Substitute - Arya

Equality made many decisions throughout the novel, however, if he had put up a fuss

when given his life assignment, the events in the novel would have changed completely. He

specifically says that, “We felt the cords of our neck grow tight as our head rose higher to look

upon the faces of the Council…” (Rand 17). By saying this, we know that he was surprised with

the outcome and was hoping for another assignment, but he did not say anything. You are not

supposed to argue with your life assignment. For example, when at the council, he says that,

“...we wished not to be a leader…We wished to be a Scholar'' (Rand 17). When he says this, he

is committing transgression of preference. If he were to say this to the Council, he would most

likely be taken to the Palace of Corrective Detention to be beaten, then he would most likely be

let out and continue to be a street sweeper, disregarding any interests to be a Scholar. Because of

this, Equality would never discover the light and would go on to live a normal life . This one

decision could alter the plot of the entire story and change the outcome of Equalities future.

Combine- Draw Arya S.

By combining Equality and Fraternity (accidentally wrote Solidarity), Equality will become

scared and will be afraid to break the laws. He will not find the light and will not go to the Palace

of Corrective Detention or the Uncharted Forest. By not doing these things the plot will change

drastically and will eliminate many of the conflicts and events in the story.
Adapt - Om M.

In the adapted society of Anthem, where the laws are modernized, Equality could run into the

problem of copying an already made invention. The lightbulb, and everything he discovered had
already been discovered in our society, so he could be sued for trying to copy and ‘create’ a new

invention. In the book, he makes a lightbulb and says, “‘We made it. We created it. We have

brought it forth from the night of the ages’” (Rand, 53), he would be taking credit for inventing

the lightbulb, when it was already invented almost 150 years ago. Because it is already an

invention that was patented by Thomas Edison, he wouldn’t be able to say he created it and bring

it to the patenting office.

Modify - Om M.

If Equality didn’t spend so much time and effort on his side projects, he could have avoided

spending time in the Palace of Corrective Detention. According to the book, he is sent to the
Palace of Corrective Detention for not coming to the sleeping hall on time. He doesn’t come to

the sleeping home on time because he loses track of time while figuring out how the lightbulb

works. “‘We forgot, that night, to watch the sand in the glass which tells us when three hours

have passed and it is time to return to the City Theatre. When we remembered it, the sand had

run out'’” (Rand, 57). If he had been paying attention to the hourglass, he wouldn’t have had to

confront the home counsel and he wouldn’t have been sent to the Palace of Corrective Detention

for questioning, and therefore the consequences would have never taken place. If he hadn’t been

caught, he wouldn’t have run away from the city, and wouldn’t have discovered individualism.

Because he left the city, and found the house, he found the books which contained the words “I”,

“my”, and more individualist ideas.

Put- Selina M.

This picture shows the home that we would put Equality in to change the story. This would affect

the story because Equality would meet Liberty as soon as he gets to the Home of The Peasants.

Because he meets her and gets to know her, he will decide not to leave the city and to stay with

Liberty because he loves her. This will make the ending more tragic because Equality will end

up not discovering the tunnel and electricity and he won’t be able to discover individualism.
Eliminate- Selina M.

If I removed the World Council of Scholars from visiting the city, I would alternate the

plot by assigning Equaliting to the Home of The Scholars and help him work his way to the top.

This would help Equality present the lightbulb to the World Council because while he is in the

Home of the Scholars he would find manuscripts that would lead him to his discovery of

electricity. Once he discovers electricity, he will make his way to the top of the scholars,

eventually becoming part of the World Council. From there, he will present his invention to

society. Equality says, “But we wished not to be a Leader, even though it is a great honor. We

wished to be a Scholar” (Rand 17). In this quote, Equality tells us that he wants to be a scholar.

This is important for my plan because he will be motivated to make discoveries and find

electricity. One thing that could be a problem for my alteration, is the department of Candles.

When Equality presented his discovery to the World Council, one of the points they brought up

was that “[the lightbulb] would wreck the Plans of the World Council… It took fifty years to

secure the approval of all the Councils for the Candle..” (Rand 69). My solution to this is that

since there is already a Council for Candles, they just turn that council into the council for

electricity. They would stop the production of candles and start to build electricity wires and

light bulbs. It would be difficult to adjust, but the Council of Candles already knows everyone’s

homes because they provide light. All in all, if you remove the World Council from visiting the

city, it makes most sense to assign Equality to the Home of the Scholars because of the future

possibilities in the plot, and it keeps the most similarities to the original version.
Reverse- Arya S.

The story would have turned out completely differently if Equality had originally been

assigned to the House of Scholars. Equality is too smart, he always, “...tried to forget our lessons,

but we always remembered. We tried not to understand what the Teachers taught, but we always

understood it before the teachers had spoken” (Rand 12). Because of this curiosity within him,

the events in the story that followed had a severe impact because he was not assigned to the

HOS. Now, if he had been assigned to the HOS, then the events in the story would have been

significantly different. Equality even says, “We could ask questions of these, for they do not

forbid questions” (Rand 15). See, if he had been sent to the HOS, he would have been able to ask

questions and be curious. If he was reassigned, the events in the story would have shown

Equality to be significantly less defiant and would have lived a normal life.