Haley Pezzarossi
11 H English
2 July 2014
Anthem: Entry 1
“And we know well that there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone” (Rand 17). The first thing I assume every reader recognizes when they start the novella is the feeling that our narrator is panicked. He seems panicked about crimes he has committed, but I also get the feeling that he is glad he committed these crimes. When I read this quote on the first page, I was immediately reminded of Hemingway’s Iceberg theory. Although not all of the surrounding text supports this theory perfectly, this particular quote stood out to me. The iceberg theory states that the true meaning of a work should not be apparent on the surface, the author trusts their readers to understand…show more content… Are great minds purposely oppressed by society or whatever form of government there is in the story? Or is it simply the fact that they do not appreciate individualism? Is there a discrepancy between individualism and difference? Characters in the novel are different, even though difference is frowned upon it obviously cannot be avoided. They have different names, different jobs, different characteristics, and yet they are not treated as individuals. My question about oppression came up while reading this quote, “We cannot look upon International 4-8818 and not smile in answer. For this they were not liked in the home of the students. . .” (Rand 29). The idea that great minds are being oppressed was introduced to me previously when the narrator wrote about how the teachers frowned upon him because they knew he was smarter than his brothers. I wonder if the reason International 4-8818 and Equality 7-2521 were put into the Home of the Street Sweepers is because they both had great minds. Equality 7-2521 was clearly smarter than any of his brothers, and International 4-8818 made people smile, and laugh. Did the council know they were different in a special way, and did they purposely try to discourage the slight glimmer of individualism in these characters? Clearly there is a general understanding that being different is wrong and the idea of individualism does not exist and these two…show more content… It was such an elegant way to describe something that is not so elegant. The recent writing style in general has brought an interesting, probably far too stretched, idea to mind. I believe that Ravitch uses such complex vocabulary in her expose (as I like to call this novel) to contrast the censorship going on. Different, controversial, challenging learning is being withheld and at the same time I am learning more vocab from this novel than I have in the past two years. I can tell in these coming chapters a stronger plot will begin to form because this is the first time we read about Ravitch taking action. She begins collecting all bias guidelines from educational publishers, test development companies, states, and scholarly and professional associations. Ravitch writes that, “The guidelines aim to create a new society, one that will be completely inoffensive to all parties; getting there, however, involves a heavy dose of censorship” (Ravitch 32). She is describing the struggle between eliminating bias and censoring the youth of America-our future leaders. Clearly Ravitch is against censorship, as am I, but how are guidelines controlling bias to be made without crossing that line? Ravitch explains that she understands the companies behind the guidelines have good intentions, and I have also accepted that they are under the impression that these guidelines are