First Place

Anne Fosburg, Treasure Mountain International School, Park City, UT

The old locks and lack of guards in the Palace of Corrective Detention…

OPEN DOORS

The basic defining characteristic of prisons and jails is the fact that the inmates cannot escape. Locks, bars, jail cells, they all contribute to the image of a trap—punishment by isolation from life and the many opportunities in the outside world. In Anthem, the classic cautionary novella by Ayn Rand, there are measures to prevent escape in the Palace of Corrective Detention, the equivalent of a modern-day jail. At first this seems puzzling; the society is one of total control, so why are there no locks? But when readers contrast the situation with the rest of the story, it becomes clear that the citizens are so influenced by the society that the thought of escape is unfathomable. The civilians are so convinced by the harsh dogmas laid down by the Council that the idea of escaping does not occur to them. Beside absolutely following rules, the authority figures in Anthem have taken away the personal traits that make escape not only desirable, but also possible. And finally, the main reason that prisons are effective in our society is because by isolating wrongdoers they are deprived of the opportunities life offers. In Anthem there is nothing to live for—the days are made up of endless monotony and being isolated from this is not necessarily a punishment. The lack of locks in the Palace of Corrective Detention reflects the overall brainwashing of society in Anthem.

No one in Anthem has any sort of individual identity, and this is reflected by the loss of the word “I.” They are prisoners of a collective consciousness, and are trained from such a young age to do everything that is expected of them that even the rebellious ones who are sent to the Palace of Corrective Detention feel no urge to escape. Equality 7-2521 sums up the attitude of his society when he says, “There is no reason to have guards, for men have never defied the Councils so far as to escape from whatever place they were ordered to be,” (Rand 67). Following rules is ingrained deeply into the community’s personality, and those few insurgents who break the rules still find no reason to escape the Palace. Either they feel that they deserve the punishment they receive for their insubordination or they simply don’t have the individual strength to formulate a plan of escape. It’s difficult to comprehend the extent of the brainwashing in Anthem because there is so little basis for comparison. For hundreds of years the Councils have oppressed the community, and no one can recall free will or even freedom at all. The very idea of rebelling has never occurred to the majority of the population. The total indoctrination of every member of the society in Anthem means that locks are not a necessity, even on the most secure buildings.

Imagine for a moment that you are a part of Equality’s society. Your life is the very definition of monotony. Every morning you wake up, eat breakfast with the others, work, eat lunch, work, eat dinner, and watch an “educational play.” Repeat. You have nothing to look forward to, nothing to break up the endless days of repeated activities. Then one day you commit some small misdemeanor that earns you time in the Palace of Corrective Detention. The difference between this picture and the jails and prisons of today is simply a reason to escape. For the people who are in jail in modern society, nothing is worse than being isolated from life. There are so many reasons to want to escape, so many things to live for out there in the world. In Equality’s society however, there is no reason whatsoever to want to escape from jail. Because most crimes committed by those who serve time are relatively minor, the prisoners are not tortured. Their lives in the Palace of Corrective Detention are not particularly different than their lives in the outside world. The world offers nothing for them, so there is no reason to escape. “…We are friends. This is an evil thing to say for this is a transgression, the great Transgression of Preference, to love any among men better than the others,” (Rand 30). Because forming bonds is forbidden, there is virtually nothing that is positive and would entice escape. There are no families, no relationships, no leisure activities, no friendship, nothing that could motivate an escape. When Equality talks about the shame of having a friend he only drives this point home. With no incentives, there is no real need for measures to keep prisoners from escaping.

Besides imposing unconditional rule following, the society in Anthem does more to its members. To escape from a jail or prison in our world, you need cleverness, originality, and personal strengths. The Councils have not only eliminated transgressions, they have made personality a thing of the past. The daily mantra repeated in the Home of the Students shows the total lack of personality: “We are nothing. Mankind is all,” (Rand 21). Equality regains his personality when he works toward creating something on his own, for the good of the people. Character goes hand-in-hand with the urge to escape; if there is something worth escaping for, you can develop the traits needed for escape. In Anthem, the history of almost robotic workers who do only what they are told to do has made authority confident that they have the entire population under their thumb. But they fail to consider how enticing escape looks when there is something to live for. Equality wants nothing more than to show his amazing invention to the world, and because he had a reason for escaping, he was able to develop the perseverance and strength of character to keep his invention a secret and withstand physical torture. Because Equality has a personal reason for wanting to escape, he is able to overcome the brainwashing of his society and figure out a way to get what he wants.

When first encountered, the concept of lock-less prisons seems foreign and perplexing. But when examined in conjunction with the basic doctrines of the society in Anthem it becomes clear that the open doors actually correspond with the other information that has been provided about the collectivist society. Although control of a community is a central theme in Anthem, the Council relies of the total inculcation of the people to make the very idea of escaping inconceivable. Besides this, there is no real motivation for escape when day after day life is the same monotonous existence. When nothing is particularly enticing outside of the prison, there is no need to attempt escape. And finally, because the Councils have eliminated all unique personal traits from the populous, none of the prisoners has the strength of mind or necessary traits to formulate an escape plan. The feeble security in the Palace of Corrective Detention is a result of the philosophy practiced and the total indoctrination of the people.

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