Wednesday, October 12, 2011
A "Highway" For "Anthem?"
Please thematically analyze Highway, a painting by George Tooker, and how it connects with the theme or themes in Anthem. What quotations from Anthem could you use to justify the aligning theme(s)? Please reference specifics within the painting, Highway, while writing clearly. This is a quiz due during class on 10-12-11.
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The themes are that everyone has to follow instructions and do what they're supposed to do. In Anthem everyone must follow the orders of the council and in Highway it looks like the people in the cars are following the orders of the person with the sign covering his face. The quote from Anthem, "We are alone," would suit the painting because both of the pieces portray a feeling of isolation.
I think that this picture means that the people are isolated, and are unable to escape.. My question about this painting is why are they blocked in with signs and big cement blocks? How come one of the persons face's is blocked? Do the people in the car know why they are being blocked in? Are they ever going to be able to leave?
The painting "Highway" relates to "Anthem" because the man in the painting has his face covered by a sign, we cannot see the mans face at all. It's like how Equality has never seen his face before. It's a mystery to us, we have to use out imagination to picture his face with our own minds and creativity. "We knelt by the stream and we bent down to drink...we saw our own face for the first time." We still do not get a description of his face, all we know is that he now knows what he looks like. In the painting, the man knows what he looks like. In "Anthem", Equality now knows what he looks like, but to us it is a mystery.
The blackened person could be the Golden One and the people seem to not see the blackened person. In Anthem, boys and girls where not allowed to talk or look at each other and the people in the cars do not or are not looking at the blackened person.
"We have followed you," they say, "and we shall follow you wherever you go..." This quote is from page 82. I think that this quote shows the theme between Anthem and the painting is about having no equal. In the painting it seems that the figure you can see is being followed by the cars, and maybe is not being left alone. This connects with Anthem because the characters have to hide from themselves in a way and are told to follow the ridiculous rules. Equality and the rest in the village, it seems that they are continuously looked at and being observed like the cars "following" the unknown figure.
I think that the theme of the book and the picture a relatively the same. Nobody has an identity in either, "One cannot know more than his brother". That is basically what is going on in this picture, none of the drivers have a different car from one another, and there's a faceless leader guiding them. Who made it the way it is in 'Anthem'? There are also very many 'one way' signs in the painting. In 'Anthem' they were all headed down the same road of equality, and leadership.
"We strive to be like our brother men, for all men must be alike...'we are one in all and all in one. There are no men but the great WE, One, Indivisible and forever.'"
-pg 19 of Anthem by: Ayn Rand
This quote is showing that the picture A Highway is like Anthem because everyone must be the same in anthem you're not supposed to be different and if you are then you are considered evil or out casted. So in the picture the black figure wont let the other people in because they may be different then what they should be in a sense.
This picture reminds me of the quote from Anthem "For I have never seen my own face for it is forbidden for man to look at ones self." Because in the picture you can not see the mans face. Not to mention the cars that look like there trying to corner the man. This is like when equality 7-2521 tried to show his discovery and the scholars decided that they must destroy it. So if you ask what I see when I look at the picture those two things are what stick out.
One connection between highway and Anthem is that bot of the men that I can see look exactly the same. Another is that you cant see the face of the man telling the cars to stop and in anthem you,re not allowed to look at your own face. If you look in the background behind the three cars, they are boxed in and can't go anywhere. This applies to anthem because they aren't allowed to go anywhere or switch jobs or have any freedom at all. The cars are all the same too, showing once again that they have no personality except for a small color difference.
This picture relates to anthem because in anthem one person is "we" and their are multiple cars with ppl but every one is blocked off by cement and signs. In anthem every one is isolated and no one is their own self. men cant look at women and women cant look at men.
The theme to Anthem is that you aren't aloud to have an "Ego". Everyone must fallow orders of the council. In the painting Highway they appear to be blocked off and waiting to see what direction they are told to go. The quote "We are alone" on pg.87 works for this painting because if you looked hard enough there is only one person in each car and makes you feel a since of emptiness or that they aren't speaking for themselves but the man with the sign over his face is speaking for them. Telling them were to go and what to do. Like in Anthem were the council controls Equality.
The painting "Highway" can be interpreted in many different ways regarding the story Anthem. A quote from the book that I found really applied to the painting was on page 25 and it stated, "Now if the council has said "Carpenter" or "cook," the students so assigned go to work and they do not study any further. But if the council has said "Leader," then those Students go into the Home of the Leaders..." This quote greatly applies to this painting for the man holding what seems to be a stop sign represents the Council of Scholars. All the cars represent the 'citizens' in Anthem who are waiting to be lead on their destiny. All the arrows represent the ways they cannot go once they are appointed by the Council of Scholars. Anthem is much like the painting "Highway" because of the restrictions each citizen has, like the cars have on a highway.
"We strive to be like our brother men, for all men must be alike...'we are one in all and all in one. There are no men but the great WE, One, Indivisible and forever.'"
-pg 19 of Anthem by: Ayn Rand
This quote is showing that the picture A Highway is like Anthem because everyone must be the same in anthem you're not supposed to be different and if you are then you are considered evil or out casted. So in the picture the black figure wont let the other people in because they may be different then what they should be in a sense.
I think that this painting resembles anthem in many ways. The first thing that came to my mind when I first saw this was that this highway was like the place that equality lives. It is like this because the three cars are blocked in with no way out and the man with the sine is keeping the cars from progressing. I first though of this because equality tries to go to the council to talk to them about a new light source but the quickly reject it because it was no what they knew and if they did not know how it worked it was instantly evil.
This painting in some ways does relate to Anthem. One thing that made a lot of sense to me is all the people are trapped in their cars. There is no moving forward just like the society in Anthem. But there is one individual, the dark figure that we cannot see the face of is in this sinerio is equality. I think this figure relates to equality because the figure seems as if he is picking up the stop signs to help the people in the cars(society) move forward, or make progress.
Highway and Anthem share similar themes and are very much alike. The theme i think they share is- humanity is being controlled with no choice. Anthem has examples of this when the council is telling him his idea is incorrect and he has broken laws and there is nothing he can do about it. "What is not done collectively cannot be good..." (73) Also, Equality's world is being controlled because everything has a limit and nothing can be done unless it is in the rules. Highway shows this traits as well because a man is stopping all the men inside the cars, telling them they are not allowed to move. Also, the cars and people are all in side a box and cannot get out, just like the city Equality use to live in. it is being controlled and limited to just what the council wants. Also, i think the red cars symbolizes Equality, it shows it is standing out instead of the black cars behind it. The red cars is in the front because it is standing up and being the first to show the man it wants to pass. This picture reminds me of the quote Liberty says to Equality, "The Unconquered." (56) this is giving him the name no one else has.
In the painting Highway, there is a black man with his face covered and he is yielding or stopping the cars. The book “Anthem,” has a society where individuality is not accepted, it is not until later in the book where Equality 7-2521 finally see his is face, “ For, upon the blue of he sky below us, we saw our own face for the first time.” Like in Anthem the person in the painting Highway’s face is hidden. As well us to and them their identity is a mystery and that is because it is choose to be perceived that way. The painter that painted the panting highway could of had the same ideas as Ayn Rand in the fact of hiding one’s identity.
This picture relates to Anthem in two ways. The first topic that relates is segregation. Anthem shows a lot of segregation against Equality 7-2521. A quote that shows this segregation is on page 81 when it say “for we need no words to remember that which has happened to us.” Another reason the book and this picture relate is because of similarity. In the book, everyone is the same, and in this picture, all the cars are the exact same. A quote that shows this is on page 19 where it says “We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible, and forever.”
The painting relates to Anthem thematically in a way that this person in the painting with a sort of hidden identity is stopping everyone else from going anywhere and the whole area is just blocked off. In Anthem this society with no personality is always stopping everyone from being themselves, trying new things, and pretty much everything. And new ideas or possibilities are just blocked out. Also, one of the cars is kind of in front of the other two and I'd say the car in front resembles Equality because he is just different from all of his "brothers" he takes risks and does things that others would never do, so he is kind of like a leader. The quote that I'd say relates to this is on pages 82 and 83 when The Golden One is comparing Equality to his brothers. "Your eyes are as a flame, but our brothers have neither hope nor fire. Your mouth is cut of granite, but our brothers are soft and humble."
In the painting, the cars seem like an endless wave, and they are all identical. They do not look happy either. One man is trying to stop all of those cars. The quote “...That men did not see whither they were going,and went on...to their fate,” on page 103 of Anthem nicely gives this painting some meaning, that the cars are all mindlessly going on. The quote on page 102, “For they have nothing to fight me with, save the brute forces of their numbers,” Aligns nicely with the painting because there are tons of cars coming against one man. “It is not good to be different from our brothers,” on page 21 is related to the completely identical cars.
The “Highway” photo represents ‘Anthem” in many ways. The picture reminds me of isolation because the three cars are being isolated, kind of how Equality does not know anything about the history of his world. One idea I think of when I see the person holding the stop sign over his face is an unknown power. How I relate this to “Anthem” is how the City has rules that have been there forever, but why would someone come up with these rules? I will never know. “We are one...alone...” This quote reminds me of “Highway” because when I see the people in the cars, they are isolated, disconnected,alone. “Highway” really symbolizes “Anthem”, especially about isolation.
The guy in the painting reminds me of Equality. Equality doesnt really know who he is, he isnt even allowed to see his own face. In the painting you cant really see or tell who the guy holding the sign is. To me the guy in the painting also reminds me of Equality because in the book Equality breaks the laws and starts to stand out in the society. The guy in the painting stands out to me because he is surrounded by white arrows, but he is holding a red sign of some sort. the cars in the painting remind me of the society in the book because it looks like they only have one way to go, they are surrounded by walls and seem to be forced to go one way. It is the same in the book no body has a say in anything, they just have to follow the law. the quote "We are all in one and one in all. There are no men but the great we. One invisible and forever." The cars in the painting are like the great we. They are all grouped together and are the same car, the only difference in the color which would be like the physical features of the people in the book.
It seems to me that the theme of this picture is restriction. Thematically this creates a strong connection with Anthem because in the book one of the themes is extreme restriction inflicted upon a society. The restriction in the society of Anthem is that no one is allowed to believe in individualism and everyone is equal. Although the thought of everyone being equal is a good, the way that the rulers of the society take to a mixed up level. An example of these restrictions would be: “We made it. We created it. We brought it fourth from the night of the ages.” This is Equality speaking about himself and no ones else but because of the restrictions of the society he has been taught and forced to not refer to anything or anyone as an individual. This is what make the connection to the picture and the book clear.
I believe the theme that both the painting and the book have in common are the ideas of being different from other things. The man holding the stop sign is different in the way that all the other stop signs are not being help by people but are instead just staked or cemented in the ground. Two quotes from the book are “We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever.” this quote is showing that the people of this time are not allowed to be themselves but the second quote states “I am. I think. I will.” this shows that Equality 7-2521 had the ability to break away from everything that he had been taught in his past and had the ability to do what he pleased and it seems that the man holding the stop sign had felt like he had the ability to do what he wanted to do from now on.
A "Highway and "Anthem" have a lot of connection. The broad theme of both is equality. In Anthem Equality 7-2521 says, "We are one in all and all in one"(Rand,19). this quote connects with Highway, because in the picture there isn't one of anything. There is more than one sign, person, street lights, and cars. there is no individuality in the picture and in the quote. Everything is the same with each other.Also, in Anthem the council is holding the society back from each individual being independent and free of choice. the council of vocations chooses what your vocaton is. The people have no choice, but to do that job.that connects with the art because their is this dark figure, holding a sign and blocking the drivers from advancing. The dark figure reminds me of the council and the drivers are the society. The society is being held back. The uncharted forest was feared by the society and therefore never entered, but the drivers in the art remind me of Equality and that he likes learning the forbidden.
I think this picture shows people not being able to escape. This is shown to me, bacuase of things being blocked, like a mans face. Also, because you could never actually 100% know what this pictures message is. I think everything being blocked off to some extent, relates to anthem, because of equallity. With nobody able to move, they are all in the same possition, making them equal to some sort which shows equality.
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