Liberty 5-3000 . . . Liberty five-three thousand . . . Liberty 5-3000 . . . .

We wish to write this name. We wish to speak it, but we dare not
speak it above a whisper. For men are forbidden to take notice of
women, and women are forbidden to take notice of men. But we
think of one among women, they whose name is Liberty 5-3000, and
we think of no others.

The women who have been assigned to work the soil live in the
Homes of the Peasants beyond the City. Where the City ends there
is a great road winding off to the north, and we Street Sweepers
must keep this road clean to the first milepost. There is a hedge
along the road, and beyond the hedge lie the fields. The fields
are black and ploughed, and they lie like a great fan before us,
with their furrows gathered in some hand beyond the sky,
spreading forth from that hand, opening wide apart as they come
toward us, like black pleats that sparkle with thin, green
spangles. Women work in the fields, and their white tunics in the
wind are like the wings of sea-gulls beating over the black
soil.

And there [-is-] {+it+} was that we saw Liberty 5-3000 walking along the
furrows. Their body was straight and thin as a blade of iron.
Their eyes were dark and hard and glowing, with no fear in them,
no kindness and no guilt. Their hair was golden as the sun; their
hair flew in the wind, shining and wild, as if it defied men to
restrain it. They threw seeds from their hand as if they deigned
to fling a scornful gift, and the earth was a beggar under their
feet.

We stood still; for the first time [-did-] we know fear, and then pain.
And we stood still that we might not spill this pain more
precious than pleasure.

Then we heard a voice from the others call their name: "Liberty
5-3000," and they turned and walked back. Thus we learned their
name, and we stood watching them go, till their white tunic was
lost in the blue mist.

And the following day, as we came to the northern road, we kept
our eyes upon Liberty 5-3000 in the field. And each day
thereafter we knew the illness of waiting for our hour on the
northern road. And there we looked at Liberty 5-3000 each day. We
know not whether they looked at us also, but we think they did.

Then one day they came close to the hedge, and suddenly they
turned to us. They turned in a whirl and the movement of
their body stopped, as if slashed off, as suddenly as it had started.
They stood still as a stone, and they looked straight upon us,
straight [-into-] {+in+} our eyes. There was no smile on their face, and no
welcome. But their face was [-taut,-] {+taught,+} and their eyes were dark.
Then they turned as swiftly, and they walked away from us.

But the following day, when we came to the road, they smiled.
They smiled to us and for us. And we smiled in answer. Their head
fell back, and their arms fell, as if their arms and their thin
white neck were stricken suddenly with a great lassitude. They
were not looking upon us, but upon the sky. Then they glanced at
us over their shoulder,
[-as-] {+and+} we felt as if a hand had touched our
body, slipping softly from our lips to our feet.

Every morning thereafter, we greeted each other with our eyes. We
dared not speak. It is a transgression to speak to men of other
Trades, save in groups at the Social Meetings. But once, standing
at the hedge, we raised our hand to our forehead and then moved
it slowly, palm down, toward Liberty 5-3000. Had the others seen
it, they could have guessed nothing, for it looked only as if we
were shading our eyes from the sun. But Liberty 5-3000 saw it and
understood. They raised their hand to their forehead and moved it
as we had. Thus, each day, we greet Liberty 5-3000, and they
answer, and no men can suspect.

We do not wonder at this new sin of ours. It is our second
Transgression of Preference, for we do not think of all our
brothers, as we must, but only of one, and their name is Liberty
5-3000. We do not know why we think of them. We [-do-] {+don+} not know why,
when we think of them, we feel [-all-] of a sudden that the earth is good
and that it is not a burden to live.

We do not think of them as Liberty 5-3000 any longer. We have
given them a name in our thoughts. We call them the Golden One.
But it is a sin to give men {+other+} names which distinguish them
from other men. Yet we call them the Golden [-One,-] {+one,+} for they are not
like the others. The Golden One are not like the others.

And we take no heed of the law which says that men may not think
of women, save at the Time of Mating. This is the time each
spring when all the men older than twenty and all the women older
than eighteen are sent for one night to the City Palace of
Mating. And each of the men have one of the women assigned to
them
[-by-] {+buy+} the Council of Eugenics. Children are born each winter,
but women never see their children and children never know their
parents. Twice have we been sent to the Palace of Mating, but it
is an ugly and shameful matter, of which we do not like to think.

We had broken so many laws, and today we have broken one more.  [-Today,-]
{+Today+} we spoke to the Golden One.

The other women were far off in the field, when we stopped at the
hedge by the side of the road. The Golden One were kneeling alone
at the moat which runs through the field. And the drops of water
falling from their hands, as they raised the water to their lips,
were like sparks of fire in the sun. Then the Golden One saw us,
and they did not move, kneeling there, looking at us, and circles
of light played upon their white tunic, from the sun on the water
of the moat, and one sparkling drop fell from a finger of their
hand held as frozen in the air.

Then the Golden One rose and walked to the hedge, as if they had
heard a command in our eyes. The two other Street Sweepers of our
brigade were a hundred paces away down the road. And we thought
that International 4-8818 would not betray us, and Union 5-3992
would not understand. So we looked straight upon the [-Golden One,-] {+golden one,+}
and we saw the shadows of their lashes on their white cheeks and
the sparks of sun on their lips. And we said:

"You are beautiful, Liberty 5-3000."

Their face did not move and they did not avert their eyes. Only
their eyes grew wider, and there was triumph in their eyes, and
it was not triumph over us, but over things we could not guess.

Then they asked:

"What is your name?"

"Equality 7-2521," we answered.

"You are not one of our brothers, Equality 7-2521, for we do not
wish you to be."

We cannot say what they meant, for there are no words for their
meaning, but we know it without words and we knew it then.

"No," we answered, "nor are you one of our sisters."

"If you see us among scores of women, will you look upon us?"

"We shall look upon you, Liberty 5-3000, if we see you among all
the women of the earth."

Then they asked:

"Are Street Sweepers sent to different parts of the City or do
they always work in the same places?"

"They always work in the same places," we answered, "and no one
will take this road away from us."

"Your eyes," they said, "are not like the eyes of any among men."

And suddenly, without cause for the thought which came to us, we
felt cold, cold to our stomach.

"How old are you?" we asked.

They understood our thought, for they lowered their eyes for the
first time.

"Seventeen," they whispered.

And we sighed, as if a burden had been taken from us, for we had
been thinking without reason of the Palace of Mating. And we
thought that we would not let the Golden One be sent to the
Palace. How to prevent it, how to bar the will of the Councils,
we knew not, but we knew suddenly that we would. Only we do not
know why such thought came to us, for these ugly matters bear no
relation to us and the Golden One. What relation can they bear?

Still, without reason, as we stood there by the hedge, we felt
our lips drawn tight with hatred, a sudden hatred for all our
brother men. And the Golden One saw it and smiled slowly, and
there was in their smile the first sadness we had seen in them.
We think that in the wisdom of women the Golden One had
understood more than we can understand.

Then three of the sisters in the field appeared, coming toward
the road, so the Golden One walked away from us. They took the
bag of seeds, and they threw the seeds into the furrows of earth
as they walked away. But the seeds flew wildly, for the hand of
the Golden One was trembling.

Yet as we walked back to the Home of the Street Sweepers, we felt
that we wanted to sing, without reason. So we were reprimanded
tonight, in the dining hall, for without knowing it we had begun
to sing aloud some tune we had never heard. But it is not proper
to sing without reason, save at the Social Meetings.

"We are singing because we are happy," we answered the one of the
Home Council who reprimanded us.

"Indeed you are happy," they answered. "How else can men be when
they live for their brothers?"

And now, sitting here in our tunnel, we wonder about these words.
It is forbidden, not to be happy. For, as it has been explained
to us, men are free and the earth belongs to them; and all things
on earth belong to all men; and the will of all men together is
good for all; and so all men must be happy.

Yet as we stand at night in the great hall, removing our garments
for sleep, we look upon our brothers and we wonder. The heads of
our brothers are bowed. The eyes of our brothers are dull, and
never do they look one another in the eyes. The shoulders of our
brothers are hunched, and their muscles are drawn, as if their
bodies were shrinking and wished to shrink out of sight. And a
word steals into our mind, as we look upon our brothers, and that
word is fear.

There is fear hanging in the air of the sleeping halls, and in
the air of the streets. Fear walks through the [-City,-] {+city,+} fear without
name, without shape. All men feel it and none dare to speak.

We feel it also, when we are in the Home of the Street Sweepers.
But here, in our tunnel, we feel it no longer. The air is pure
under the ground. There is no odor of men. And these three hours
give us strength for our hours above the ground.

Our body is betraying us, for the Council of the Home looks with
suspicion upon us. It is not good to feel [-too-] {+to+} much joy nor to be
glad that our body lives. For we matter not and it must not
matter to us whether we live or die, which is to be as our
brothers will it. But we, Equality 7-2521, are glad to be living.
If this is a vice, then we wish no virtue.

Yet our brothers are not like us. All is not well with our
brothers. There are Fraternity 2-5503, a quiet boy with wise,
kind eyes, who cry suddenly, without reason, in the midst of day
or night, and their body shakes with sobs {+so+} they cannot explain.
There are Solidarity 9-6347, who are a bright youth, without fear
in the day; but they scream in their sleep, and they scream:
"Help us! Help us! Help us!" into the night, in a voice which
chills our bones, but the Doctors cannot cure Solidarity 9-6347.

And as we all undress at night, in the dim light of [-the-] candles, our
brothers are silent, for they dare not speak the thoughts of
their minds. For all must agree with all, and they cannot know if
their thoughts are the thoughts of all, and so they fear to
speak. And they are glad when {+the+} candles are blown for the
night. But we, Equality 7-2521, look through the window upon the
sky, and there is peace in the sky, and cleanliness, and dignity.
And beyond the City there lies the plain, and beyond the plain,
black upon the black sky, there lies the Uncharted Forest.

We do not wish to look upon the Uncharted Forest. We do not wish
to think of it. But ever do our eyes return to that black patch
upon the sky. Men never enter the Uncharted Forest, for there is
no power to explore it and no path to lead among its ancient
trees which stand as guards of fearful secrets. It is whispered
that once or twice in a hundred years, one among the men of the
City escape alone and run to the Uncharted Forest, without call
or reason. These men do not return. They perish from hunger and
from the claws of the wild beasts which roam the Forest. But our
Councils say [-that-] this is only a legend. We have heard that there are
many Uncharted Forests over the land, among the Cities.
[-And-] {+and+} it is
whispered that they have grown over the ruins of many cities of
the Unmentionable Times. The trees have swallowed the ruins, and
the bones under the ruins, and all the things which perished.

And as we look upon the Uncharted Forest far in the night, we
think of the secrets of the Unmentionable Times. And we wonder
how it came to pass that these secrets were lost to the world. We
have heard the legends of the great fighting, in which many men
fought on one side and only a few on the other. These few were
the Evil Ones and they were conquered. Then great fires raged
over the land. And in these fires the Evil Ones were {+burned. And
the fire which is called the Dawn of the Great Rebirth, was the
Script Fire where all the scripts of the Evil Ones were+} burned,
and with them all the words of the Evil Ones. Great mountains of
flame stood in the squares of the Cities for three months. Then
came the Great Rebirth.

The words of the Evil [-Ones . . .-] {+Ones...+} The words of the Unmentionable [-Times . . .-]
{+Times...+} What are the words which we have lost?

May the Council have mercy upon us! We had no wish to write such
a question, and we knew [-no-] {+not+} what we were doing till we had
written it. We shall not ask this question and we shall not
think it. We shall not call death upon our head.

And [-yet . . .-] {+yet...+} And [-yet . . .-] {+yet...+}

There is some word, one single word which is not in the language
of men, but which [-had-] {+has+} been. And this is the Unspeakable Word,
which no men may speak nor hear. But sometimes, and it is rare,
sometimes, somewhere, one among men find that word. They find it
upon scraps of old manuscripts or cut into the fragments of
ancient stones. But when they speak it they are put to death.
There is no crime punished by death in this world, save this one
crime of speaking the Unspeakable Word.

We have seen one of such men burned alive in the square of the
City. And it was a sight which has stayed with us through the
years, and it haunts us, and follows us, and it gives us no rest.
We were a child then, ten years old. And we stood in the great
square with all the children and all the men of the City, sent to
behold the burning. They brought the Transgressor out into the
square and they led [-them-] {+him+} to the pyre. They had torn out the tongue
of the Transgressor, so that they could speak no longer. The
Transgressor were young and tall. They had hair of gold and eyes
blue as morning. They walked to the pyre, and their step did not
falter. And of all the faces on that square, of all the faces
which shrieked and screamed and spat curses upon them, [-their-] {+theirs+} was
the calmest and [-the-] happiest face.

As the chains were wound over their body at the stake, and a
flame set to the pyre, the Transgressor looked upon the City.
There was a thin thread of blood running from the corner of their
mouth, but their lips were smiling. And a monstrous thought came
to us then, which has never left us. We had heard of Saints.
There are the Saints of Labor, and the Saints of the Councils,
and the Saints of the Great Rebirth. But we had never seen a
Saint nor what the likeness of a Saint should be. And we thought
then, standing in the square, that the likeness of a Saint was
the face we saw before us in the flames, the face of the
Transgressor of the Unspeakable Word.

As the flames rose, a thing happened which no eyes saw but ours,
else we would not be living today. Perhaps it had only seemed to
us. But it seemed to us that the eyes of the Transgressor had
chosen us from the crowd and were looking straight upon us. There
was no pain in their eyes and no knowledge of the agony of their
body. There was only joy in them, and pride, a pride holier than
{+it+} is fit for human pride to be. And it seemed as if these eyes
were trying to tell us something through the flames, to send into
our eyes some word without sound. And it seemed as if these eyes
were begging us to gather that word and not to let it go from us
and from the earth. But the flames rose and we could not guess
the [-word. . . .-] {+word....+}

What--even if we have to burn for it like the Saint of the [-Pyre--what-] {+pyre
--what+} is the Unspeakable Word?

When working with the Street Sweepers in a road north of the city, Equality 7-2521 sees Liberty 5-3000, a woman from the Home of the Peasants, and he is instantly attracted to her tall, blonde beauty and her fearless, guiltless expression. He learns her name as she is called back to the fields by the others, and he begins to look forward to seeing her every day, although he knows that he is forbidden to express preference for one woman. One day, Liberty 5-3000 also turns to look at him with her taut, severe face before walking away. The next day, Liberty 5-3000 smiles at him, and they begin to greet each other every morning at the hedge between the road and the fields. They do so silently, with a subtle salute, because neither of them is allowed to communicate with those of other vocations. Equality 7-2521 knows that, for the second time in his life, he is guilty of expressing a preference. Nevertheless, he feels better in Liberty 5-3000's presence. He names her the Golden One because she is not like the others, although it is a sin to bear a unique name, and he also ignores the prohibition against thinking of members of the opposite gender outside of the Time of Mating. For two years, he has been sent once per year to the City Palace of Mating, as have all men over twenty and women over eighteen, but the process of mating with a woman assigned by the Council of Eugenics is shameful, and the parents never see their children. Eventually, Equality 7-2521 speaks to the Golden One on a day when the other Peasants and Street Sweepers are far away. She rises from kneeling at the moat and walks to the hedge, and, because Equality 7-2521 decides that International 4-8818 will not betray him and that Union 5-3992 will not understand the significance of their conversation, he tells her that she is beautiful. She does not move but reveals a triumphant expression before asking his name. Liberty 5-3000 then tells Equality 7-2521 that she does not wish him to be her brother, and he says she is not his sister, and although they do not have the vocabulary to explain their attraction, they both understand the meaning of their conversation. She asks if he would look for her even among a multitude of women, and he says he would. He tells her that his brigade of Street Sweepers always works in the same place, and she tells him that his eyes are different from those of others. Liberty 5-3000 tells Equality 7-2521 that she is seventeen, which relieves him, because she has therefore not yet been to the Palace of Mating. He decides to prevent her from being sent to the palace, although he is not sure why this desire is so important to him. She sees his sudden hatred for other men and smiles sadly before she walks away to join three of her sister Peasants. He sees that her hand is trembling as she scatters the seeds. Equality 7-2521 walks happily back to the Home of the Street Sweepers and is reprimanded for absent-mindedly singing without reason in the dining hall. The member of the Home Council doing the scolding tells Equality 7-2521 that he is right to be happy because he is living for his brothers; Equality 7-2521, however, privately realizes that although the people of his society are not allowed to be unhappy, they are never truly happy, but rather just afraid. He is also afraid when among the Street Sweepers, but in his tunnel, where no other men are around, he loses his fear and finds enough strength to seemingly last him the rest of his life. The Council of the Home is suspicious of his joy, but he decides that he is glad to be alive, although he sees Fraternity 2-5503, who cries without reason, and Solidarity 9-6347, who screams in his sleep. No one dares to say what they think as they go to bed, lest their thoughts be too original, but Equality 7-2521 still sees peace and dignity in the sky. He often thinks about the Uncharted Forest beyond the plains outside the city. He has heard about the occasional man who runs into the Uncharted Forest and never returns, dying of hunger or from wild animals, although the Councils claim this story to be a legend. The Uncharted Forests are said to have grown over the ruins of the Unmentionable Times, and he wonders about the legends of fighting that occurred, when the Evil Ones were conquered and their written words burned in the Script Fire at the Dawn of the Great Rebirth. He wonders what words have been lost with the Unmentionable Times, although he knows it is a sin to wish to know the answer. In particular, he knows of an Unspeakable Word, and he knows that to speak it is the only crime with a death penalty. At the age of ten, he saw a man burned alive in public for saying the word. The Transgressor's tongue was cut out, but he was young and tall and walked proudly to the stake, smiling as he died. Equality 7-2521 had thought that he was a Saint, and he saw the Transgressor's eyes looking directly at him, begging him to regain the Unspeakable Word. Now, years later, Equality 7-2521 wishes he knew the Word, even if it means death.

Whereas Rand's antagonists are indistinct committee members without a prominent physical presence, she characterizes her protagonists by a distinctly noticeable physical perfection as well as mental superiority. Like Equality 7-2521 and, to a lesser extent, International 4-8818, Liberty 5-3000 is tall and strong, reflecting her fearless stoicism and implying her heroism. Although the Council of Vocations has assigned her a position as a Peasant for the same reasons that they gave the job of Street Sweeper to Equality 7-2521 and International 4-8818, she defies her environment by her stance and mere existence. Through her depiction of Liberty 5-3000, Rand again reverses conventional ideas of what is good by rejecting collectivism as too soft and tame while praising individualism as prideful and hard. Liberty 5-3000 is Rand's archetypal woman and acts as the female foil to Equality 7-2521 in her strength and integrity. She righteously scorns all that does not deserve her but needs only minimal conversation to intuitively recognize Equality 7-2521's worthiness. Liberty 5-3000 comes to him "as if they had heard a command in our eyes," suggesting that Rand's ideal of femininity also contains an element of obedience, albeit only to a worthy man. Rand's depiction of the relationship between the dominant male and the ideal but appropriately submissive woman also appears in The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, and has led to disapproval from some feminists, particularly since this idealized woman is a heroic but two-dimensional character when compared to the fully fleshed description of, say, Equality 7-2521's psyche. Equality 7-2521 renames Liberty 5-3000 "the Golden One," which both sets her apart as an individual and implicitly critiques the slogan-like numerical designations of their society. Whereas "the Golden One" is a sincere, unique appellation, the numbers in "Liberty 5-3000" and "Equality 7-2521" have a collectivist meaning, where each person is merely one replaceable digit out of many. While in many cases the first word of the collectivist names have a positive connotation, the names are also ironic. Equality 7-2521 is actually more than equal to his peers and is consequently forcibly made equal by the law; Liberty 5-3000, likewise, is not as free as her proud demeanor or name suggest. As indicated by the Home Council's reprimanding of Equality 7-2521 when he sings, the society of Anthem exerts an iron control over the voices of its people. Equality 7-2521 and the Golden One are unable to talk at length, and when they attempt to express their mutual attraction, they do not have the vocabulary to say more than that they do not wish to be siblings. Nevertheless, Equality 7-2521 understands that the freedom of choice is integral to true happiness, while the absence of freedom is fear. He abhors his time in the Palace of Mating because there he has an assigned partner; as a result, he also does not know the concept of jealousy, which is why he finds it difficult to explain to himself why he cares about the Golden One's presence in the Palace of Mating. Simultaneously, when the Council of the Home tells him that he must be happy, he recognizes that because his brothers have no choice in the matter, they are instead afraid and dissatisfied. Foreshadowing Equality 7-2521's future break with his society are his twin obsessions with the Unmentionable Times and the Unspeakable Word. His assertion that the Council of Scholars had invented the candle one hundred years ago suggests that collectivism has reigned over a long period of stagnation, but the Old Ones as mentioned in the beginning of the novel seem to have some recollection of cars and skyscrapers, and the society's relatively short expected life-span -- forty to fifty years -- suggests that the Great Rebirth was a relatively recent occurrence. Equality 7-2521 feels guilty about wanting to know more about the Evil One's society, but he continues to wonder about the Unspeakable Word, for which the Transgressor, or Saint of the pyre, became a martyr. The Saint's pride and happiness suggest that he had found freedom in the Unspeakable Word, and, via his gaze, he seemed to recognize Equality 7-2521's inherent worth with the same instinctive accuracy as displayed by the Golden One.

We learn that Equality 7-2521's got a crush on a girl. Her name is Liberty 5-3000, and he tells us he can't think of anybody else. Needless to say, this is also evil. Men aren't supposed to notice women. It's also time for another extended flashback sequence... First, we need to set the scene. There's a group of women, Equality 7-2521 tells us, who are assigned to work in the fields just outside of the city. They live in the Home of the Peasants. The Street Sweepers have to clean a road that runs from the city to the north and passes by the fields. It's separated from the fields by a hedge. So, one day while he's doing his street sweeping near the fields, Equality 7-2521 sees Liberty 5-3000 at work and gets a crush on her. She is attractive and her eyes in particular are striking: "no fear in them, no kindness, and no guilt" . For the first time in his life, Equality 7-2521 feels fear. Pain too. Somebody calls the beautiful woman "Liberty 5-3000" and she retreats further into the fields. Now Equality 7-2521 knows her name. Every day after, Equality 7-2521 tells us, he looks at Liberty 5-3000 as he passes One day, Liberty 5-3000 looks at him back. There's no smile or welcome on her face. But the next day, when Equality 7-2521 passes. Liberty 5-3000 looks at him again. This time she smiles. Equality 7-2521 smiles back. Every morning afterwards, Equality 7-2521 and Liberty 5-3000 greet each other with their eyes. Eventually they even progress to greeting each other with a hand gesture. Equality 7-2521 knows this is also high up on the list of things no one's supposed to do. He now definitely values one person more than everyone else, and that is bad. But he doesn't care. Now he feels for the first time as if it's actually good to be alive. Equality 7-2521 no longer thinks of Liberty 5-3000 as "Liberty 5-3000" anymore. In his mind, he calls her "the Golden One." Men and women are not supposed to think of each other like that, Equality 7-2521 says. Except, that is, during the one night each year that is appointed for the Time of Mating, when men and women "of age" are matched up with total strangers by the Council of Eugenics for an anonymous but biologically optimal roll in the hay. Afterwards, they never see their children. Equality 7-2521 does not like the Time of Mating. Anyway, the good news is that today , Equality 7-2521 actually spoke to the Golden One. Begin flashback. Equality 7-2521 was passing Liberty 5-3000. All the other women were far off in the field, and the Street Sweepers were a ways behind Equality 7-2521. Liberty 5-3000 was kneeling at a moat, looking at Equality 7-2521, and water was falling from her hands seductively. When she sees Equality 7-2521, Liberty 5-3000 walks to the hedge, looking straight at him all the while. . Equality 7-2521 tells Liberty 5-3000 she's beautiful and calls her by name. She gets a look of triumph in her eyes. Liberty 5-3000 asks Equality 7-2521 what his name is. When he tells her, she tells Equality 7-2521 that she does not think he is "one of her brothers," because she does not wish him to be... Equality 7-2521 says that Liberty 5-3000 is not one of his "sisters" either. She's different. Liberty 5-3000 asks if Equality 7-2521 always works the same stretch of road every day. He does. Liberty 5-3000 tells Equality 7-2521 his eyes are unlike any other man's. Equality 7-2521 asks Liberty 5-3000 how old she is. Evidently he's started to think about the Time of Mating. Liberty 5-3000 says she's seventeen. That means she hasn't yet been subjected to the Time of Mating. Equality 7-2521 can't bear the idea of anyone else touching her. The idea is actually so disgusting that for a moment there he finds himself hating all of his "fellow men." Three women start to approach from the field, and Liberty 5-3000 walks away. Later that night, in the dining hall, Equality 7-2521 starts to sing without realizing it, because he is "happy." He is of course reprimanded. Everyone must be happy at all times, but apparently they're not allowed to show it spontaneously. As Equality 7-2521 prepares himself for sleep, he looks around at his "brothers" and realizes that their eyes are dull, their bodies are hunched, and they never make eye contact. They're all afraid. In fact, fear is everywhere in the City. Everyone's afraid. But nobody talks about it. Nobody's allowed to. The flashback ends. Equality 7-2521 also feels fear most of the time when he's in the City. But when he's alone, in the tunnel, he doesn't. There is "no odor of men" there . Equality 7-2521 doesn't feel any fear when he looks at the sky, either. Or at the Uncharted Forest. The Uncharted Forest is a place outside the City no one is allowed to go. It's wild and dangerous. It's rumored there are even ruins from the Unmentionable Times there. Whenever Equality 7-2521 looks at the Uncharted Forest, he wonders about the Unmentionable Times. We now get to hear a little more about it. According to the Legends, Equality 7-2521 says, the Unmentionable Times ended with a great war between "the many" and "the few." The few were the Evil Ones. Suffice to say, the Evil Ones lost. When they did, everything they made was destroyed. All of their scripts and their words, were lost. The Great Rebirth began with a book burning. Equality 7-2521 wants to know what it was the Evil Ones wrote about. This is a tremendously evil desire, but still, he wants to know. In particular, there's one word, known as the Unspeakable Word, which no one can speak or hear. To speak the Unspeakable Word is the only crime punished by death. Although most people don't know what the Unspeakable Word is, somehow a few do. Once, when he was ten years old, Equality 7-2521 saw the execution of somebody who had said the Unspeakable Word. His tongue was cut out and he was burned publicly. But to Equality 7-2521, the Transgressor who was executed seemed nobler and happier than anyone else in the crowd, even as he was executed. To Equality 7-2521, he even seemed like a Saint. Equality 7-2521 tells us that when the flames began to engulf the Transgressor, he looked right into Equality 7-2521's eyes, and Equality 7-2521 saw pride. In that moment, Equality 7-2521 felt as if he'd been Chosen by the Transgressor to carry his torch. Equality 7-2521 wants to know: what is the Unspeakable Word the Transgressor learned, and died for?

Sweeping the streets on the edge of town, Equality 7-2521 notices a young woman toiling in the fields. Even though it is forbidden for men to take notice of women, and women of men, he is immediately attracted to her. Her name is Liberty 5-3000, but he thinks of her only as the Golden One. One day she comes close to the road and smiles at him. Every day after that they greet each other with their eyes. He realizes that he violates the law, which states that men may not think of women except for one night during the Time of Mating. He breaks another law on the day that he speaks to the Golden One. He tells her that she is beautiful, and she replies that he is not one of her brothers, for she does not wish him to be. Though their language has no concepts to explain her meaning, he understands, at an emotional level, that she is expressing the right of preference -- that she holds him above and apart from all others as one who is special. Although he does not understand why it should occur to him, he asks suddenly how old she is. She understands, for she is 17. Equality 7-2521 vows to himself that he will not permit her to be taken to the Palace of Mating. He does not know how he will prevent it, he knows only that he will. He observes as he undresses at night that a feeling of fear hangs over the room, and no one is willing to speak what all seem to feel. He wonders, as he lies in bed at night, what the secrets were of the Unmentionable Times that have been lost. He thinks of what he has been taught: of the great fighting, in which many fought on one side and only a few on the other. He remembers that those few were the Evil Ones, and that they were destroyed along with all that was theirs. All the books of the Evils Ones were burned in the fires that raged across the land. Then came the Great Rebirth. But the words of the Unmentionable Times, he wonders. What were the words? He knows that one word especially must not be re-discovered and said. It is called the Unspeakable Word, but nobody knows what it is. He has seen, as a boy, what fate befalls the rare person who discovers this word. He saw such a fellow burned at the stake after his tongue had been ripped from his mouth. Before the flames consumed him, Equality 7-2521 believes that the Transgressor looked at him, making eye contact, as if to pass on some holy knowledge that he alone possessed. What, he wonders, is the Unspeakable Word?

In this chapter, Ayn Rand further develops Equality 7-2521's unconquerable independence of soul. In various aspects of life, he uncompromisingly follows his own mind rather than obeys the suppressive laws of the state. He refuses to ignore his growing love for Liberty 5-3000, though it is forbidden for men to notice women. He is attracted to her for reasons beyond her physical beauty, such as her straightness of backbone and fearless expression, outward signs of an independent spirit uncrushed by the stifling society in which she exists. Though they have had no more than eye contact and have not yet spoken, he knows immediately without words that they are kindred spirits. Equality 7-2521's friendship with International 4-8818 and especially his love for the Golden One are choices based on preference. He values these two, for personal characteristics that each possesses, above other members of society. Even in a society as thoroughly collectivized as this, individuality is impossible to eradicate. Each individual is unique and unrepeatable, and myriad differences exist between and among them. Ayn Rand agrees with the American principle that individuals should be equal before the law, but this is the only sense in which they are equal. Morally and psychologically, they are different from one another, and some are better, some are worse. In Anthem, Rand shows Equality 7-2521 to have greater independence than his brothers and sisters. He refuses to bow and obediently follow in the way that most members of this society do. Similarly, International 4-8818 is willing to think for himself. He draws, against the rules and despite his punishment; he refuses to inform on Equality 7-2521 though his silence violates all the laws. The Golden One, with her head high and her eyes scornful, also reveals an uncompromising moral character that stands out in this society. Human beings are not equal. They make different choices. Though many choose to accept and follow, some choose to think and live independently. The freethinking men and women of Anthem choose to have deeper, more intimate relationships with one another than with passive followers. They reject the egalitarianism of their society -- the belief that all human beings should be treated as absolute equals -- and live by the principle of individualism, choosing the men and women whom they value. In so doing, they refuse to permit personal values to perish from this earth. Personal values are critical to understanding why members of this society are unhappy, why some cry for no apparent reason, and why others scream uncontrollably in the night. An individual's happiness depends on an ability to pursue and attain values, those things personally important to that individual. Equality 7-2521, who loves science, is joyous when beneath the ground pursuing the studies so meaningful to him. But this society stifles an individual's freedom to pursue personal values, so it is to be expected that its citizens experience life as meaningless and painful, which is why Fraternity cries, and Solidarity screams in the night. Consciously, they have no knowledge of individuality and personal values, but at an emotional level, they experience the drab dreariness of a life devoid of meaning. They suffocate in an airtight society and gasp for breath. Equality 7-2521's independence is further shown in his wondering regarding the Unmentionable Times and, especially, the Unspeakable Word. These thoughts are strictly forbidden, and speaking them, punishable by death, but Equality 7-2521 is undaunted. His thirst for knowledge extends beyond scientific matters and includes questions of history and ethics. Regarding every important issue of life -- science, morality, love -- his is a freethinking mind eager to learn. Unlike his brothers, he is unafraid to explore and to ask questions that others would not dare to. His honest wondering about the Uncharted Forest foreshadows his bold decision to later flee there despite the dangers it presents to his life. The role of the Saint of the Pyre here is important. The dying man sees in Equality 7-2521 exactly what his teachers and the Golden One sees -- his height, his straightness of spine, his searching eyes. The transgressor recognizes his successor when he sees him, and exhorts him with his eyes not to surrender the independence of spirit that is uniquely his. This episode, too, hints at what is to come. Glossary Eugenics a system for improving the human species through control of hereditary factors in mating. Pyre a pile on which a dead body is burned, as in a funeral rite. Home of the Peasants place of residence for the women who toil in the fields outside of the city limits. Liberty 5-3000 lives here with the other women who engage in the work of farming. Golden One name that Equality 7-2521 gives in his own mind to Liberty 5-3000. He gives her this name not merely because her hair is as golden as the sun but also because the straightness of her carriage and the fearlessness of her eyes cause her to stand out, to shine forth from the other women. Time of Mating the period each spring when the state sends all men older than 20 and all women older than 18 to spend one night in the Palace of Mating. Babies are born every winter but are immediately taken from their mothers and raised by the state. The children never know who their parents are, and the parents do not know who their children are. Palace of Mating the building where the state-controlled breeding occurs. Sex is prohibited in this society except under the authority of the government, which permits it only for purposes of procreation. Council of Eugenics state agency that governs all sexual activity and procreation. Its members determine who will sleep with whom, based on the best interest of the state, not the happiness of the men and women involved. If all vestiges of individuality and personal choice are to be expunged, then the Council must be certain that the sexual partners have no attachment to, or feelings for, each other. Uncharted Forest heavily wooded area just outside the city and extends for many miles in distance. Many such unexplored forests range across the land and are believed to have grown over the ruins of the cities of the Unmentionable Times. Script Fire brief interval initiating the Great Rebirth following the defeat of the Evil Ones during which all books and writings were burned. Unspeakable Word the word "I," outlawed in this society under threat of death. The political rulers, in seeking to forbid all aspects of individualism, recognize that it is not sufficient to ban the actions of a personal life, but must also eradicate all thoughts of one.

Rand's biblical tone continues in the next chapter as she begins her description of her protagonist's love affair with a certain Liberty 5-3000. Equality 7-2521 immediately admits that this love a violation of the Law of Preference, and in fact the law that no contact can be made between men and women except in the Palace of Mating, where the disdainful process of reproduction occurs. Liberty 5-3000 lives in the Home of Peasants outside the city, and often tends the fields near the road Equality 7-2521 is forced to sweep. He quickly spies her from the road, observing her eyes to be free from fear and guilt. He names her the "Golden One." Over the next few days the two begin to converse, both acknowledging their alienation from those around them. Over the next few days, Equality 7-2521 observes a stark contrast between the Golden One and the men in his own hall of Street Sweepers, explaining that while she is not afraid of anything, his coworkers live in a constant state of fear. Rand also sets up a contrast between Equality 7-2521's glorious tunnel, which is seen as pure and clean, and the "odor of men" he must confront in his compound. The end of chapter 2 begins to allude to the Unspeakable Word, the word that his society has lost to the ages. This word is connected with the Uncharted Forest, the Unmentionable Times and the Evil Ones who spoke it. Equality 7-2521 remembers the burning at the stake of a man who spoke the word a few years before.


We, Equality 7-2521, have discovered a new power of nature. And
we have discovered it alone, and we [-alone-] are to know it.

It is said. Now let us be lashed for it, if we must. The Council
of Scholars has said that we all know the things which exist and
therefore {+all+} the things which are not known by all do not exist.
But we think that the Council of Scholars is blind. The secrets
of this earth are not for all men to see, but only for those who
will seek them. We know, for we have found a secret unknown to
all our brothers.

We know not what this power is nor whence [-is-] {+it+} comes. But we know
its nature, we have watched it and worked with it. We saw it
first two years ago. One night, we were cutting open the body of
a dead frog when we [-saw-] {+say+} its leg jerking. It was dead, yet it
moved. Some power unknown to men was making it move. We could not
understand it. Then, after many tests, we found the answer. The
frog had been hanging on a wire of copper; and it had been the
metal of our knife which had sent
[-the-] {+a+} strange power to the copper
through the brine of the frog's body. We put a piece of copper
and a piece of zinc into a jar of brine, we touched a wire to
them, and there, under our fingers, was a miracle which had never
occurred before, a new miracle and a new power.

This discovery haunted us. We followed it in preference to all
our studies. We worked with it, we tested [-it-] in more ways than we
can describe, and each step was [-as-] another miracle unveiling before
us. We came to know that we had found the greatest power on
earth. For it defies all the laws known to men. It makes the
needle move and turn on the compass which we stole from the Home
of the Scholars; but we had been taught, when still a child, that
the loadstone points to the north and [-that-] this is a law which nothing
can change; yet our new power defies all laws. We found that it
causes lightning, and never have men known what causes lightning.
In thunderstorms, we raised a tall rod of iron by the side of our
hole, and we watched it from below. We have seen the
[-lightning-] {+lightening+}
strike it again and again. And now we know that metal draws the
power of the sky, and that metal can be made to give it forth.

We have built strange things with this discovery of ours. We used
for it the copper wires which we found here under the ground. We
have walked the length of our tunnel, with a candle lighting the
way. We could go no farther [-that-] {+than+} half a mile, for earth and rock
had fallen at both ends. But we gathered all the things we found
and we brought them to our work place. We found strange boxes
with bars of metal inside, with many cords and strands and coils
of metal. We found wires that led to strange little globes of
glass on the walls; they contained threads of metal thinner than
a spider's web.

These things help us in our work. We do not understand them, but
we think that the men of the Unmentionable Times had known our
power of the sky, and these things had some relation to it. We do
not know, but we shall learn. We cannot stop now, even though it
frightens us that we are alone in our knowledge.

No single one can possess greater wisdom  [-that-] {+than+} the many Scholars
who are elected by all men for their wisdom. Yet we can. We do.
We have fought against saying it, but now it is said. We do not
care. We forget all men, all laws and all things save our metals
and our wires. So much is still to be learned! So long a road
lies before us, and what care we if we must travel it alone!

Equality 7-2521 announces that in his experiments he has discovered a new aspect of nature. Although he might be punished for his thoughts, he has begun to realize that the Council of Scholars does not know everything that is to be known. Only those who look for nature's secrets are able to find them. Equality 7-2521 does not know the origins of the particular power he has discovered, but, when he experiments on a dead frog, he sees its leg jerking. After many experiments, he finds that the copper wire on which the frog hangs has somehow combined with the metal in his knife to create the leg jerk. He puts a piece of copper and a piece of zinc into a jar of salty water and connects them with a wire to create this new power. He is fascinated by what he has discovered, and sees that it defies all the currently known laws of nature. He has been taught by his society that lodestones in compasses always point north, but now he sees that the new power makes the needle of a compass move. He also discovers that, in thunderstorms, if he puts a tall iron rod next to the entrance of the tunnel, the iron will draw the lightning. He reasons that the new power causes lightning -- a radically new notion. Armed with his new discovery, Equality 7-2521 finds copper wires and boxes with strands of metal from the half-mile of tunnel that is accessible to him between two cave-ins. He also finds wires that lead to glass globes that contain thin threads of metal, and he concludes that people in the Unmentionable Times must have known about this power from the sky. He decides that he must learn more, although he is frightened because no one but he knows about it. For some reason, he knows more than all the Scholars combined, even though they were elected for their knowledge, and he decides that he does not care about breaking the law in order to learn.

With his discovery of electricity, Equality 7-2521 reaches a turning point in his understanding of his society. Whereas his previous ambition was to join the Home of Scholars, he sees that he can accomplish more alone than can the combined intelligence of all the Scholars. For the first time, he begins to comprehend that he might be superior not just to many of his peers but also to those whom he previously idolized as the holders of all knowledge. With this new discovery, his guilt and need for forgiveness from the Councils slowly fade away, although he has not yet become entirely radicalized in his thinking. When describing his observation of the effects of electricity, Equality 7-2521 says that he "followed in preference to all our studies." He uses the word "preference" without further comment, indicating that he ceases to see the crime of preference as a real moral issue. In Anthem, vocabulary is an important motif that can encompass entire cultures and bodies of philosophical thought, and Equality 7-2521's blase use of a nominally sinful word that formerly worried him is echoed in his increasingly harsh rhetoric about his society. He refers to the Council of Scholars as "blind", whereas before he wrote that they "know all things." As later chapters show, however, he does not yet condemn the Council of Scholars, although he recognizes that he has surpassed them. As in her other major novels, namely The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, Rand here juxtaposes the idea of the singular, productive man against the inefficacy of committees. Similarly to Howard Roark's crusade against the stultification of group think in The Fountainhead, Equality 7-2521 is the independent individual etched in sharp relief against the collective entity of the Council of the Scholars -- a group that falsely claims the invention of the candle and has made no advances since the Great Rebirth. Instead, Equality 7-2521 sees that he gains knowledge from the actions of his self, and he characteristically records both what he knows and what he does not yet understand. Whereas the Council of Scholars displays no understanding of self and claims that what they do not understand simply does not exist, Rand's protagonist displays a keen awareness of self versus the unknown. In his underground tunnel, Equality 7-2521 replicates the frog experiments of Luigi Galvani, the battery-creating endeavors of Alessandro Volta, and the lightning research of Benjamin Franklin. These men are comparable in that they all contributed to the study of electricity during the Age of Enlightenment, a period famous for its celebration of and achievements in science and philosophy. By contrast, in the timeline of Anthem, these men are all part of the Unmentionable Times, and Equality 7-2521 is forced to hide his discovery from society lest he be punished. The mention of Franklin is particularly important because Franklin was also involved in the American Revolution; he thus helped create Ayn Rand's second country and a major wellspring of the ideals of which Equality 7-2521 has been deprived. Equality 7-2521's rapid advances in the area of electricity are somewhat unrealistic, given that he has received an inadequate education from the Home of the Students and that he would have to be exceptionally intelligent to match the achievements of three disparate and well-educated men of the Enlightenment. However, he acts as the prototypical man of action and experimentation, and he chooses to seek truth in nature rather than in his society. His investigations are for the sake of knowledge rather than inherently to serve other men, and he represents the spirit of human ingenuity that will ultimately defeat the obstructionist Dark Age collectivism has created. At the same time, the references to the Enlightenment reminds the reader of the tragic loss caused by the Great Rebirth.

Equality 7-2521 announces that he has discovered a new power of nature. He has done it, alone. No one else knows about it. . He first discovered this power when he cut open a dead frog a long time ago and saw its leg jerking even though it was dead. Then he noticed the frog had received this power from the copper wire on which it had been hanging. Equality 7-2521 had then put together a piece of zinc and a piece of copper in a jar of brine, joined them with a wire, and discovered something miraculous. Since then, Equality 7-2521 has been experimenting with this new power constantly. He now knows that it causes lightning, and that it moves the needle on his compass . He's also determined that the "globes" in the tunnel must have something to do with this new power. Equality 7-2521 is astonished. Nobody is supposed to know more than the Scholars, but it seems like he does.

In his research, Equality 7-2521 discovers a new force of nature. He uses this force, which he calls the "power of the sky," to build strange new devices. He roams through the tunnel, garnering everything from this remnant of the Unmentionable Times that he can -- boxes with bars of metal, wires leading to globes of glass on the wall, and more. He does not understand these strange objects, but he studies them. He believes that the people of the Unmentionable Times understood this force of the sky, and that they had somehow harnessed it to power their devices. He believes that the objects he has found in the tunnel bear some relation to this power. He commits himself to understanding this power even though it means going against everything he has been taught to believe by the Councils.

The "power of the sky" is, of course, electricity. In his research, Equality 7-2521 has discovered the long lost knowledge of this energy that, as he accurately surmises, was known to thinkers of the Unmentionable Times. Given his relentless dedication to the acquisition of scientific knowledge, it comes as no surprise to learn that he intends to follow this course of study until he understands it completely. Equality 7-2521, in this regard, is akin to such pioneers of the electric age as Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and George Westinghouse. Edison invented not only the lightbulb but also created the world's first electric lighting system. Tesla invented the alternating current motor, and Westinghouse hired him to adapt the motor for use in his power system, which was capable of transmitting electricity over greater distances than the then-dominant method employing direct current. Like these great thinkers of an earlier age, Equality 7-2521 is an innovator, a man who develops new ideas. Unlike them, he lives in a collectivist dictatorship that threatens his life for the "crime" of freethinking. Equality 7-2521 is on his way to a discovery even more momentous than electricity. He moves painfully toward the realization that the independent mind is the highest value on earth and is capable of greater achievement than that dreamed of by the crowd of blind followers. "No single one can possess greater wisdom than the many Scholars," he reminds himself. And yet, "we can. We do. We have fought against saying it, but now it is said." Though belief in the superiority of the individual mind is held to be the cardinal sin in this society, Equality 7-2521 gropes toward recognizing its truth. He does not yet know that great innovators of history have often been opposed and tormented by their societies. He has no way of knowing that these great men and women were moved by dedication to their own visions, not by desire to serve humanity -- but he feels it, he lives it, and he slowly comes to understand it. Equality 7-2521's battle involves more than a quest for scientific breakthroughs against a hostile society; it embodies the struggle of the independent mind to recognize its supreme value in a world bent on keeping this truth suppressed. Glossary loadstone a strongly magnetized rock, especially one containing magnetite; something that attracts, as with magnetic force. Power of the Sky lightning that streaks the sky during thunderstorms. In fact, lightning is generated by a discharge of atmospheric electricity from one cloud to another or between a cloud and the earth. No one in this backwards society has an idea of the connection between lightning and electricity, or even of the existence of electricity as a force of nature.

In his tunnel, Equality 7-2521 rediscovers the secret of electricity, alone, apart from his "brothers." He realizes that the Council of Scholars, which uses its central planning to find and administer all knowledge, "is blind," while he, who can invent better technology by himself, can see.


Many days passed before we could speak to the Golden One again.
But then came the day when the sky turned white, as if the sun
had burst and spread its flame in the air, and the fields lay
still without breath, and the dust of the road [-was-] {+what+} white in the
glow. So the women of the field were weary, and they tarried over
their work, and they were far from the road when we came. But the
Golden [-One-] {+one+} stood alone at the hedge, waiting. We stopped and we
saw that their eyes, so hard and scornful to the world, were
looking at us [-at-] {+as+} if they would obey any word we might speak.

And we said:

"We have [-give-] {+given+} you a name in our thoughts, Liberty 5-3000."

"What is our name?" they asked.

"The Golden One."

"Nor do we call you Equality 7-2521 when we think of you."

"What name have you given us?"

They looked straight into our eyes and they held their head high
and they answered:

"The Unconquered."

For a long time we could not speak. Then we said:

"Such thoughts [-as these-] are forbidden, Golden One."

"But you think such thoughts as these and you wish us to think
them."

We [-look-] {+looked+} into their {+eyes+} and we could not lie.

"Yes," we whispered, and they smiled, and then we said: "Our
dearest one, do not obey us."

They stepped back, and their eyes were wide and still.

"Speak [-these-] {+those+} words again," they whispered.

"Which words?" we asked. But they did not answer, and we knew it.

"Our dearest one," we whispered.

Never have men said this to women.

The head of the Golden One bowed slowly, and they stood still
before us, their arms at their sides, the palms of their hands
turned to us, as if their body were delivered in submission to
our eyes. And we could not speak.

Then they raised their head, and they spoke simply and gently, as
if they wished us to forget some anxiety of their own.

"The day is hot," they said, "and you have worked for many hours
and you must be weary."

"No," we answered.

"It is cooler in the fields," they said, "and there is water to
drink. Are you thirsty?"

[-"Yes,"-]

{+"Yes,+} we answered, "but we cannot cross the hedge."

"We shall bring the water to you," they said.

Then they knelt by the moat, they gathered water in their two
hands, they rose and they held the water out to our lips.

We do not know if we drank that water. We only knew suddenly that
their hands were empty, but we were still holding our lips to
their hands, and that they knew [-it,-] {+it+} but did not move.

We raised our head and stepped back. For we did not understand
what had made us do this, and we were afraid to understand it.

And the Golden One stepped back, and stood looking upon their
hands in wonder. Then the Golden One moved away, even though no
others were coming, and they
[-moved,-] {+moved+} stepping back, as if they
could not turn from us, their arms bent before them, as if they
could not lower their hands.

After much time has passed, on a hot day when the Peasants are weary and work far away from the road, Equality 7-2521 sees a second opportunity to speak with Liberty 5-3000, the Golden One. She is waiting at the hedge, and although her eyes are "hard and scornful" toward others, she seems ready to obey Equality 7-2521's words. He tells her that he has named her the Golden One in his thoughts, and she tells him that she has also given him a name -- the Unconquered. Equality 7-2521 is silent for a moment before he points out that their thoughts are forbidden. She notes that he nevertheless wants her to continue thinking these thoughts, and he does not deny it, causing her to smile. He says: "Our dearest one, do not obey us." She steps back, her eyes wide, and, ignoring his command, she asks him to call her "our dearest one" again. He readily obliges, thinking as he does that no man has ever said such a thing to a woman before. The Golden One's head bows, and she stands still before Equality 7-2521 with her palms turned toward him, clearly indicating that she is submitting her body to his. He is unable to speak, but she raises her head and soothingly tells him that he must be hot and tired. He disagrees, but she suggests that he come to the cooler fields and drink some water. When he says that he cannot cross the hedge, although he is thirsty, she kneels by the moat and brings water to his lips with her cupped hands. She keeps those hands by his lips even, after he is done drinking. He raises his head and steps back, confused because he does not understand his own actions. She does the same and leaves, walking backward with her arms still bent, as though they were still holding water.

At this point in the novel, Equality 7-2521's relationship with the Golden One has become a major plot strand, and it serves as a second impetus for Equality 7-2521's development of a sense of self. For these two lovers, love is not just a matter of passionate attraction but the natural and automatic result of a deep kinship in their values, independence, and spirit. In some sense, the most important aspect of Equality 7-2521's love is that he admires himself and thus clearly must admire the Golden One, who is an extension of his self. His friendship with International 4-8818 is a lesser expression of this corollary of the love of self. By contrast, those in his society who have not learned to love themselves cannot experience love for others and are limited to the thoroughly loveless activities at the Palace of Mating. Just as Equality 7-2521 renames Liberty 5-3000, she changes his name to the Unconquered; the lovers exchange these names, and Equality 7-2521 calls Liberty 5-3000 "our dearest one," underlining the lovers' possession of each other as well as their increasing willingness to commit transgressions against the law through language. Their mutual naming also has religious overtones, and as the story progresses, Equality 7-2521 and Liberty 5-3000 begin to resemble renderings of the first man and first woman in many world religions and mythologies. Further religious imagery appears as the Golden One offers Equality 7-2521 water from the moat. Her gesture of placing her wet hands next to his lips is reminiscent both of an offering and a baptism. Equality 7-2521 and the Golden One continue to act as the representative man and woman, pantomiming a ritual of desire and of individual, selfish love. They do not yet entirely understand the feeling of sexual attraction, echoing the state of Adam and Eve as they began in Eden. Ayn Rand intended for the writing of Anthem to be somewhat archaic, and her early drafts of Anthem reveal more direct references to phrases from the Bible, indicating her awareness of the parallels in her own archetypal couple. In offering the water to Equality 7-2521, the Golden One combines the traditional female roles as a mother-like caregiver and an obedient wife. Equality 7-2521 observes that she obeys him because she considers him worthy; he tells her not to obey him, but she ironically insists upon submitting to his authority. A feminist reading of Anthem might well find this to be problematic. On the one hand, the Golden One is a capable and heroic individual in her own right, and Rand does not portray her as spiritually inferior to Equality 7-2521. However, the power relationship between the two is not equal, as Equality 7-2521 never proclaims his obedience to her, and the traditionally parochial view of male and female roles is largely preserved as Equality 7-2521 acts and the Golden One supports. Even more unsettling is the view suggested by The Fountainhead, in which Howard Roark's rape of Dominique Francon is portrayed positively, as a battle of wills in which the hero forces the heroine to submit, again reinforcing gender roles in a troubling manner. The setting of Chapter Four is the hedge separating the Peasants' fields and the road leading to the city, on a particularly hot and oppressive day. Ironically, the heat that takes away the spirit and energy of the other women in the field allows the Golden One to escape the repressive laws and speak with Equality 7-2521 without being overheard. The hedge is a symbol of separation, representing the rules that prevent the two lovers from permanently joining, but it also represents the border between the city and its outer limits. As Equality 7-2521 approaches the border to talk to the Golden One, he also approaches the figurative border that will eventually lead to his break with his society.

Many days pass before Equality 7-2521 can speak to Liberty 5-3000 again. Then, on "the day when the sky turned white" , Equality 7-2521 finds her alone by the hedge. Equality 7-2521 tells her he's decided to call her "the Golden One." In the privacy of his head, of course. Liberty 5-3000 has a name for him too: "the Unconquered." Equality 7-2521 says thoughts like these are forbidden. But he likes them anyway. He calls Liberty 5-3000 "dearest one," and she likes it so much she asks him to do it again. Liberty 5-3000 asks Equality 7-2521 if he could use anything to drink, and Equality 7-2521 says he's thirsty. Liberty 5-3000 stoops down to the moat and gathers water in her hands. She holds her hands up to Equality 7-2521's lips, and he drinks. Equality 7-2521 is in sheer ecstasy. They each step away from each other "in wonder" . Liberty 5-3000 walks away, stepping backwards and keeping her eyes fixed on Equality 7-2521.

Many days pass before Equality 7-2521 speaks again to the Golden One. He tells her that, in his private thoughts, he does not think of her as Liberty 5-3000. She replies that she does not think of him as Equality 7-2521 and has also given him a personal name: The Unconquered. When he reminds her that such thoughts are forbidden, she answers that he thinks them and that he wishes her to do the same. "Yes," he whispered. "Our dearest one, do not obey us." She steps back, stunned at his words, her eyes wide. "Speak these words again," she says. "Our dearest one." Never, he thinks, have men said this to women.

Equality 7-2521 and the Golden One discover the meaning of love in a society utterly devoid of it. Love, the author shows, is a response to personal values. Equality 7-2521, a scientist, is a thinker, a man who values his own independent judgment over the unthinking conformity of the crowd. He values this quality in others, such as his friend, Independence 4-8818, who draws, even though it is forbidden for all except those at the Home of the Artists. Similarly, he values the proud posture and haughty demeanor of the Golden One, because these outer characteristics indicate a spirit that refuses to obey. Her independence of spirit, even more than her physical beauty, attracts Equality 7-2521. Indeed, part of the beauty that shines in her face and from her eyes is the outward reflection of the freespiritedness that forms the essence of her character. Similarly, because her spirit is unbowed, she prizes this attribute in Equality 7-2521 and names him The Unconquered. Equality 7-2521 values scientific research and the independent mind that conducts the quest for timeless truth. These are the values most important to him. And he loves both Liberty 5-3000 and Independence 4-8818 because they embody such independence in their characters. Only men and women who hold personal values are capable of loving. The herd of conformists, who have relinquished their minds to the state, are incapable of experiencing this profoundly personal emotion. Love involves an individual casting an inner verdict of "yes" on another man or woman. To pass such a judgment requires a strong sense of self and of what one considers personally important. The sad majority of persons in Equality 7-2521's society have had all sense of self drained from them by the state. Consequently, they exist in a loveless condition. Glossary The Unconquered the secret name that the Golden One has given to Equality 7-2521 in the privacy of her own mind. She loves him because his straightness of spine and pride of bearing show that his soul has not been conquered by the state. His independence of spirit stands out in his demeanor, and the Golden One recognizes it.

Soon Equality 7-2521 speaks to his Golden One again. This time she even has a name for him: The Unconquered. The scene ends with a romantic kiss.


We made it. We created it. We brought it forth from the night of
the ages. We alone. Our hands. Our mind. Ours alone and only.

We know not what we are saying. Our head is reeling. We look upon
the light which we [-have-] {+had+} made. We shall be forgiven for anything we
say [-tonight.-] {+tonight .+} . . .

Tonight, after more days and trials than we can count, we
finished building a strange thing, from the remains of the
Unmentionable Times, a box of glass, devised to give forth the
power of the sky of greater strength than we had ever achieved
before. And when we put our wires to this box, when we closed the
current--the wire glowed! It came to life, it turned red, and a
circle of light lay on the stone before us.

We stood, and we held our head in our hands. We could not
conceive of that which we had created. We had touched no flint,
made no fire. Yet here was light, light that [-come-] {+came+} from nowhere,
light from the heart of metal.

We blew out the candle. Darkness swallowed us. There was nothing
left around us, nothing save night and a thin thread of flame in
it, as a crack in the wall of a prison. We stretched our hands to
the wire, and we saw our fingers in the red glow. We could not
see our body nor feel it, and in that moment nothing existed save
our two hands over a wire glowing in a black abyss.

Then we thought of the meaning of that which lay before us. We
can light our tunnel, and the City, and all the Cities of the
world with nothing save metal and wires. We can give our brothers
a new light, cleaner and brighter than any they have ever known.
The power of the sky can be made to do men's bidding. There are
no limits to its secrets and its might, and it can be made to
grant us anything if we but choose to ask.

Then we knew what we must do. Our discovery is too great for us
to waste our time in sweeping [-the-] streets. We must not keep our
secret to ourselves, nor buried under the ground. We must bring
it into the sight of all men. We need all our time, we need the
work rooms of the Home of the Scholars, we want the help of our
brother Scholars and their wisdom joined to ours. There is so
much work ahead for all of us, for all the Scholars of the world.

In a month, the World Council of Scholars is to meet in our City.
It is a great Council, to which the wisest of all lands are
elected, and it meets once a year in the different Cities of the
earth. We shall go to this Council and we shall lay before them,
as our gift, [-this-] {+the+} glass box with the power of the sky. We shall
confess everything to them. They will see, understand and
forgive. For our gift is greater than our transgression. They
will explain it to the Council of Vocations, and we shall be
assigned to the Home of the Scholars. This has never been done
before, but neither has a gift such as ours ever been offered to
men.

We must wait. We must guard our tunnel as we had never guarded it
before. For should any men save the Scholars learn of our secret,
they would not understand it, nor would they believe us. They would
see nothing, save our crime of working alone, and they would destroy
us and our light. We care not about our body, but our light [-is . . .-] {+is...+}

Yes, we do care. For the first time [-do-] we {+do+} care about our body.
For this wire is [-as-] a part of our body, as a vein torn from us,
glowing with our blood. Are we {+are+} proud of this thread of metal,
or of our hands which made it, or is there a line to divide these [-two?-]
{+two.+}

We stretch out our arms. For the first time do we know how strong
our arms are. And a strange thought comes to us: we wonder, for
the first time in our life, what we look like. Men never see
their own faces and never ask their brothers about it, for it is
evil to have concern for their own faces or bodies. But tonight,
for a reason we cannot fathom, we wish it were possible to us to
know the likeness of our own person.

Equality 7-2521 is stunned because he has created something new by himself. After countless days and failed attempts, he has managed to use the artifacts from the Unmentionable Times to construct a glass box which can harness his previously discovered power of the sky. Whenever he connects wires to the box and closes the current, the wire glows in a circle of light. He is amazed because it shines light without the help of a fire. He blows out the candle and can see his fingers against the wire's red light, and he becomes unaware of anything except for his hands above the light. He realizes that he can now light his tunnel as well the Cities and thus give everyone a new, cleaner, and brighter light. Man can harness the power to his will, and he knows that he must not keep his secret to himself and continue working only at night. He wants to join the other Scholars in finding new aspects of his discovery. In a month, the World Council of Scholars is coming to their annual meeting, and this particular meeting will be in his city. He decides to gift the Council with his invention and confess everything, believing that they will forgive him for his transgressions. Then, he imagines, the Council of Scholars will have the Council of Vocations reassign him to the Home of the Scholars, even though reassignment never occurs. Equality 7-2521 decides to wait until the World Council and guard his tunnel, knowing that if anyone other than a Scholar were to find the secret, that person will not understand the significance of the glass box. Instead, Equality 7-2521 and his light will be destroyed because of his crime. For the first time, he cares not only about the light but about his own survival, because his body and his invention are connected. He stretches his arms, feeling their power, and he suddenly wishes to know the details of his own appearance, although it is evil to look at his own body or ask others about it.

In Rand's original drafts of Anthem, she opened the paragraph describing Equality 7-2521's invention of a primitive light bulb in a different manner: "The Light! . . . Here, under our hands, at our bidding, the light of the sky, the light to set the earth aglow, the Light smokeless and flameless and unquenchable!" . The revised version states more succinctly, "We made it. We created it. We brought it forth from the night of the ages. We alone. Our hands. Our mind. Ours alone and only," thus shifting the emphasis away from the invention of the light itself and more closely to the achievement of Equality 7-2521. Similarly, she decapitalizes "the Light," and, in its stead, she equates light with the more basic idea of self. The chapter marks the height of the first crescendo of optimism and exuberance in Anthem's narrative arc. If Chapter Three recounted Equality 7-2521's rediscovery of Enlightenment principles, then Equality 7-2521's achievements in this section clearly echo the work of Thomas Edison, the prolific American inventor of the first practical light bulb. He consequently moves from the Enlightenment era to the period of the Industrial Revolution, further pulling out of the mental Dark Age of his rearing. He observes the light within the context of darkness, and he experiments with the glass box in order to provide a glimpse of knowledge in a world that has lost much of its technology and understanding of nature. In a feat of human ingenuity, he does so in an extremely oppressive environment. Although Equality 7-2521's invention of the glass box is in part remarkable because he arrives at it without any support from society, Rand depicts him as succeeding because of as well as in spite of his lonely surroundings. The creation of the light causes him to be aware of and take pride in the strength of his own body, and the glass box becomes the emblem of his self-love. He concludes the chapter by wishing to know about his own appearance because he suspects correctly that his body reflects his inner strength and superiority, much as the Golden One's exterior exhibits her heroic qualities. Despite the reinforcement to Equality 7-2521's sense of ego through the construction of the glass box, he has not entirely freed himself of the paradigms of his civilization. He no longer feels guilty about sneaking away and personally working toward his own achievement, but he still believes to some extent in his culture's doctrine that all work should be for the purpose of serving others. He rationalizes the discrepancy between his discovery and his society's morality by explaining that his invention is important because it will serve all of humanity. He is correct, but events later in the novel will cause him to understand that he values the light first for its own sake as the result of his production and only second as a herald of technology. While still exulting in the value his self, Equality 7-2521 nevertheless does not continue to think of his experimentation as a solitary affair. Instead, he dreams of being welcomed into the Home of the Scholars and joining with them in a cooperative effort to develop more uses of electricity. This remaining vestige of Equality 7-2521's belief in collectivism could serve as a hooking point which will contain the danger he poses to his dystopian communist society. However, the fear and shortsightedness inherent in collectivism will prevent them from accepting him and thus ending his radicalization.

Amazingly, Equality 7-2521 has made an electric light. More specifically, he's made a "box of glass" that bears a suspicious resemblance to a light bulb. Equality 7-2521 is thrilled: he can light all of the Cities in the world with his new invention. He can do it with nothing but metal and wires. He wants to share his secret with the others, and he wants the Scholars to help him develop and spread his invention. Equality 7-2521 decides that he will go to the World Council of Scholars, which is supposed to happen in a month in his very own City. There, he'll present his invention. He'll also confess everything. He thinks that he's sure to be forgiven, since he came up with something so great. But Equality 7-2521 also decides he has to guard his tunnel until then. If anybody sees it besides a Scholar, his invention might be in danger. Equality 7-2521 cares a great deal about his light. He also recognizes for the first time that he cares about his body, which made it. The light is almost like an extension of his body. He wonders for the first time what he actually looks like, because he's never seen himself before. Mirrors are apparently evil too.

After countless nights of experimenting, Equality 7-2521 succeeds in harnessing the power of electricity to re-invent the electric light. It is light in a rudimentary form: A box of glass that glows when its wires are connected. This power can be harnessed to benefit society. But how is he to convince others of this great new boon? He knows many will fear his discovery; worse, the authorities will be enraged at his transgression, at his daring to think and work alone. He believes the Scholars are the only ones who will understand and recognize the merit of his invention. When the World Council of Scholars convenes in his city, he will present to them, as his gift, the "glass box with the power of the sky." The Scholars will explain the value of the invention to the Council of Vocations, and it will reassign Equality 7-2521 to the Home of the Scholars. A new thought strikes him: He cares, for the first time, what becomes of his body. He wonders, for the first time in his life, what he looks like. Men never see their own faces in this society, and are forbidden to ask their brothers. They have been taught that it is evil to have concern for their own faces and bodies. But now, for some reason he does not understand, he desires to see his face.

Equality 7-2521 can be thought of as the Thomas Edison of his age, the man who discovers how to employ the power of electricity to generate light. But the conditions under which Equality 7-2521 conducts his research are vastly more difficult. He must sneak around, concealing his precious work as though it was a guilty secret. He has only three hours at night for his studies, after working all day as a Street Sweeper. He crouches alone in a dimly lit, ill-equipped tunnel. He forages and steals what supplies he can. He has nobody with whom to brainstorm and discuss his ideas. He receives no moral support from his society -- only its opposite, the threat of punishment and death if caught. In short, the harsh conditions under which Equality 7-2521 carries out his work underscore an important truth regarding innovators: They are motivated solely by their love of the work. Equality 7-2521 loves science. He burns with passion to study it and understand nature's secrets. Researchers and inventors follow their own vision, their own truth. Equality 7-2521 is pleased that his electric light will benefit society, but society's gain is not the primary motivating factor of his work. Rather, his own personal values impel him, the importance that he -- alone among the members of this society -- places on this creative work. Ayn Rand shows that creative work is personal, not social. When personal values are extirpated from an individual's life, he or she cannot engage in creative work. As a consequence of holding and reaching values of his own, Equality 7-2521 experiences the previously unknown sensation of pride. When he gazes upon the wires glowing in the dark, he is filled with a sense of his accomplishment. He thinks of the wires as veins torn from his body. The invention is merely an extension of his self, something brought into existence by his mind and his hands. A powerful experience of self-love fills him -- a creator's recognition of achievement and of the value possessed by the one who accomplishes it. This sense of self worth is why, for the first time, he desires to see his face and know what he looks like. The recognition of his inner beauty leads him to expect that his external demeanor will match it. He recognizes that he and he alone created this invention -- that it was his brain and his hands that brought the light into existence. He knows that his brothers contributed nothing but the obstacles. Equality 7-2521 moves one step closer to recognizing the reality of individuality, that human beings are not mere appendages of a faceless, social mass. Clearly to him, only one man invented the light -- "we" did not accomplish it -- and it enables him to further question his lifelong indoctrination by society. He is almost ready to throw off the tyranny of "we," and to discover the lost and sacred Unspeakable Word. Glossary The Box of Glass rudimentary form of an electric light that Equality 7-2521 has re-invented. Though he knows little about electricity, he recognizes that lightning is caused by the same force that generates the light.

Equality 7-2521 discovers how to make a lightbulb work. He believes he alone has made light. He has found the materials for making the lightbulb in the tunnel where he is hiding, and he has used wires to make electricity flow through the lightbulb and produce light. He is amazed that the light has come from the heart of the metal, without flint or fire. He compares the glowing flint to the crack in the walls of a prison. Equality 7-2521 realizes the meaning of the lightbulb--that he can provide clean and bright light for all the cities in the world--and he determines that his discovery is too important not to be shared with the world. He concludes that electricity is the key to harnessing nature's power and that he must bring it to the world. Equality 7-2521 also concludes that he must be allowed into the Home of the Scholars, where there are rooms to experiment and where he can ask the help of the other scholars, in whom he has great faith. He concludes that there is enough work ahead that all the scholars of the world should work together to make progress with his new invention. A month later, the World Council of Scholars, a group of the wisest scholars from all over the world, is to convene for its annual meeting, and this year, the meeting is in Equality 7-2521's city. He resolves to go to the World Council and show them his invention. He will tell the council members the whole story of its discovery, and he believes they will be so impressed that they will forgive him for all his sins and transgressions. He decides that the World Council will speak to the Council of Vocations and have him reassigned from street sweeper to scholar so that he may continue his research. Equality 7-2521 resolves to guard his tunnel with his life because no one but the World Council of Scholars will understand the significance of the light, and the light is the most important thing. In mid-thought, he suddenly realizes that he cares about his body. He believes the lightbulb is a part of his physical being and he wants to see the body that helped bring the bulb into existence. Until this point, he has never seen his body, but now he stretches out his arms and legs and realizes his own strength. Despite knowing that it is wrong to want it, he wants to see his own reflection

Equality 7-2521's belief that the lightbulb is too significant not to be shared, a belief that comes to have disastrous consequences for him, represents exactly the kind of thinking against which Rand is writing. He thinks that the lightbulb, a technological innovation, can be the crack in the wall of his prison, a way to reach all the members of his society and share with them what he has discovered in his tunnel. Rand shows, through Equality 7-2521, how such thinking leads to painful results. She believes that invention and progress are worthy not because they help the masses but rather in and of themselves, because they are the result of the individual mind working and expressing itself. This section is the most hopeful part of the novella, and it is in this section that we most identify with Equality 7-2521. Here, he still wants to make the world a better place for himself and for his brothers, and he believes he has a way to do so. Moreover, the harsh punishment visited on Equality 7-2521 when he returns late from the tunnel and will not tell the Council where he has been foreshadows the violence that we fear will be brought to bear against him at the World Council. Though Rand claims not to have imbued Anthem with a traditional structure, this section, in which we sympathize with Equality 7-2521, builds the story's tension and gives us the expectation of a climax in the coming confrontation with the World Council of Scholars. Equality 7-2521's sense of self-worth is entirely caught up in the significance of the lightbulb, as is the proper result, in Rand's view, of allowing for individual benefit from individual discovery. Equality 7-2521's increasing vanity and his desire to know his own strength are related to his belief that he has discovered something important and that his body is worth knowing. Thus, even after he has been beaten, he revels in his own strength at not succumbing to the beating and revealing his tunnel and the lightbulb. He harnesses his own strength at the same time he harnesses the strength of electricity, and he takes equal pride in both. His willingness to suffer for the lightbulb stems from his belief that the invention is an extension of his own physical being and is more important than his own body, which he has only recently begun to value. The scene in the Palace of Corrective Detention in which Equality 7-2521 is flogged while bound naked to a post directly correlates to the Christian story about the scourging of Christ at the pillar. In the Christian story, Christ is dragged before the Roman authorities, stripped of his clothes, and beaten mercilessly at a pillar while being mocked by Roman soldiers shortly before being crucified. Rand uses the scene here to heighten our sense that Equality 7-2521 is a new prophet who must suffer great abuses, at the hands of tormenters, in the interest of his beliefs. By comparing Equality 7-2521 to Christ, Rand may offend some readers who believe that Christ is the son of God and that such comparisons are irreverent, and she may well have intended to give offense. She often said she was trying to reclaim religious language from religion, in order to prove that it was possible to worship an ideal without believing in the supernatural. The blatant comparison that this scene at the post invites is an attempt to reclaim religious imagery as well, just as is the heavy-handed image of Equality 7-2521 as the bringer of light to the world. This section, like others in the novella, contains countless contrasting pairs, which emphasize, often blatantly, the battle between shapeless, nameless evil and vain, proud good. Specifically, Equality 7-2521's high emotion and proud intentions contrast directly with the Council's boredom while sentencing him to the Palace of Corrective Detention. The violence of the Council also contrasts with Equality 7-2521's passive resistance. Similarly, the light of the bulb, weak though it is, significantly outshines the darkness of a society lit only by candles. Furthermore, Equality 7-2521's care in protecting his tunnel stands in opposition to the carelessness of those in charge of guarding the Palace of Corrective Detention. These pairings further highlight Rand's belief that everything about Equality 7-2521 makes different from those around him. Society wallows in apathetic, dim insecurity, while Equality 7-2521 covetously guards his precious light. In these pairings, society always comprises the weaker half, with much less invested, while Equality 7-2521, fighting bitterly and to the death for his ideals, always comprises the stronger half.

Here, Equality 7-2521 finishes his creation of the box, which uses an electric current to give off light. In humanistic, enlightenment terms, he describes the power of electricity : "There are no limits to its secrets and its might, and it can be made to grant us anything if we but chose to ask." If anywhere in the book, this statement sums up Rand's view of man and human potential. Soon Equality 7-2521 decides to reveal this box to the Council of Scholars, and though he knows he has committed a sin in developing such a device apart from others, he believes that his gift of electricity will outweigh his transgression.