Name/Hour:_____________________________!
!
Anthem Activities 1
Anthem Pre-Writing
Before reading Anthem by Ayn Rand (“Ayn” pronounced “blind”), it is important to start by
examining yourself. After all, the unexamined life is not worth living. Answer each of the
following questions with a well-written paragraph, leading with a topic sentence and then
matching supporting details. This will be used for class discussion.
1.) What makes you you? Describe yourself by including likes, dislikes, and anything that sets
you apart from others. Give this serious thought: It is much harder than you think!
2.) In high school, everyone wants to fit in or be normal. However, “normal” is rarely (if ever)
defined. How would you describe “normal”?
3.) Lastly, what happened if everyone were normal. No, really, imagine what the world would
look like if everyone were literally the same. What would be the ripple effects for relationships
and society?
Name/Hour:_____________________________!
!
Anthem Activities 2
Anthem Study Guide, Part 1
Guiding Themes: the individual versus the collective
Chapter 1
1. Who is Equality 7-2521, and what is his sin?
2. Where is he writing from, and why may men not be alone? Describe his lighting.
3. What is the “evil in [Equality 7-2521’s] bones”?
4. What must all men repeat when tempted?
5. What is the punishment for “speak[ing] of the times before the Great Rebirth”?
6. What is the Home of the Infants? The Home of the Students?
7. How do people attain their vocations? What does Equality 7-2521 want to do? What is his
actual job? What does his job determine?
8. Why do they use sundials? Hold that thought…
9. What is the Home of the Useless? How old are the Ancient Ones?
10. Equality 7-2521 has two friends: Union 5-3992 and International 4-8818. Which one is
sickly, and which one is strong?
11. What is the Transgression of Preference?
12. What do Equality 7-2521 and International 4-8818 discover from the Unmentionable Times?
Chapter 2
1. Who is Liberty 5-3000? How does Equality 7-2521 feel about Liberty 5-3000?
2. What does the first paragraph reveal about, umm, love?
3. The Time of Mating. Be able to describe it. And the Council of Eugenics. Lovely!
4. What does Equality 7-2521 call Equality 5-3000?
5. Why was Equality 7-2521 reprimanded in the dining hall? Why was the Home Council
confused? Was this confusion a good thing?
6. Explain this quote: “But we, Equality 7-2521, are glad to be living. If this is a vice, then we
wish no virtue.”
7. Describe the Uncharted Forrest. What details do we gain from Liberty 7-2521’s explanation?
8. What is the punishment for speaking the Unspeakable Word? What might that be? Read
Equality 7-2521’s memory carefully…
Chapter 3
1. Explain this quote: “The Council of Scholars has said that we all know the things which
exist, and therefore all the things which are not known by all do not exist.” What are the
implications of this quote?
2. What did Equality 7-2521 discover? Or rediscover, rather.
3. Remember this quote: “No single one can possess greater wisdom than the many Scholars
who are elected by all men for their wisdom.”
Chapter 4
1. What name did Liberty 5-3000 (i.e., “The Golden One”) give to Equality 7-2521?
2. What “Never have men said… to women”? Do you believe this?
Name/Hour:_____________________________!
!
Anthem Activities 3
3. How does Chapter 4 end? What favor was done?
Chapter 5
1. What does Equality 7-2521 reinvent? I should see these going off in your heads…
2. Where does Equality 7-2521 want to take his discovery? What are his motives?
3. When do the World Council of Scholars meet?
4. What do men never see?
Chapter 6
1. How long has it been since Equality 7-2521 has penned an entry? Why was Equality 7-2521
punished? Where was he sent? What happened to him?
2. Does Equality 7-2521 stay the whole duration of his punishment? How does this event
change his plans?
Chapter 7
1. How does the Council of Scholars react to Equality 7-2521 crashing their meeting?
2. Equality 7-2521 exclaims, “We give you the power of the sky! […] Let us bring a new light to
men!” Is Collective 0-0009’s reaction positive?
3. Think about this series of statements: (1) “What is not thought by all men cannot be
true.” (2) “What is not done collectively cannot be good.” (3) “The Candle is a great boon
to mankind, as approved by all men. Therefore, it cannot be destroyed by the whims of one.”
4. What was the verdict on Equality 7-2521’s invention? How does he handle their sentence?
Important Characters
Character/Alias
Equality 7-2521
Union 5-3992
International 4-8818
Liberty 5-3000
Collective 0-0009
Details
Name/Hour:_____________________________!
!
Anthem Activities 4
Anthem Study Guide, Part 2
Chapter 8
1. What happens to Equality 7-2521’s body as he escapes from the State?
2. Explain what our hero finds so amazing about killing and eating a bird.
3. What does Equality 7-2521 see for the first time?
Chapter 9
1. Who surprises Equality 7-2521 in the forest? How did they find Equality 7-2521?
2. What did our heroes—or lovers, rather—unexpectedly do? Why is this earth-shattering?
3. Ponder this quote: “If that which we have found is the corruption of solitude, then what can
men wish for save corruption? If this is the great evil of being alone, then what is good and
what is evil?”
4. What is problematic about The Golden One saying, “We love you”?
Chapter 10
1. How does the setting radically change when Chapter 10 opens? Quite the change from
wanting to build a forest dwelling…
2. While our heroes are surprised to find the house, what surprises them the most?
3. From an anthropological perspective, what do they discover about the past?
Chapter 11
1. Equality 7-2521 explains, “I wished to know the meaning of things. I am the meaning.”
These sentences are the key to this short chapter.
2. What word does Equality 7-2521 say should never be spoken? Why?
3. This whole chapter could be highlighted…
Chapter 12
1. How does Equality 7-2521 improve on The Golden One’s admonition, “We love you”?
2. What names do our heroes choose for themselves? Is there significance to these names?
3. What does Prometheus discover his invention was called?
4. After reading, what will Prometheus do to his land? Why? What is his next step?
5. How does Prometheus define “freedom”?
6. Read the paragraph “At first, man was enslaved by the gods” carefully. What destroyed the
freedom that man finally attained?
7. What warning does Rand give in the paragraph, “Perhaps, in those days”?
Name/Hour:_____________________________!
!
Anthem Activities 5
Post-Book Thoughts and Questions
1. What does Anthem mean for high school? Would Rand say “fitting in” is a good thing?
2. In many real fictionalized totalitarian societies, children live apart from their families. Why
would dictatorial leaders enforce this living arrangement?
3. What does Equality finally understand about his society when the Council threatens to
destroy his invention?
4. Contrast Equality’s view of morality at the end of the novel with that of his society.
5. Anthem is a heroic and inspiring story about the triumph of the individuals independent spirit.
Even though, at the end of the novel, Equality is greatly outnumbered, and modern society
lies in ruins, it is a story of liberation and hope–not of despair. Discuss.
6. To fully control a man, dictators must not only enslaves body, but also destroys his mind.
Discuss helping leaders in Anthem seeks to accomplish this tyrannical end.
Anthem One-Sentence Summary
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