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Sheila Sheatz
11-1
Anthem Annotations
Chapter One
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In this community it is a sin to think differently and write it on paper that non ones else
sees.
Men may not write unless the Council of Vocations bids them.
The we lives in a tunnel under the earth, alone, which is a sin and considered to be the
root of all evil.
There is only one candle, which they stole from the Home of Street Sweepers, and this
could sentence them to ten years in the Place of Corrective Detention.
The wes name is Equality 7-2521, which is written on the iron bracelet that all men
wear on their left wrist. He is twenty-one years old, six feet tall, and not many men are
six feet tall so teachers and leaders say there is evil in his bones.
Everyone must be the same and there are words carved into the portals at the Place of the
World Council, We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great
WE, One, indivisible and forever. They mush repeat this in times of their own weakness
if they forget they must all be one. Those worlds have been the truth since the Great
Rebirth.
You cant talk about times before the Great Rebirth. At night, the Old ones whisper about
it in the Home of the Useless. They talk about towers that rose to the sky, wagons that
move without horses, and light that burned with flame.
Time passed and then men saw the Great Truth, which was that all men are one and will
save the will of all men together.
They lived in the House of Infants until they are five years old. The sleep halls were
white and clean.
When they were five they were sent to the Home of Students until they are fifteen and
then they go to work.
Before they went to sleep they raised their arms and said We are nothing. Mankind is
all. By the grace of our brothers are we allowed our lives. We exist through, by and for
our brothers who are the State. Amen.
Equality did not like those years and the teachers frowned on him because he was very
smart.
He looked upon Union 5-3992, who was pale and only has half a brain.
After you are fifteen, you go before the Council of Vocations and they assign you a job.
Those who are assigned leaders go to the Home of the Leaders and study for years to
become elected to the City Council.
Equality wanted to be a scholar, but instead was assigned as a street sweeper.
When the council assigned someone a job, they had to raise their right hand and say the
will of our brothers be done

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Each night, the townspeople go to the City Hall and sing hymns and then go to the City
Theatre for three hours of a play.
Equality lived at the Home of the Street Sweepers for four years until he committed a
crime.
When a person reaches the age of forty, they go to the Home of the Useless.
Union 5-3992 and International 4-8818 are in Equalitys sweeping group.
They discovered an old manhole and they went down in it and it lead to a tunnel from
Unmentionable Times.
They cannot report what they found because they will be killed.
For two years, he stole way in the night to study science and chemistry when he was
supposed to be in the theatre.
He stole manuscripts, which was a major crime because it takes a year to write them.
He solved secrets that scholars didnt even know of.
He is feeling the first peace he has had in twenty years.

Chapter Two
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Equality loves Liberty 5-3000.

Men are only supposed to think of women when it is time to go to the House of Mating.
Women had to be eighteen, and men had to be twenty. Equality has been there two times
and hated it.
She lives in the House of Peasants, and Equality watches her and he greets her every day.
In his mind, he refers to her as the Golden One, which is a sin.
One day at a moat he talks to her. He tells her she is beautiful and he learns she is
seventeen, so she has never been to the House of Mating.
Three of her sisters came back in the field and then she left.
The three men, Equality and his fellow street sweepers, were happy that day and decided
to sing. They were reprimanded because they sang without reason.
Equality thinks there is fear in the city and people. Fraternity 2-5503 cries without reason
and Solidarity 9-6347 screams Help us! Help us! into the night.
There was a war and then a fire call the Dawn of the Great Birth which burned all the
scripts of the Evil Ones.
There is a forbidden word call the Unspeakable Word, which you could be put to death by
saying, like one townsman, but Equality doesnt know what it is.

Chapter Three
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Equality had been sneaking away to the tunnel for two years now.
One night, Equality was cutting open a frogs leg, and a copper wire in the frog touched
the metal knife and made electricity.
This defied any scholars knowledge and even made a compasss needle move.
He discovered light bulbs in the tunnel.

Chapter Four

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Equality saw Liberty again in the field. He told her name was the Golden One to him and
she said his name was the Unconquered to her.
They both thought the same forbidden thoughts.
She gave him a drink from her hands and held them against his lips.
They could not understand what feelings they were having.

Chapter Five
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Equality created a light box much like the light bulb.

He wants to share his discovery with the city and be reassigned to the House of the
Scholars.
He wonders what he looks like now, for it is a sin to think that and to know it also.

Chapter Six
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Equality was discovered and hasnt written for thirty days.

He last track of time and was put in jail. He was severely beaten but he would not tell.
He escaped because no one ever watches the jail, since no one would ever dare to escape
and betray their city.
Tomorrow is the World Council of Scholars meeting in the city and he is going to bring
the box in hopes of joining the scholars.

Chapter Seven
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Equality brought the box to the World Council and they saw it as evil and were going to
kill him.
He grabbed the box and dashed out and ran to the Uncharted Forest.
He thinks this will be the end of him and it brings him pain to not see the Golden One
ever again.

Chapter Eight
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Equality wakes up in the woods and enjoys his new found freedom.
He kills ad bird and eats it. This is the best meal he has ever had.
He is enjoying himself but realizes he is damned.

Chapter Nine
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Golden One followed him into the forest.

Equality and Golden One walk for days and he ponders why being alone is so evil.
Golden One tells him she loves him. She says this because they are both alike.

Chapter Ten
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Golden One and Equality find a home in the mountains from Unmentionable Times.
It was built for twelve, however they one found two beds.

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They saw mirrors, light bulbs, colorful walls, colorful clothing, books, and other strange
things.
Equality is not fearful of what he is going to learn here, even if some of it is evil.

Chapter Eleven
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Equality thinks about how his thoughts are not evil.

He is going to dispose of the word we and start using the world I.
Equality realizes that thinking for ones self, seeking knowledge, and being independent
is not evil.

Chapter Twelve
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Equality discovers in the books how the word I is used and cries.
Equality takes the name of Prometheus and Golden One takes the name of Gaea.
Equality is going to figure out how to fix the light in the house and knows now that it is
called electricity.
Golden One is pregnant with his child and it will be thought the word I.
Someday, he will go into the city and take Fraternity 2-5503 and Solidarity 9-6347 back
home with him because they are suffering there like him.
He sees how men had freedom and used the world I. He cant imagine how they would
ever give that up.
He is going to start a new capital where people can live and be themselves.
Equality is going to carve EGO into stone because it is not a sacred word that he does
not want to die.

Vocabulary
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Sieve -siv- noun- an instrument with a meshed or perforated bottom, used for separating
coarse from fine parts of loose matter, for straining liquids, etc., esp. one with a circular
frame and fine meshes or perforations- page 28
Pyre- pr- noun- a pile or heap of wood or other combustible material- page 50
Boon- boon- noun- something to be thankful for- page 73
Torrent- tr'nt- noun- a stream of water flowing with great rapidity and violence- page
75
Edict- 'dkt'- noun- any authoritative proclamation or command-page 94
Alms- ahmz- noun- money, food, or other donations given to the poor or needy- page 95
Botched- bch-verb- to repair or mend clumsily- page 97
Impotent- m'p-tnt- adjective- lacking physical strength or vigor; weak- page 97

Quotes
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Now, we cannot speak, for we cannot understand- page 80

o The quote above was said by Equality after he was chased out of the World
Council meeting and he cannot write anything because he is so puzzled.

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However, this quote has a deeper meaning. It can also describe the town and how
they do not act out or question their leaders. That is the way the people of the
town have always been taught, therefore they do not know any different, because
all their lives they have been taught to fall in line and live as one.
You walk, but our brothers crawl- page 83
o This is quote is significant because it describes Equalitys character very well. He
was way ahead of the people of the town in a mental sense. He discovered
electricity and was always questioning the ways the city because he could not
understand why they were wrong. The teachers and leaders looked down on him
for that, however Equality was smarter than them because his different thinking
lead him to new discoveries and ideas.
It is my mind which thinks, and the judgment of my mind is the only searchlight that can
find the truth. It is my will which chooses, and the choice of my will is the only edict I
must respect.- page 94
o This quote is important because it shows the part in the book where Equality
finally discovers that being yourself is okay. He realizes that free thinking and
making your own choices are not a sin. Throughout the book, he is forced to
conform to ways in which he does not believe. This quote embodies the part in
the book where Equality breaks free from his chains and decides to take control of
his own life.

Literary Elements
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Point of View- First Person

o We climbed paths where the wild goat dared not follow. page 88
This is an example from the text which shows how the book was written in
a first person point of view. Equality uses pronouns like we and I in
the story, and we also know his thoughts, what he knows, and what he
witnesses, which are all characteristics of first person point of view.
Figurative Language- Simile
o Your eyes are as a flame... page 82
This example of figurative language in the text is a simile because the
Golden One directly compares Equalitys eyes to a flame, which are two
unlike things, by using the word as.
Motif
o Everything which comes from the man is good. Everything which comes from
one is evil.- page 85
This quote is theme which is repeated from the beginning of the book until
the end, which makes it a motif. The city brainwashes people into
thinking that independent thoughts and works are evil and that only when
working together as one is it good. Equality keeps repeating this idea
throughout the whole book calling his thoughts sins, however at the end he

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finally realizes it is better to think for yourself and control your own
destiny.
Connections
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The book connected their times back to the Unmentionable Times, which is our era today.
Equality found the tunnel, the house, and re-invented electricity for light bulbs. The old
people in the home of the useless also spoke of skyscrapers and cars. Before the Great
Rebirth, the Unmentionable Times, again which is our times, were referred as evil in the
story.
The band Rush made an album, 2112, in 1976 which had a story line that was based upon
the book Anthem. However, instead of the main character discovering a light bulb, he
discovers a guitar.
The entire book can connect to the first amendment in the Bill of Rights, which is
freedom of speech. The book stresses the importance of having the right to express ones
self openly and not have any consequences for it. This connects the lack of free speech in
Anthem to the struggle for keeping free speech today, which is hindered by censorship.

Comments
I truly enjoyed this book because it showed us what a world would be like if we all had to
think the same way. Anthem showed us what a boring place the world would be if we did the
same routine each day and had to follow rules which do not let us express our individuality.
However, one law in the book did not make sense to me. Equality told us that knowing your
appearance was a sin and he wondered what he looked like. The one part said that the Golden
One was drinking out of a moat when Equality approached. Wouldnt they be able to see their
reflections in the water? Not just the water, but any form of glass when the lighting is right?
This part in the book was the only thing that did not add up for me, but despite that I thought the
plot line and underlying message of being unique was an excellent one.