because they probably won't believe what he is saying because they never experienced that before and think he is crazy.
In allegory of a cave the main characters were trapped in in a cave against their will and when they get out they do not believe anything that they see because all they have seen were shadows.”Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown to him?” This relates to anthem because prometheus wants to take everybody to freedom and nobody wants to go because they don’t know what freedom is or they are scared about what is going to happen to them if they leave.
Prometheus foresees a struggle of his collectivist world because he knows that there are some of his brothers have the same question for this society like he did before. “We were born with a curse. It has always driven us to thoughts which are forbidden. It has always given us wishes which men may not wish. We know that we are evil, but there is no will in us and no power to resist it. This is our wonder and our secret fear, that we know and do not resist.” (Anthem) Prometheus believes that they will be his first followers and there will be more and more to follow. He chooses them to be his followers because he wants to take the people who actually want to go with him instead of the people who have completely been brainwashed by the Council of Scholars.
ReplyDeletePrometheus thinks that he will be the winner because he feels god like, he thinks what he’s doing is right. He feels it’s his duty to save his brothers.He believes that everyone is different, everyone has their own their own mind which were suppressed by the government, he is the one who will liberate them.“His vision, his strength, his courage came from his own spirits. A man’s spirits, however, is his self. That entity which is his consciousness. To think, to feel, to judge, to act are functions of the ego.” (The Soul of an Individual) Once they are enlighten, they will facilitate themselves on the change. “It was when I read the first of the books I found in my house that I saw the word "I." And when I understood this word, the book fell from my hands, and I wept, I who had never known tears. I wept in deliverance and in pity for all mankind.” (Anthem)
Xingyun Pan
Delete