Anthem

Steph - Black Jocelyn - Teal Blaine - Pink Shelby - Lime Green Mikki - Purple Nicki - Orange Brooke - Red Brandi - Yellow Cassie - Light Blue Heather - Dark Green



=**IF YOU WANT THE PARTICIPATION POINTS YOU HAVE TO POST AT LEAST 3 TIMES!!!**= objectivism- the tendency, as a writer to deal with things external to the mind rther than with thoughts or feelings. (Brandi), ===__Chapter 1__- Basically, what I got from this chapter would be the fact that all of the men are given numbers, not names, the men in the book are "cursed" because they don't look the exact same as the other men, it's considered a great sin to be too smart, they were assigned street-sweeper jobs, the men work from age 15-40 then they are sent to the House of the Useless and near the end of the chapter, the men find a forbidden hole-type thing that they are going to keep a secret. (Steph)=== What is the connection between there names like equality and the numbers they are given? Equality is too smart and therfore cursed because he is curious. (Cassie) I think that the numbers have something to do with either how they were born or in what order they were concieved. I also believe that their names are a basically one word that best describes them. Another thinig that is importat in this chapter was that the main character in the book, equality, is seen as too smart forhis own good. He wanted to be a member of the House of Scholars, but was made a street sweeper instead. I just found it odd that, if he was that smar, they made him a street sweeper. (Brandi) I think that the names come from things that they should live up to in one way or another and i'm not sure where the numbers come into play. I do not agree with the fact that if they have one little flaw or something wrong with their appearance that they then get sent away to "useless homes."

This chapter described to me the basic thought that the book was mostly about not being an individual. How you couln't be yourself, you couldn't chose your life and anything that happens in it.

It makes me wonder if the other men can feel what equality feels towards the golden one. Do all the men have secret feelInge towards certain women as equality does? Hmmmmmm :) (joce) ===*__Chapter 2__- Men and women are forbidden to take notice of each other. Men older than 20 and women older than 18 are sent away for one night to make a baby. They are assigned to each other to make that baby. The kids never know their parents and the parents never know their babies. The men broke many laws by talking to the "Golden One." I really didn't understand what the fire part was about at the end? What exactly happened? (Steph)=== What is the unspeakable word? When Equality is talking about the forest it reminds me of how in The Hunger Games the forest is off limits to, and anyone found inside of them can be killed or jailed. (Cassie)  It is fairly interesting that everything seems to be off limits .The people are practically taught to fear the unknown and their own minds. It's very peculiar that they seem to resist technology and fear that as well. Its like a degressed society (Brandi) I agree with brandi. I believe that the reason everything is off limits is because they don't want people learning or experiencing life. Everything is controlled and already planned out for them, such as their jobs and their signifigant others. Equality is falling in love with Liberty. It's quite obvious but it is forbidden so they talk secretly maybe once a day.

__*Chapter 3__- The men discovered copper wire and other metals that would react together and some sort of chemical reaction would occur. (Steph)
Did the council destroy/hide all technology so that they could reinvent it and thus make themselves look smarter. (Cassie) I don't think they were trying to make themselves look smarter i just think they might have been afraid of the unmentionable times occuring again. Some believe that the cause of this was from technology. Who would want to live in a world with absolutley no techonolgy just to look smarter? I thikn what they did there Cassie is hide it away on purpose. I think that they blame technology for the degressed society so the resist it and try to hide that which was already found.(Brandi) I think they destroyed it on purpose because they think it caused the problems that killed out the population before they existed from the unmentionable times. I think they want to keep all of the men the same so they hide technology so the world is constantly changing. (Steph)

rest one which was forbidden. The women give the men water. (Steph)
There is no intimacy in there society, no love, or affection, they have no clue what any of this is because they have no parents and only live with others of the same gender for there entire life. (Cassie) so this is kind of like my other post. i feel as though only equality feels these forbidden feelings. do you think any other characters get these feelings and emotions towards other characters? (joce) I would just like to know how nobody saw them or noticed them talking. If it is really that unusual for a man and a women to be speaking and giving each other pet names then you think that someone would notice that. I wonder why is is such a crime to give someone a nick name. Maybe it is because their real names are suppose to describe them completely. It is also important to point out that the goldem one told equality that they loved him and they actually used the work "you" but she quickly caught herself and changed her wording. (Brandi)

__*Chapter 5__- The men made legit fire. They are going to wait one month before they tell the Council because the World Council of Scholars are coming to meet in their city in one month. (Steph)
Do they not have mirrors in the society? Because Equality acts as if he has never seen his reflection. But he does want to see it. (Cassie) What i don't understand is how he has never seen his reflection in like a pool of water or anything. It seems a little strange because even in a rain puddle you can see your reflection.(Brandi) I was wondering the same thing about the mirrors. I don't think they have mirrors because it would make the people see eachother as different from all the others. I agree with both blaine and brandi because i don't see how they would have never seen even a quick reflection of themselves. I think that the mirrors give them an independent look on themseleves and that's why their forbidden. No one is aloud to be independent or different from anyone else in this book. I agree with Blaine too, mirros make you see how different your appearance is from everyone else wheter you think it is good or bad, and they were made to think that they were all the same, all equal but inferior to the council. ===__*Chapter 6__- The men got caught coming home late because they lost track of time. They were stripped of their clothing and lashed until they told the Council where they were. They refused to tell them about their tunnel so they were lashed until unconscious. The men were then put in jail until they came clean. The men decided they had to escape so they could tell the Council of Scholars, who were coming in one day, about the fire/light. (Steph)=== I can't believe how strict they are on everyone in this book. ===__*Chapter 7__- Equality showed the box to the Council people. They were afraid of it. Equality didn't want the Council to destroy the box so he he grabbed it and ran away to the Uncharted Forest. The only thing he will miss about the city is the Golden One. I was curious if there is any connection between the Council people's names/numbers? Like Collective 0-0009, International 1-5537, Unanimity 7-3304, Democracy 4-6998, Allaiance 6-7349, Solidarity 8-1164, Harmony 9-2642, Unanimity 2-9913 or Similarity 5-0306? (Steph)=== Like i said before, i think that their names are given to them based on what order they were born and i also think that they pick a work out that best describes their personality and their role in life. (Brandi) I agree with Brandi here because this is something we discussed the first time we read the book in tenth grade. Their numbers are in order in which they were born but don't you ever wonderhow the first one of them came about and what they were meant to do? ===__*Chapter 8__- Equality found that the forest is a great place. He survived his first night, made a fire, cooked and ate a bird. He saw his reflection for the first time! (in the stream) He laughed at the fact that he was now "damned" from the city. He still has the paper that he wrote his journal entires on. (Steph)=== I still would like to know how he never saw his reflection before. Did they keep the people away from all streams?(Brandi) This answered Cassie and my question about the mirrors because he is seeing his reflection for the first time I like seeing how Equality improved so much from the "brainwashing" of his society. He went from not being able to be independent to being fully capable of taking care of himself from the things he's learned. ===__*Chapter 9__- The Golden One followed Equality into the forest because she loves him. They kissed! They plan on building a house together. Equality talks about Good vs. Evil. He says that __//"Everything which comes from the many are good and everything which comes from one is evil."//__ (Steph)=== Doesn't that statement kind of support the society he was living in though? They all lived as one unit and thought as one and even lived as one? I could be totally over analyzing this though. (Brandi) I love the saying about good vs. evil because it makes sense to this world today. Many people are good in groups but when they are alone thats when the plan to do something that is evil and not right to do. ===__*Chapter 10__- Equality and the Golden One found the "House of Unmentionable Times." Two people lived in the house before they found it. They found manuscripts (so they can learn to read), jewelry, pots, clothing, etc. (Steph)=== they seem to be puzzeled by the fact that only two people would live in a house, This is pribably due to the fact that they are used to living in a house with humdereds of people. does it ever mention who lived in the house? and do you think equality and the golden one could kind of become like the previous people that lived there? (joce)

__*Chapter 11__- Equality basically talks about what the word "We" meant when he lived in the city. He also talks about how he discovered the word "I" and what that means to him and his life. (Steph)
Ther must have been an abundance of books in this house. equality and Liberty seem to learn a lot from these books in a short amount of time. (Brandi) Liberty seems to take on the mother wife roles right away, She seems like the softer of the two characters. (Brandi) They weren't allowed to be individuals in the city. The freedom he experienced when he escaped must have been extremely overwhelming to both of them. The fact that Equality found a word "I" to describe his new individuality would have been very meaningful to him. ===__*Chapter 12__- Equality found names for himself and the Golden One. He is now Prometheus and she is now Gaea. He talks about how electricity was already discovered but no one in his city knew about it. They are going to have a baby. The sacred word= Ego. I think this is the sacred word because every man can do what they want to do with their life. Every man is different and no one n make you be the same as someone else. You have the freedom to be different. You are independent. People shouldn't have to depend on other people for everything in order to live their lives. (Steph)=== Equality was the first to break out of the jail, he was the first to defy the societie which is very bold. Some people suggest that Equality being stripped and beaten is in refrence to Jesus being tortured at the cross. And thus Equality ( who dreams of dleivering light to all people equally in all cities) is the prophet of light who must also suffer. (Cassie) Is the sacred word also the unmentionable word in the old city? (Brandi) I had the same question as Brandi? I have learned from this book that, society can be ran in many different ways.

It is different from Brave New World because in that novel they had all these technological advances and in Anthem they really do not have any, because he was amazed just by a light bulb and how it works.

I think that the theme of the book anthem is Ego, because it is the sacred word.

I think that ego is the sacred word because it is what this whole society is based on. Ego was taken away because everyone in this society was suppossed to be exactly the same as each other and they were being controlled by another person. Once they found out that it was okay to be your own person, their ego came into play, but not in the negative way that ego is shown as today. I have really thought about the theme of the book and I think that it is about fear. I think they try to contorl the people by fear, becase they know something bad will happen to them if the speak up. They contor them this way but they cant really contorl equlity's thoughts and emotions. I just think this book is to teach people that you can't contorl people by fear.

Class discussions: Friday March 16th- The group discussed what we have read so far. We decided to read at our own pace this time. Thursday March 22nd- Everyone has fnished the book and we have begun to discuss our final project Tuesday March 27th- We put the final touches on our final project project.