Anthem Study Guide

Assignment #1 – Life Expectancy – Find the average life expectancy of the United States and 5 other countries. Choose one of those 5 to research further and find out why there is either a high or low life expectancy in that country. Contributing factors may include number of doctors, access to medicine, availability of food and clean drinking water, presence of war, political system, freedom (of speech, press, assembly, religion), private property… List your 5 countries, then write a paragraph about the one on which you chose to focus. (Remember to use your writing conventions – topic sentence, concrete detail, and commentary – and write at least 10 sentences. Continue on back if necessary.)

Source: ____________________________________________________________________________

Name of Country Life Expectancy (in years)

1) United States

2)

3)

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5)

Country: ______________________________________ Source: ________________________________

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Paragraph: ___________________________________________________________________________

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Anthem Study Guide

Assignment #2 – Chapter I – Summarize what we have read so far in 2-3 sentences. Include information about setting and characters. Then, choose 3 significant sentences from Chapter 1 to fill in the chart below:

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Significant Sentence (concrete detail)

Explanation of Significance (commentary)

Anthem Study Guide

Assignment 3 – Chapter Questions – Chapter I

Answer each of the following questions using complete sentences. Rephrase the question to form your answer (1 point) and get each question right (2 points)! Reminder: Answer all parts of each question.

1) In a well-organized paragraph, describe the society in which Anthem is set. Some areas to consider are the political structure, degree of technology, social relationships, quality of life, and education. Would you want to live in this society? Explain why or why not.

2) In this chapter, Equality states that it is very unusual for men to reach the age of 45. Offer several possible explanations as to why life expectancy is so short in his society.

3) Clearly, Ayn Rand intended Equality to stand out from his “brothers.” Explain how she accomplishes this by contrasting Equality’s physical qualities and character traits to those of his fellow men.

4) Why does the Council of Vocations assign Equality 7-2521 the job of street sweeper? Is it due to a) error, b) incompetence, or c) a more sinister motivation? Explain.

5) When does this novel take place—in the past, the present, or the future? How do you know?

6) What is the “curse” Equality refers to? How would your teachers react if you had Equality’s “curse”? Why do Equality’s teachers disapprove of his quick mind?

7) At this point in the novel, does Equality accept the moral teachings of his society? Find concrete details to support your answer.

8) Would you want to be friends with someone like Equality 7-2521? Why or why not?

Anthem Study Guide

Assignment 4 – 4-square activity, Chapter 1-2

Fill in each box with the necessary information…

Draw a scene from the book. 2-3 sentence explanation of your drawing

Anthem Study Guide

List 10 vocab words AND definitions

1) transgression –

List and describe all “Proper Nouns” (ex. Uncharted Forest)

Assignment 5 – Characterization

Define characterization ________________________________________________________

What are the four types of characterization?

1) _________________________________________________________________

2) _________________________________________________________________

3) _________________________________________________________________

4) _________________________________________________________________

After completing the character chart on the next page, write a paragraph that explains one character. (Remember to use your writing conventions – topic sentence, concrete detail (~3), and commentary – and write at least 10 sentences. Continue on back if necessary.)

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Anthem Study Guide

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Assignment 6 – Figurative Language – Answer the questions below, and then complete the chart on the next page.

What is figurative language? ______________________________________________________

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What are the types of figurative language?

1) _________________________________________________________________

2) _________________________________________________________________

3) _________________________________________________________________

4) _________________________________________________________________

Finish each of the sentences with an appropriate word. Then, choose the type of figurative language that best describes the completed sentence.

1) “All the world’s a __________________, and all the men and women merely players.” Type? ________________

Anthem Study Guide

2) His speech really painted a __________________ for us and helped us to understand life in Southeast Asia.Type? ________________

3) The box was as light as a ______________________. Type? ________________

4) I am so _______________________, I could eat a horse. Type? ________________

5) Oreos are milk’s favorite _______________. Type? ________________

Figurative Language in Anthem

Within your assigned pages, list as many examples of figurative language as you can. Fill in the chart below.

Example and page number Type of figurative language

(metaphor, simile, personification, or

hyperbole)

What two things are being

compared?

What does it mean?

Anthem Study Guide

Assignment 7: Imagery in Anthem

Imagery may be created with figurative language, but imagery is usually strictly literal and describes something using words that appeal to the readers’ five senses. Within your assigned pages, list as many examples of imagery as you can. Fill in the chart below.

Example of Imagery and page number

Which sense is the author

appealing to?

Paraphrase (put the example into your own words)

What mood is the author trying to

create?

Anthem Study Guide

Assignment 8 – Reading Log – Summarize each chapter in 2-3 sentences. Choose one significant sentence from each chapter and write commentary for it. You may choose a sentence that is important to the plot, reveals character, or is simply an interesting bit of imagery or figurative language.

Chapter 3 _____________________________________________________________________

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Significant Sentence Explanation

Anthem Study Guide

Chapter 4 _____________________________________________________________________

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Chapter 5 _____________________________________________________________________

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Anthem Study Guide

Chapter 6 _____________________________________________________________________

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Significant Sentence Explanation

Chapter 7 _____________________________________________________________________

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Chapter 8 _____________________________________________________________________

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Anthem Study Guide

Chapter 9 _____________________________________________________________________

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Chapter 10_____________________________________________________________________

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Chapter 11 ____________________________________________________________________

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Anthem Study Guide

Chapter 12 ____________________________________________________________________

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Assignment 9 – Chapter Questions – Answer each of the following questions using complete sentences. Rephrase the question to form your answer (1 point) and get each question right (2 points)! Reminder: Answer all parts of each question.

Chapter III

1. (a) What does Equality discover in this chapter? (b) How important is this discovery? Describe four or five ways in which it would help society, and make life easier or more enjoyable.

2. What are some things that the Scholars believe about the world? How does Equality prove them wrong?

Chapter IV

Anthem Study Guide

1. What is the nickname that Liberty gives to Equality? Why does it fit him?

Chapter V

1. Equality understands that his invention will benefit mankind greatly; however, this was not his main motivation in conducting his experiments, and it is not the primary source of the great joy he experiences. Explain.

Chapter VI

1. The old locks and lack of guards in the Palace of Corrective Detention indicate that prisoners never tried to escape. Why not?

Chapter VII

1. List four of the Council’s reasons for rejecting Equality’s invention.

2. What are the real reasons behind the Council’s rejection of the gift?

3. What does Equality mean, at the beginning of the chapter, when he says, “We are old now, but we were young this morning” (p. 68)?

Chapter VIII

1. What is Equality experiencing for the first time in this chapter, and what does he feel as a result?

2. Explain why Equality laughs when he remembers that he is “the Damned.”

3. What does the Uncharted Forest symbolize in Anthem?

Chapter IX

1. On pages 93–94, Liberty contrasts Equality with his fellow men. Paraphrase this passage.

2. In this chapter, Equality questions the morality of his former society. Contrast what he was previously taught about solitude, good, evil and joy with what he now believes.

Chapter X

1. Describe the house and its contents in your own words, and explain why Liberty and Equality find it so strange and unique.

Chapter XI

1. What great discovery does Equality make in this chapter?

Anthem Study Guide

2. Explain the following quotes in your own words, and discuss how they can be applied to your life: (a) “Whatever road I take, the guiding star is within me.” (b) “For the word ‘We’ must never be spoken, save by one’s choice and as a second thought.”

3. What does Equality now realize is the proper goal and purpose of his life?

Chapter XII

1. Look up the names Prometheus and Gaea. Explain their meanings. Why do Equality and Liberty choose these names?

2. What does Prometheus plan to do in the future?

Assignment 10 – Symbolism in Anthem

What is a symbol? ______________________________________________________________

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Fill in the chart with concrete details from the story followed by your commentary (explanation).

Symbolic person, place, or object (extra credit for

drawing a picture of each)

Its role in the story

(concrete detail)

What does it represent?

(commentary)

Anthem Study Guide

The lightbulb

The forest

Written manuscripts

Which symbol would you choose for the cover of a new edition of the book? Why? __________

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Honors Activities – Choose 2 in order to receive honors credit during this ten-week period.

CREATIVE WRITING ACTIVITIES 1. Anthem illustrates the importance of thinking and judging independently and of acting according to our rational principles—even when “our brothers” oppose us. In light of the fact that smoking, drugs, shoplifting and gang violence often involve peer pressure, write a letter to a teen magazine explaining Anthem’s benefits for teenage readers. (Send your letter to a national teen magazine or your local paper—it might get published!) 2. You are applying for a job to direct the movie version of Anthem. Write a letter to the producer in which you try to convince him to hire you. Your letter must indicate

Anthem Study Guide

(a) which actors you would cast as Prometheus and Gaea, and why. Think about physical characteristics and personality traits; (b) a detailed description of the setting; (c) an explanation of the theme of this novel, and why it is particularly relevant and valuable to modern viewers; (d) musical suggestions for certain scenes, costumes, a description of the opening shot, etc.

3. Write a brief letter to Ayn Rand about Anthem. You can state your reaction to the text (What did you find particularly surprising? exciting? moving?), ask about aspects of the novel that puzzled you and relate the novel to personal experiences, etc.

4. Write the “missing scene” from chapter 1 in which the Council of Vocations is deliberating Equality’s future profession. Are any of the Council members sympathetic to Equality? If so, would he dare to voice his opinion? Ensure that you reveal the Council’s true motives in assigning Equality the job of street sweeper.

5. Write a factual newspaper article about Prometheus’s escape from jail, his surprise appearance at the World Council of Scholars and his flight into the Uncharted Forest. Then, write an opinionated editorial about the same events, written by one of his “brothers.”

6. Rewrite the meeting between Equality and Liberty from her perspective.

7. Rewrite the scene about the Saint at the Pyre from the Saint’s perspective. What did he want to communicate to Equality?

8. (Group activity) Write a new ending for Anthem in which Prometheus is captured while attempting to rescue his friends. Include a court scene of Prometheus’s trial before the Council for his “sins.” How will Prometheus use his new understanding of morality to defend himself and his actions? (As a possible extension, act out this scene in class, and invite another class to judge.)

9. At the end of the story, Prometheus confidently declares that he is not afraid of his brothers. He knows that his new home is invulnerable to them, “For they have nothing to fight me with, save the brute force of their numbers. I have my mind” (p. 100). Write a short story in which the main character’s intelligence, resourcefulness and ingenuity (i.e., his mind) triumph over his opponents’ brute force or sheer numbers.

ADVANCED RESEARCH TOPICS

1. In Anthem Prometheus discovers the meaning of the word freedom. He states that “To be free, a man must be free of his brothers. That is freedom. This and nothing else” (p. 101). In fact, Ayn Rand defined freedom, in a political context, as “the absence of physical coercion” (Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal). This definition of freedom, however, stands in direct contrast to the one held by many modern thinkers, writers and politicians. Today, modern liberals often assert “Freedom must [entail] . . . an increased power on the part of the individual to share in the goods which society has produced and an enlarged ability to contribute to the common good” (George Sabine, A History of Political Theory).Write an essay contrasting Ayn Rand’s definition of freedom with that of Sabine’s, and consider the form of government each would necessitate.

Anthem Study Guide

2. Is Anthem a realistic portrayal of life in a totalitarian society? Compare the fictionalized society in Anthem to a real dictatorship, past or present. Some options are Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, Cuba, China, Cambodia, etc.

3. While recounting man’s struggle for freedom throughout history, Equality laments that “At first, man was enslaved by gods. . . . Then he was enslaved by the kings. . . . He was enslaved by his birth, his kin, his race. But he broke their chains. He declared to all his brothers that a man has rights which [no men] can take away from him. . . . And he stood on the threshold of . . . freedom. . . . But then he gave up all that he had won, and fell lower than his savage beginning” (pp. 101–102).

Find a specific example from history for each of these five stages in mankind’s political history, including an example from the twentieth century for the final stage. What, according to this novel, must man understand to enable him to pass through the threshold of freedom that, in the past, he so nearly reached?

4. How does our society treat independent thinkers, daring innovators and successful entrepreneurs (like Equality)? Are they applauded or criticized? Write an essay on this topic, offering specific case studies to support your argument.

Study Guide for

Anthem

Anthem Study Guide

by Ayn Rand

English 10B – Mr. Mobley – Winter 2011

Anthem (novella)From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthem_(novella)

Anthem is a dystopian fiction novella by Ayn Rand, first published in 1937 in England. It takes place at some unspecified future date when mankind has entered another dark age as a result of the evils of irrationality and collectivism and the weaknesses of socialistic thinking and economics. Technological advancement is now carefully planned (when it is allowed to occur at all) and the concept of individuality has been eliminated (for example, the word "I" has disappeared from the language). As is common in her work, Rand draws a clear distinction

Anthem Study Guide

between the "socialist/communal" values of equality and brotherhood and the "productive/capitalist" values of achievement and individuality.

From SparkNotes: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/anthem/

Rand is best known for her two longest works of fiction, The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957). She began work on The Fountainhead in 1935; at the same time, she was working on Anthem. Both works introduce her theory of objectivism, or egoism, the idea that an individual’s worth comes from him- or herself and not from what he or she contributes to society or to mankind. Objectivism is, as both The Fountainhead and Anthem make explicit, a wholesale rejection of the collectivist theories and tactics that Rand believed were at the center of the brutalities visited on Russia during the early part of the twentieth century. While The Fountainhead is the fictional embodiment of objectivism, Anthem is Rand’s political manifesto. It takes the form of an allegory, a fictional story whose purpose is to present a philosophical idea. Anthem describes a dystopia, a nightmarish imaginary world through which Rand speculates on the eventual result of society’s negative aspects. Rand uses the dystopia to show what she believes will happen when a nation or society embraces collectivism and community ideals.