The leaders of the society depicted in Ayn Rand's classic tale Anthem rely almost entirely on various forms of brainwashing and psychological control to maintain their grip on power. These methods of mental manipulation are so effective that physical slavery is almost never considered necessary. Even in the rare situations where physical control is used, such as during Equality's brief incarceration at the Building of Correctional Detention, the methods of restraint used rely heavily – almost entirely – on mental barriers established through a combination of seclusion and efforts at excessive communitarization. they are as ingenious as they are repulsive. It's clear from the conditions of the Correctional Detention Building that the tyrants who rule society in Anthem don't expect the inmates to even attempt to escape. The locks are described as old and the door easy to break down. Furthermore, during his escape from the facility and journey across the city to the meeting of the World Council of Scholars, Equality does not encounter a single guard, gaining greater support for the idea that the psychological power the rulers wield over the city's people is so strong and unshakable that the idea of ​​an individual attempting to escape is considered by rulers and citizens to be simply unfathomable. This absolute control is as indisputable as it is undisputed. The strict censorship employed in the city ensures that the very idea of ​​resistance or rebellion continues to be a foreign notion, a necessary state of affairs if rulers are to be able to continue to control. the masses by purely mental and psychological means. The most severe of punishments – the death penalty – is reserved for “this crime of unspeakable speech……middle of paper……the city rulers are capable of depriving individuals of their ability to function.” as social entities, at the same time forcing them to become one with the human hive. Of all the weapons of oppression in the tyrant's arsenal, isolation is by far the most sinister and effective. It is difficult for individuals to develop rebellious or otherwise contradictory views, much less act on them, without having the ability to engage in open and free discussion with others. In this way, as contradictory as it may seem, isolation is the most powerful way to destroy the individualistic spirit. For, as rulers know, it is when one feels most isolated and alone that they are most willing to abandon their individual identity and adopt that of the masses, an adoption made easier when combined with an assimilative doctrine such as that preached to the people of the city..