We have not written for thirty days. For thirty days we have not
been here, in our tunnel. We had been caught.

It happened on that night when we wrote last. We forgot, that
night, to watch the sand in the glass which tells us when three
hours have passed and it is time to return to the City Theatre.
When we [-remembered
it,-] {+remembered,+} the sand had run out.

We hastened to the Theatre. But the big tent stood grey and
silent against the sky. The streets of the City lay before us,
dark and empty. If we went back to hide in our tunnel, we would
be found and our light
[-found-] with us. So we walked to the Home of the
Street Sweepers.

When the Council of the Home questioned us, we looked upon the
faces of the Council, but there was no curiosity in those faces,
and no anger, and no mercy. So when the oldest of them asked us:
"Where have you been?" we thought of our glass box and of our
light, and we forgot all else. And we answered:

"We will not tell you."

The oldest did not question us further. They turned to the two
youngest, and said, and their voice was bored:

"Take our brother Equality 7-2521 to the Palace of Corrective
Detention. Lash them until they tell."

So we were taken to the Stone Room under the Palace of Corrective
Detention. This room has no windows and it is empty save for an
iron post. Two men stood by the post, naked but for leather
aprons and leather hoods over their faces. Those who had brought
us departed, leaving us to the two Judges who stood in a corner
of the room. The [-Judges-] {+judges+} were small, thin men, grey and bent.
They gave the signal to the two strong hooded ones.

They tore [-the-] {+our+} clothes from our body, they threw us down upon our
knees and they tied our hands to the iron post.

The first blow of the lash felt as if our spine had been cut in
two. The second blow stopped the first, and for a second we felt
nothing, then [-the-] pain struck us in our throat and fire ran in our
lungs without air. But we did not cry out.

The lash whistled like a singing wind. We tried to count the
blows, but we lost count. We knew that the blows were falling
upon our [-back.-] {+back+} Only we felt nothing upon our back any longer. A
flaming grill kept dancing before our eyes, and we thought of
nothing save that grill, a grill, a grill of red squares, and
then we knew that we were looking at the squares of the iron
grill in the door, and there were also the squares of stone on
the walls, and the squares which the lash was cutting upon our
back, crossing and re-crossing itself in our flesh.

Then we saw a fist before us. It knocked our chin up, and we saw
the red froth of our mouth on the withered fingers, and the Judge
asked:

"Where have you been?"

But we jerked our head away, hid our face upon our tied hands,
and bit our lips.

The lash whistled again. We wondered who was sprinkling burning
coal dust upon the floor, for we saw drops of red twinkling on
the stones around us.

Then we knew nothing, save two voices snarling steadily, one
after the other, even though we knew they were speaking many
minutes apart:

"Where have you been where have you been where have you been
where have you been? . . ."

And our lips moved, but the sound trickled back into our throat,
and the sound was only:

"The light . . . The light . . . The light. . . ."

Then we knew nothing.

We opened our eyes, lying on our stomach on the brick floor of a
cell. We looked upon two hands [-lying-] {+flying+} far before us on the
bricks, and we moved them, and we knew that they were our hands.
But we could not move our body. Then we smiled, for we thought of
the light and that we had not betrayed it.

We lay in our cell for many days. The door opened twice each day,
once for the men who brought us bread and water, and once for the Judges.
Many Judges came to our cell, first the humblest and then the most
honored Judges of the City. They stood before us in their white togas,
and they asked:

"Are you ready to speak?"

But we shook our head, lying before them on the floor. And they departed.

We counted each day and each night as it passed. Then, tonight,
we knew that we must escape. For tomorrow the World Council of
Scholars is to meet in our City.

It was easy to escape from the Palace of Corrective Detention.
The locks are old on the doors and there are no guards about.
There is no reason to have guards, for men have never defied the
Councils so far as to escape from whatever place they were
ordered to be. Our body is healthy and strength returns to it
speedily. We [-lunged
against the door and it gave way.  We-] stole through the dark passages, and through the
dark streets, and down into our tunnel.

We lit the candle and we saw that our place had not been found
and nothing had been touched. And our glass box stood before us
on the cold oven, as we had left it. What matter they now, the
scars upon our back!

Tomorrow, in the full light of day, we shall take our box, and
leave our tunnel open, and walk through the streets to the Home
of the Scholars. We shall put before them the greatest gift ever
offered to men. We shall tell them the truth. We shall hand to
them, as our confession, these pages we have written. We shall
join our hands to theirs, and we shall work together, with the
power of the sky, for the glory of mankind. Our blessing upon
you, [-or-] {+our+} brothers! Tomorrow, you will take us back into your
fold and we shall be an outcast no longer. Tomorrow we shall be
one of you again. Tomorrow . . .

Equality 7-2521 is unable to write for thirty days after his decision to bring his invention to the World Council of Scholars because he is caught. He is absorbed in his thoughts that he forgets to watch the time and return to the City Theatre. He hastens to the Theatre, but it is too late, and he returns to the Home of the Street Sweepers. When he speaks to the Council of the Home, he thinks of his glass box and of its light and refuses to tell them of his whereabouts. The oldest member of the Council is incurious and in a bored voice has the youngest members send Equality 7-2521 to the Palace of Corrective Detention for interrogation. Equality 7-2521 goes to the windowless Stone Room of the Palace of Corrective Detention, where he sees an iron post and two men who wear only leather aprons and hoods. The Councilmember escorts leave Equality 7-2521 to the two Judges in the corner of the room. The Judges, who are "small, thin men, grey and bent," have the hooded men take off Equality 7-2521's clothes and tie his hands to the iron post. Kneeling, Equality 7-2521 does not cry out, although the numerous lashes on his back are extremely painful, and he stares at the door's iron grill while thinking of the square stones on the wall and the squares of lacerations on his back. The Judge asks him of his whereabouts, but he again refuses to speak, and after some more lashes, he loses consciousness. He occasionally wakes to the sound of the Judges repeatedly questioning him, and his only response is a repetition of the phrase "the light." He again faints. When Equality 7-2521 again wakes, he finds himself on the brick floor of a cell. He cannot move his hands but is glad that he did not betray his invention. For almost a month, the door of the cell opens twice a day, once for food and water and once for the Judges. The Judges come in order of increasing importance and ask if he will speak, but he refuses, and they leave. The day before the meeting of the World Council of Scholars, Equality 7-2521 knows that he must escape. The Palace of Corrective Detention has old locks and no guards because men never defy the Councils and escape from the Palace. His body is healthy and strong, despite his ordeal, and he breaks down the door, sneaking outside and back to his tunnel. Upon entering the tunnel, he lights a candle and sees that the tunnel has not been found or touched. When he sees the glass box, he ceases to care about the scars on his back. Tomorrow, he plans to take his box to the Home of the Scholars and hand them his journal as a confession. He then plans to join them in working to discover new things about his power of the sky "for the glory of mankind," and he blesses his brothers, knowing that starting tomorrow, he will rejoin society and no longer be an outcast.

The episode at the Palace of Corrective Detention interrupts Equality 7-2521's previous optimism, showing that despite his private experimentation with a potentially life-changing invention, the world around him has failed to change. Although the authorities know nothing about his glass box, they still identify him as a threat and punish him for his lack of obedience and his integrity. For all of their claims to serve their brothers, their questioning of Equality 7-2521 suggests that they are more interested in maintaining control than in loving all humans. The Judges are glorified torturers, although they allow the hooded men to do the physical act of beating their prisoner. The word "Judges" suggests justice and a search for the truth, but these Judges do not truly represent either. Equality 7-2521's ordeal juxtaposes the reprehensible behavior of the collectivists with the protagonist's honor and vigor. Whereas Equality 7-2521 keeps his secret because of his conviction and need to protect his creation, the members of the Home Council show a lack of any powerful emotions. The oldest member of the Council states the command sending Equality 7-2521 to the Palace of Corrective Detention in a bored tone, suggesting the apathy engendered by collectivism. The evil authority figures in the Palace are either hidden under leather hoods or shown in a weak, bent body, and none have names or powerful descriptions. By contrast, the individualist Equality 7-2521 has a name and a distinct physical presence. His narrative emphasizes his interaction with and observation of his body, and he recovers quickly from the torture, indicating his physical and, by analogy, his mental strength. A second contrast between Equality 7-2521 and the collectivists lies in their approach to guarding important areas. Equality 7-2521 pays a great deal of attention to the protection of his tunnel and his light, and he undergoes the Palace of Corrective Detention without revealing them. This approach is unfathomable to the authorities, who do not bother to guard their prisoners or repair their locks, a fact which also illustrates the technological regression of the collectivist era. Equality 7-2521 views the glass box as an extension of his own body, and he acts as he does because of his pride in his body, while the authorities have no sense of pride and remain careless. The Judges have Equality 7-2521 tied to an iron post so that the men in leather aprons can whip him. The image parallels the execution of the Transgressor, or Saint of the Pyre, in an earlier section of the novel. Like the Transgressor, Equality 7-2521 is tied to a stake-like object, and he describes the iron grill of the door as "a flaming grill," while mistaking his blood for "burning coal dust." Both images bear a close connection to the flames that killed the Saint of the pyre, and both scenarios have a feeling of martyrdom. The two men willingly suffer in their bodies for the sake of an idea. Several aspects of Equality 7-2521's imprisonment hint at the brainwashed nature of his society. The narrator escapes because no one else would have the originality necessary to even think of escape. Furthermore, although his transgression of omitting attendance at the City Theatre does not seem particularly heinous, few enough people commit any crimes that his case becomes one of paramount importance, leading eventually to questioning from "the most honored Judges of the City." Even Equality 7-2521, oddly, does not think to lie to the Judges, and he still does not wish to be a lonely outcast, retaining hope that he will be able to rejoin his community after he speaks with the World Council of Scholars. He believes that the men who he had once idolized will be greater and more enlightened than the others, but the reader may rightly remain worried that his stint at the Palace of Corrective Detention will foreshadow his reception at the World Council.

Equality 7-2521 tells us that he hasn't written for thirty days, because he hasn't been in the tunnel for 30 days. He was caught. It happened the very night he wrote last, when he had produced the light. It's time for another flashback sequence... That night, Equality 7-2521 notices that he's forgotten to keep track of the time . Three hours have already passed. Equality 7-2521 he runs back to the Theatre, only to find it empty. He returns to the Home of the Street Sweepers. The Council of Home quickly demands to know where he's been. Equality 7-2521 refuses to tell them. Equality 7-2521 is taken to the Palace of Corrective Detention to encourage him to cooperate by whipping him. Equality 7-2521 is stripped and then lashed for what seems like ages, but he doesn't say a word. He doesn't even cry out. The beating continues until Equality 7-2521 goes practically unconscious. When he's asked repeatedly where he's been, all he can say is "The light...the light!". Equality 7-2521 then falls unconscious. When he wakes up, Equality 7-2521 finds himself in a cell. He lies there for many days. Regularly, Judges come to his cell to ask if he's ready to speak. He shakes his head each time. Equality 7-2521 counts the days as they pass until he realizes one night that the next day is the World Council of Scholars. He's got to escape. Fortunately, this is not very hard. The locks are old and there are no guards around, so all it takes is a lunge at the door. Apparently Equality 7-2521 was lucky enough to be placed in the most worthless jail ever devised by the hand of man. So Equality 7-2521 heads back to his tunnel, and writes what we've just been reading. Tomorrow, he announces, he will tell the Scholars the truth, and present them with his great gift.

Equality 7-2521 is caught. On the night he completes his invention, he neglects to watch the hourglass that tells him the time. When he remembers to look at it, it is too late. When the members of the Home Council question him regarding his whereabouts, he answers: "We will not tell you." The Council sends him to the Palace of Corrective Detention, commanding that he be lashed until he confesses. He escapes from the Palace of Corrective Detention and steals quickly into his tunnel. When he lights his candle, he finds everything as he left it. The glass box is intact, and when he beholds it, he feels that the scars on his back are unimportant.

A collectivist society is brutally repressive in its treatment of those who think independently. Just like it burned at the stake the Saint of the Pyre for discovering and uttering the Unspeakable Word, so it lashes Equality 7-2521 for his unexplained absence. In a Nazi or Communist society such as this, obedience is considered the fundamental virtue. Individualists, like Equality 7-2521, who act on their own thinking, are regarded as dangerous troublemakers and treated like criminals. Equality 7-2521 knows that if the state discovers the full extent of his "crimes" -- his illicit scientific research and invention of an electric light -- he will be executed and his creation destroyed. He has performed actions that are major violations of the lock-step conformity required by society. He has placed the satisfaction of his own goals above the necessity of compliance to society -- and this is unforgivable. The legal authorities will not understand the significance of the light nor will they care. They will see only the refusal to conform. Equality 7-2521's only hope lies with the Scholars. They are the men of wisdom. The Scholars, he believes, are honest seekers after truth, who will both understand and care about the electric light. They will intercede on his behalf -- and he and the light will be saved. Equality 7-2521's unyielding allegiance to his invention and his mind -- his refusal to betray his secret activities -- illustrates the integrity of the creative geniuses persecuted by society. Ayn Rand shows the blatant falsehood of the collectivists' claim to love humankind. If the Nazis and Communists were sincere, they would neither ban independent thinking nor punish the thinkers. The ease with which Equality 7-2521 escapes from prison illustrates two points. The first is that the technological decline is so thorough that even the locks on the doors are rusted and aged, unable to withstand applied pressure. The more important point is that the collectivist state has succeeded in so thoroughly inculcating obedience that it has no need to post guards in either the prison or on the city streets. Under the brainwashing they have received from birth, citizens do not regard themselves as individuals; they have no right to think, and their only reason to live is to obey and serve. It does not occur to them to think, to question, to challenge authority. The state has no need to maintain systematic vigilance, for an independent thinker such as Equality 7-2521 has not appeared in anyone's memory. The authorities are surprised by the one unexplained absence that they know of. When they discover the full extent of Equality 7-2521's illicit actions, they will be flabbergasted. Nobody has ever heard of such a thing. Glossary City Theater the large tent in which are performed plays for the social recreation of the workers. The plays are about the virtues of toil and the need to sacrifice oneself for one's brothers. Palace of Corrective Detention the prison to which Equality 7-2521 is taken after he is discovered absent from the theater. The prison, as virtually everything in this backwards society, is delapidated, posing no difficulty to Equality 7-2521's escape when the time is right. World Council of Scholars the society of thinkers and scientists made up supposedly of the world's greatest minds. But since the political rulers value only obedience, the best thinkers  are excluded, leaving the World Council filled with a group of unthinking conformists.

Equality 7-2521 writes that he was so excited about his discovery of the lightbulb that he forgot to pay attention to the time, and he was late in returning to the Home of the Street Sweepers. The Council of the Home asked him where he was, and he would not answer. Without emotion, the Council ordered Equality 7-2521 to be held in the Palace of Corrective Detention until he told the Council where he had been. Equality 7-2521 writes that at the Palace of Correction, he was stripped and tied to a post where he was whipped and beaten while being asked where he had been. He lost consciousness and woke in a cell, happy that he had not betrayed the tunnel and the light. He stayed in the cell in the Palace of Corrective Detention until he realized that it was the day before the meeting of the World Council of Scholars. He then broke out of the Palace, which was easy because no precautions had been taken to prevent escape since no one had ever tried to do so before. He snuck back to his tunnel, where he writes this entry, reveling in the idea that the next day will bring atonement and reunification with his brothers.

In this chapter, Equality 7-2521 explains how he has been caught skipping the mandatory theatre session by arriving late to the Home of the Street Sleepers one night. When he is interrogated by the authorities, he refuses to tell them where he was and is consequently ordered to serve time in the Palace of Corrective Detention. Here he is whipped and beaten, but soon he escapes the unguarded prison, reiterating to himself and the reader his plan to take his invention to the Home of Scholars.


It is dark here in the forest. The leaves rustle over our head,
black against the last gold of the sky. The moss is soft and
warm. We shall sleep on this moss for many nights, till the
beasts of the forest come to tear our body. We have no bed now,
save the moss, and no future, save the beasts.

We are old now, yet we were young this morning, when we carried
our glass box through the streets of the City to the Home of the
Scholars. No men stopped us, for there were none about [-from-] the Palace
of Corrective Detention, and the others knew nothing. No men
stopped us at the gate. We walked through {+the+} empty passages and
into the great hall where the World Council of Scholars sat in
solemn meeting.

We saw nothing as we entered, save the sky in the great windows,
blue and glowing. Then we saw the Scholars who sat around a long table;
they were as shapeless clouds huddled at the rise of [-the-] {+a+} great sky.
There were {+the+} men whose famous names we knew, and others
from distant lands whose names we had not heard. We saw a
great painting on the wall over their heads, of the twenty
illustrious men who had invented the candle.

All the heads of the Council turned to us as we entered. These
great and wise of the earth did not know what to think of us, and
they looked upon us with wonder and curiosity, as if we were a
miracle. It is true that our tunic was torn and stained with
brown stains which had been blood. We raised our right arm and we
said:

"Our greeting to you, our honored brothers of the World Council
of Scholars!"

Then Collective 0-0009, the oldest and wisest of the Council,
spoke and asked:

"Who are you, our brother? For you do not look like a Scholar."

"Our name is [-Equality-] {+Equity+} 7-2521," we answered, "and we are a Street
Sweeper of this City."

Then [-is-] {+it+} was [-as-] if a great wind had stricken the hall, for all the
Scholars spoke at once, and they were angry and frightened.

"A Street Sweeper! A Street Sweeper walking in upon the World
Council of Scholars! It is not to be believed! It is against all
the rules and all the laws!"

But we knew how to stop them.

"Our brothers!" we said. "We matter not, nor our transgression.
It is only our brother men who matter. Give no thought to us, for
we are nothing, but listen to our words, for we bring you a gift
such as [-had-] {+has+} never been brought to men. Listen to us, for we hold
the future of mankind in our hands."

Then they listened.

We placed our glass box [-upon-] {+on+} the table before them. We spoke of it,
and of our long quest, and of our tunnel, and of our escape from
the Palace of Corrective Detention. Not a hand moved in that
hall, as we spoke, nor an eye. Then we put the wires to the box,
and they all bent forward and sat still, watching. And we stood
still, our eyes upon the wire. And slowly, slowly as a flush of
blood, a red flame trembled in the wire. Then the wire glowed.

But terror struck the men of the Council. They leapt to their
feet, they ran from the table, and they stood pressed against the
wall, huddled together, seeking the warmth of one another's
bodies to give them courage.

We looked upon them and we laughed and said:

"Fear nothing, our brothers. There is a great power in these
wires, but this power is tamed. It is yours. We give it to you."

Still they would not move.

"We give you the power of the sky!" we cried. "We give you the
key to the earth! Take it, and let us be one of you, the humblest
among you. Let us [-all-] work together, and harness this power, and make
it ease the toil of men. Let us throw away our candles and our
torches. Let us flood our cities with light. Let us bring a new
light to men!"

But they looked upon us, and suddenly we were afraid. For their
eyes were still, and small, and evil.

"Our brothers!" we cried. "Have you nothing to say to us?"

Then Collective 0-0009 moved forward. They moved to the table and
the others followed.

"Yes," spoke Collective 0-0009, "we have much to say to you."

The sound of their [-voices-] {+voice+} brought silence to the hall and to [-be-] {+the+}
beat of our heart.

"Yes," said Collective 0-0009, "we have much to say to a wretch
who have broken all the laws and who boast of their infamy! How
dared you think that your mind held greater wisdom [-that-] {+than+} the minds
of your brothers? And if the [-Councils-] {+Council+} had decreed that you [-should-] be a
Street Sweeper, how dared you think that you could be of greater
use to men than in sweeping the streets?"

"How dared you, gutter cleaner," spoke Fraternity 9-3452, "to
hold yourself as one alone and with the thoughts of [-the-] one and not
of [-the-] many?"

"You shall be burned at the stake," said Democracy 4-6998.

"No, they shall be lashed," said Unanimity 7-3304, "till there is
nothing left under the lashes."

"No," said Collective 0-0009, "we cannot decide upon this, our
brothers. No such crime has ever been committed, and it is not
for us to judge. Nor for any small Council. We shall deliver this
creature to the World Council itself and let their will be done."

We looked upon them and we pleaded:

"Our brothers! You are right. Let the will of the Council be
done upon our body. We do not care. But the light? What will you
do with the light?"

Collective 0-0009 looked upon us, and they smiled.

"So you think [-that-] you have found a new power," said Collective
0-0009. "Do {+you think+} all your brothers think that?"

"No," we answered.

"What is not thought by all men cannot be true," said Collective
0-0009.

"You have worked on this alone?" asked International 1-5537.

[-"Man-]

{+"Yes," we answered.

"What is not done collectively cannot be good," said
International 1-5537.

"Many+} men in the Homes of the Scholars have had strange new
ideas in the past," said Solidarity 8-1164, "but when the
majority of their brother Scholars voted against them, they
abandoned their ideas, as all men must."

"This box is useless," said Alliance [-6-4349.-] {+6-7349.+}

"Should it be what they claim of it," said Harmony 9-2642, "then
it would bring ruin to the Department of Candles. The [-andle-] {+Candle+} is a
great boon to mankind, as approved by all men. Therefore it
cannot be destroyed by the whim of one."

"This would wreck the [-Plans-] {+plans+} of the World Council," said
Unanimity 2-9913, "and without the Plans of the World Council the
sun cannot rise. It took fifty years to secure the approval of
all the Councils for the Candle, and to decide upon the number
needed, and to re-fit {+the+} Plans so as to make candles instead of
torches. This touched upon thousands and thousands of men working
in scores of States. We cannot alter the Plans again [-to-] {+so+} soon."

"And if this should lighten the toil of men," said Similarity
5-0306, "then it is a great evil, for men have no cause to exist
save in toiling for other men."

Then Collective 0-0009 rose and pointed at our box.

"This thing," they said, "must be destroyed."

And all the others cried as one:

"It must be destroyed!"

Then we leapt to the table.

We seized our box, we shoved them aside, and we ran to the
window. We turned and we looked at them for the last time, and a
rage, such as [-it-] is not fit for humans to know, choked our voice in
our throat.

"You [-fools"-] {+fools!"+} we cried. "You fools! You thrice-damned fools!"

We swung our fist through the windowpane, and we leapt out in a
ringing rain of glass.

We fell, but we never let the box fall from our hands. Then we
ran. We ran blindly, and men and houses streaked past us in a
torrent without shape. And the road seemed not to be flat before
us, but as if it were leaping up to meet us, and we waited for
the earth to rise and strike us in the face. But we ran. We knew
not where we were going. We knew only that we must run, run to
the end of the world, to the end of our days.

Then we knew suddenly that we were lying on a soft earth and that
we had stopped. Trees taller than we had ever seen before stood
over us in {+a+} great silence. Then we knew. We were in the
Uncharted Forest. We had not thought of coming here, but our legs
had carried our wisdom, and our legs had brought us to the
Uncharted Forest against our will.

Our glass box lay beside us. We crawled to it, we fell upon it,
our face in our arms, and we lay still.

We lay [-this-] {+thus+} for a long time. Then we rose, we took our [-box and-] {+box, had+}
walked on into the forest.

It mattered not where we went. We knew that men would not follow
us, for they never [-enter-] {+entered+} the Uncharted Forest. We had nothing
to fear from them. The forest disposes of its own victims. This
gave us no fear either. Only we wished to be [-away,-] away from the City
and [-from-] the air that touches upon the air of the City. So we walked
on, our box in our arms, our heart empty.

We are doomed. Whatever days are left to us, we shall spend them
alone. And we have heard of the corruption to be found in
solitude. We have torn ourselves from the truth which is our
brother men, and there is no road back for us, and no redemption.

We know these things, but we do not care. We care for nothing on
earth. We are tired.

Only the glass box in our arms is like a living heart that gives
us strength. We have lied to ourselves. We have not built this
box for the good of our brothers. We built it for its own sake.
It is above all our brothers to us, and its truth above their
truth. Why wonder about this? We {+have not many days to live. We+}
are walking to the fangs awaiting us somewhere among the great,
silent trees. There is not a thing behind us to regret.

Then a blow of pain struck us, our first and our only. We thought
of the Golden One. We thought of the Golden One whom we shall
never see again. Then the pain passed. It is best. We are one of
the Damned. It is best if the Golden [-One-] {+one+} forget our name and the
body which bore that name.

Equality 7-2521's next journal entry comes from the dark forest, where he waits while sleeping on the moss for the beasts. He feels old and futureless, although earlier in the morning he feels young as he carries his box to the World Council of Scholars. No one from the Palace of Corrective Detention sees him, and no one else stops him, so he enters the great hall, where he sees the blue sky through the windows and a painting of the twenty men who invented the candle. The Scholars are sitting at a long table, and they stare at the ragged intruder with surprise, but Equality 7-2521 greets them. The oldest member of the Council, Collective 0-0009, asks for his identity, and he responds with his name and his profession. The Scholars are angry and frightened because he has broken the law, but he says that his crimes do not matter when compared to the whole of humanity. He claims that he is nothing but that he brings a gift that holds the future of mankind. He shows them the glass box and explains about his tunnel and his escape from the Palace of Corrective Detention, and they all watch his demonstration. When the wire begins to glow red, the terrified men of the Council run to the opposite wall. Equality 7-2521 tries to reassure them, telling them that he has tamed the power and offers it to them, but they do not move. He asks them to help him use the power to benefit humanity and bring light to their cities, but their small eyes regard him with sinister intent, and Equality 7-2521 becomes afraid. Collective 0-0009 moves to the table, leading the other scholars, and he speaks to Equality 7-2521, condemning him for breaking the law and daring to believe that a Street Sweeper could be wiser than his brothers and that he could be most useful outside of his assigned profession. Fraternity 9-3452 berates him for thinking as one person rather than with everyone else, Democracy 4-6998 sentences him to burning at the stake, and Unanimity 7-3304 wishes to lash him to death. Collective 0-0009 disagrees and says that none but the World Council has the authority to pass judgment. Equality 7-2521 says he does not care about his own punishment but wishes to know about the fate of the light. Collective 0-0009 smiles and points out that all his brothers do not agree that he has found a new power and that if everyone does not believe it, then it is not true. International 1-5537 notes that he has worked on his invention alone and that anything not created collectively cannot be good. Solidarity 8-1164 explains that Scholars have had new ideas before but did not follow through because the other Scholars voted against them. More members of the council speak up, with Alliance 6-7349 believing that the box is useless and Harmony 9-2642 suggesting that the box would ruin the Department of Candles, which has been approved by the multitude and cannot be destroyed by one man's work. Unanimity 2-9913 says that the box would hurt the Plans of the World Council, which are in control of the sun's rising. The World Council had recently taken fifty years to alter the Plans to accommodate the Councils for the Candle and will not do so again for some time. Similarity 5-0306 claims that the box is evil because by making life easier, it will take away from the purpose of men, which is to work for other men. Collective 0-0009 concludes the discussion by declaring that the box must be destroyed, and the Council agrees. Furious, Equality 7-2521 calls them fools and breaks the glass of the window in order to escape. Grasping the box, he runs blindly and trips as he arrives at the edge of the Uncharted Forest. At first, he lays still, but he eventually takes the box into the forest, feeling no fear and knowing that the other men will leave him to his fate. He knows he is doomed and that he will be corrupted by solitude, but he is tired and does not care. He realizes that he built the box for himself and not for others as he had told himself, and he regrets nothing except for the fact that he will never see the Golden One again. However, he hopes that she will forget him.

Despite Equality 7-2521's optimism and belief that the World Council of Scholars will reward him for his invention of the glass box, his meeting with the Scholars forms the climax of the novel, after which he is irreparably cut off from his society. The Scholars' dismissal of his invention breaks his last emotional connection to the ideals of collectivism and ends the section of the story that features a conflict between man and society. After this point, the development of Equality 7-2521's understanding of ego continues, but the collectivist community is no longer a looming presence and constrictor of the protagonist's actions. The end of Chapter Seven marks the nadir of Equality 7-2521's emotions, but he enters the Uncharted Forest with no more illusions about his society. Prior to his entry to the World Council of Scholars, Equality 7-2521 still expects that those as wise as the Scholars would be inclined to rationality over fear. Since he was young, he has identified himself in spirit with the Scholars and believes that, like him, they weigh human life and happiness over the law of the state. However, he finally learns that he has been wrong and that the entire collectivist system is flawed rather than merely some of its members. The confrontation leads him to escape from the city's confines into the Uncharted Forest, which associates nature with true knowledge and which represents his now inevitable radicalization. He ceases to justify his protection of the glass box as a benefit for humanity and accepts his true motivation as the wish to create for the sake of creation. Rand's depiction of the Home of the Scholars contrasts the reality of the Council of Scholars with the ironic mention of "famous names" and the "illustrious men who had invented the candle." The idea of fame suggests a certain level of separation from the common man that seems more individualist than collectivist, and accordingly the concept of invention is associated with fame and achievement. However, the candle came long before the Great Rebirth, and the members of the Council are huddled "as shapeless clouds," again emphasizing the bodiless nature of collectivism. They are confused by the presence of an intruder, for just as no one had ever thought to escape the Palace of Corrective Detention, no one has thought to interrupt the World Council, and they are particularly shocked by his low status. The behavior of the Council of Scholars suggest that any group is ineffective and that the ills of Soviet Russia were not simply the result of faulty execution. Their insistence that all must agree in order for something to be true makes knowledge subjective, in contrast to Equality 7-2521's Objectivist ideas, and it causes stagnation as the weakest and most frightened sectors of society slow progress. They cannot agree on how to use new technology and rank obedience above prosperity or learning. Even the de facto spokesperson who has some mild claim to individualism, Collective 0-0009, rejects him. Significantly, the suggestions of Democracy 4-6698 and Unanimity 7-3304 equate Equality 7-2521's sin of individual thought to the only crime officially punishable by death, the speaking of the Unspeakable Word. As Equality 7-2521 noted in the other Street Sweepers, collectivism's tenants engender fear instead of happiness as the main emotion, but while his coworkers fear the state, the Council of the Scholars are near the top of the hierarchy and fear nothing more than an active individual. They make a multitude of excuses to reject the glass box, but they recognize its efficacy and more importantly recognize the danger to their society in the possibility of rewarding Equality 7-2521. In their view, they cannot be seen to encourage free thought. At the same time, by rebuffing him, they miss a crucial opportunity to assimilate a potential radical, and Equality 7-2521 consequently sunders his remaining ties to the City.

Equality 7-2521 tells us that he is writing from the forest. He will be there for a long time. That morning, he went to see the Scholars, and... Equality 7-2521 jaunts into the Home of the Scholars. There's no one there from the Palace of Corrective Detention, so he doesn't get any trouble. Equality 7-2521 arrives in the great hall where the Council is taking place. As he steps in, all of the Scholars turn to look at him with astonishment. Equality 7-2521 greets them loudly. The oldest Scholar, Collective 0-0009, wants to know who Equality 7-2521 is; he doesn't look like a Scholar. Equality 7-2521 announces that he is a Street Sweeper. The Scholars do not take this well. It is quite against the rules for a Street Sweeper to be in the House of the Scholars. Equality 7-2521 tells them that he brings them a gift, a great gift for all of mankind, and asks them to listen. The scholars listen. Equality 7-2521 tells the Scholars everything he's done. Then he puts the light bulb, which he's brought with him, on a table before them and activates it. The Scholars are terrified. They jump, shriek, and huddle together. Equality 7-2521 laughs, and tells them that he has given them the power of the sky, which he has tamed. He wants to spread it to all men. The Scholars do not have pleasant looks on their faces. Their eyes are "still, and small, and evil" . Equality 7-2521 is afraid. Collective 0-0009 steps forward and tells Equality 7-2521 that he has broken all of the laws. He has been arrogant enough to believe that he's greater and wiser than everyone else. He should have stayed a Street Sweeper! Other Scholars pipe in that Equality 7-2521 should be burned at the stake or lashed to death. Collective 0-0009 says that Equality 7-2521 must be handed over to the World Council for their judgment. Equality 7-2521 wants to know what will become of his light. Collective 0-0009 responds that "what is not thought by all men cannot be true" . Various others say that the light cannot be good because it was not come up with collectively. And that it would just be a disaster for the Department of Candles. The Scholars, following Collective 0-0009's lead, all point at the light-box and pronounce that it must be destroyed. Equality 7-2521 jumps to the table, seizes the light-box, and runs to the window. Equality 7-2521, who's filled with rage at this point, calls the Scholars a bunch of "damned fools," breaks the window, and jumps out. From the Home of the Scholars, Equality 7-2521 starts running. He doesn't really know where he's going, he just knows he has to get the heck out of the City. Eventually, Equality 7-2521 realizes he's wound up in the Uncharted Forest. He falls upon the ground, embraces his light-box, and lies there for a good, long while. Equality 7-2521 goes further into the Forest. No one will follow him there. He realizes that by doing this, he has cut himself off from all of his "brothers." But he doesn't care. He didn't build the box for their sake anyway. Really, he built it for its own sake. Equality 7-2521 doesn't have any regrets about leaving the City. That is, he doesn't think he does, until he realizes he's left behind the Golden One .

In the morning, Equality 7-2521 slips through the streets carrying his glass box. He enters unquestioned the Home of the Scholars, walking through the empty corridors into the great hall where the Scholars sit assembled. When he greets them, Collective 0-0009, the oldest and wisest, responds with a question regarding his identity. Equality 7-2521 informs them that he is a Street Sweeper, and they are first astonished and then outraged. Equality 7-2521 interrupts by pointing out that he is unimportant. He has something to show them of great significance to society. He places the glass box on the table and connects the wires. When the wires begin to glow red, terror strikes the members of the Council. They leap from the table and run to the farthest wall, where they huddle together. The Scholars are furious that he defies all the Councils by believing he can provide greater benefit to his fellow man than cleaning the streets. They berate him for holding thoughts that are individual in opposition to those held by his brothers. They threaten him with torture and execution. Equality 7-2521 pleads with them. He states that they are right regarding him. He is a miserable wretch who has broken all the laws, and who deserves only punishment. But the light, he questions. What will they do with the light? They smile and ask him if his brothers agree that the light is a great advance. When he admits that they do not, they point out that what is not believed by all men cannot be true. When they reiterate that he has worked on the invention alone, he concedes that he has. They remind him that what is not shared by all cannot be good. Other scholars argue that if the light is everything Equality 7-2521 claims, then it would ruin the Department of Candles; and since the candle is a benefit that has been approved by all men, its manufacture cannot be ended to satisfy the whim of one. It took 50 years to secure approval for the candle from all the Councils, to determine the number needed and to adjust from torches. The Plans of the World Councils cannot be changed again so soon. The World Council of Scholars decides in unison that the light must be destroyed. Before they can touch the light, Equality 7-2521 seizes it and leaps through the window. He flees blindly, running through the streets of the city with no destination, knowing merely that he must get away. Suddenly, he finds himself on the soft earth, surrounded by trees taller than he's ever seen, and realizes that he is in the Uncharted Forest. Alone in the Forest, he believes he is doomed, that he will be devoured by ravenous beasts. He draws strength only from the box in his arms, realizing that he made it not for the sake of his brothers but for its own sake. His only regret is that he will not see the Golden One again. He thinks that because he is damned, it is best for her that she forgets him and everything about him.

Equality 7-2521's innocent confidence that the Scholars will understand and support his invention of the light is misplaced. Equality 7-2521's commitment to research, to science, and to the independent mind causes him to admire humans, to respect the "rational animal." He still expects humans to be rational. He is a Humanist, one who holds that human life and well-being is the highest value on earth. Despite the horrors of life in his society, he still believes that the authorities are committed to human life. He thinks that the collectivists are sincere in their claims to love humankind. Because the benefit to society that is represented by the electric light is very clear, he expects the Scholars to recognize and support it. He does not yet understand the evil of the collectivists. His interview with the Scholars is a turning point in his thinking. Ayn Rand shows that the collectivist authorities do not care about the light or the benefits it will bring; they desire neither inventions nor prosperity. What they do desire is obedience. Earlier, as Equality 7-2521 worked on harnessing electricity, he had realized that the Scholars do not know the things he knows. But at that time, he still believed that they cared. He believed that when laid before them, they would recognize the great benefit the light represents. Now he sees them reject the light. Clearly, the scholars know that the light is real, not a fantasy; it works. They know the power is harnessed and under control, not a raging threat. They recognize the light's potential. They all but concede that it will put the candle out of business. Rather, they do not want the light. They do not want the light because they fear its source: the independent mind. They fundamentally repudiate a man who thinks for himself and who refuses to conform to society. To maintain the dictatorship, everyone must unquestioningly obey the Councils. Those who refuse to obey are a threat. Independent thinkers are a danger to this repressive society. More important than the technological upheaval is the political one. Independent thinkers ask questions of humanity, as well as of nature. They want to understand the moral basis of a tyrant's regime as fully as they seek to comprehend the power of electricity. Great minds are not turned off when they leave the laboratory. They continue to ask questions and to seek truth. They question the moral legitimacy of the state. Equality 7-2521 already has disturbing questions. He wonders about the Unspeakable Word, the lost secrets of the Unmentionable Times, why his brothers cry out in the night, and more. If the collectivists permit him to act on his own thinking, he will be more than an individual troublemaker; he will be an example to others. Other individuals who seek to think for themselves -- such as the Golden One, who breaks the laws by speaking to Equality 7-2521, and International 4-8818, who draws on walls in defiance of the rules -- will be encouraged to do so. If Equality 7-2521 is permitted to escape harsh punishment for his "crimes," much less be accepted as a great inventor, then the iron grip that the collectivists hold on society will be gravely undermined. The authorities recognize this, and cannot permit it to happen. Worse for them, in this scene Equality 7-2521 begins to recognize it, too. He does not yet know what is the proper political system for men, nor does he explicitly understand the deeper causes of the collectivists' evil. But he knows that they reject the light, and that there is no place for him in such a society. He fully expects to die in the forest. But even that is preferable to life as an unthinking slave in the city.

Having fled to the Uncharted Forest, Equality 7-2521 explains his morning actions, which consisted of his trip to the Home of Scholars with his light-giving box. When the scholars learn that he's a lowly Street Sweeper, they immediately want him removed from their presence, not seriously considering his invention because he created it outside of their watchful gaze. Equality 7-2521 tries to persuade them to listen to him, telling them that he gives them "the power of the sky" and the "key to the earth." The scholars respond, saying, "What is not done collectively cannot be good." Furthermore, they reject his gift for the reason that it would destroy their centrally planned, candle-making industry. Thus, taken aback at their hostility to him and his idea, Equality 7-2521 jumps out a window, escaping, with his box, to the Uncharted Forest.


It has been a day of wonder, this, our first day in the forest.

We awoke when a ray of sunlight fell across our face. We wanted
to leap to our feet, as we have had to leap {+to our feet+} every
morning of our life, but we remembered suddenly that no bell had
rung and that there was no bell to ring anywhere. We lay on our
back, we threw our arms out, and we looked up at the sky. The
leaves had edges of silver that trembled and rippled like a river
of green and fire flowing high above us.

We did not wish to move. We thought suddenly that we could lie
thus as long as we wished, and we laughed aloud at the thought.
We could also rise, or run, or leap, or fall down again. We were
thinking that these were [-thoughts-] {+things+} without sense, but before we knew [-it-]
{+it,+} our body had risen in one leap. Our arms stretched out of
their own will, and our body whirled and whirled, till it raised
a wind to rustle through the leaves of the bushes. Then our hands
seized a branch and swung us high into a tree, with no aim save
the wonder of learning the strength of our body. The branch
snapped under us and we fell upon the moss that was soft as a
cushion. Then our body, losing all sense, rolled over and over on
the moss, dry leaves in our tunic, in our hair, in our face. And
we heard suddenly that we were laughing, laughing aloud, laughing
as if there were no power left in us save laughter.

Then we took our glass box, and we went [-on-] into the forest. We went
on, cutting through the branches, and it was as if we were
swimming through a sea of leaves, with the bushes as waves rising
and falling and rising around us, and flinging their green sprays
high to the treetops. The trees parted before us, calling us
forward. The forest seemed to welcome us. We went on, without
thought, without care, with nothing to [-feel-] {+fell+} save the song of our
body.

We stopped when we felt hunger. We saw birds in the tree
branches, and flying from under our footsteps. We picked a stone
and we sent [-is-] {+it+} as an arrow at a bird. It fell before us. We made
a fire, we cooked the bird, and we ate it, and no meal had ever
tasted better to us. And we thought suddenly that there was a
great satisfaction to be found in the food which we need and
obtain by our own hand. And we wished to {+be+} hungry again and
soon, that we might know again this strange new pride in eating.

Then we walked on. And we came to a stream which lay as a streak
of glass among the trees. It lay so still that we saw no water
but only a cut in the earth, in which the trees grew down,
upturned, and the sky [-lay-] at the bottom. We knelt by the stream and
we bent down to drink. And then we stopped. For, upon the blue of
the sky below us, we saw our own face for the first time.

We sat still and we held our breath. For our face and our body
were beautiful. Our face was not like the faces of our brothers,
for we felt [-not-] {+no+} pity when [-looking-] {+we looked+} upon it. Our body was not like
the bodies of our brothers, for our limbs were straight and thin
and hard and strong. And we thought that we could trust this
being who looked upon us from the stream, and that we had nothing
to fear
[-with-] {+from+} this being.

We walked on till the sun had set. When the shadows gathered
among the trees, we stopped in a hollow between the roots, where
we shall sleep tonight. And suddenly, for the first time this
day, we remembered that we are the Damned. We remembered it, and
we laughed.

We are writing this on the paper we had hidden in our tunic
together with the written pages we had brought for the World
Council of Scholars, but never given to them. We have much to
speak of to ourselves, and we hope we shall find the words for it
in the days to come. Now, we cannot speak, for we cannot
understand.

Equality 7-2521 greatly enjoys his first day in the forest. He awakens from a ray of sunlight rather than from a bell, and he resists the urge to jump to his feet as he would have as a Street Sweeper. Instead, he continues to lie down and relaxes as he views the sky and the leaves. He laughs as he realizes that he can either stay lying down or rise and do whatever he wishes. He thinks he is not making any sense, but his body rises and spins around until his hands swing him into a tree, as he celebrates his own strength. When the branch snaps, he falls back onto the moss, and he begins to roll in the moss and laugh. He takes his glass box and goes into the forest, feeling as though he is swimming through the leaves. The trees seems to part for him in welcoming, and he joyously continues until he becomes hungry. He throws a stone and kills a bird before making a fire and cooking the bird in a delicious meal, thinking that it is so filling because he is proud of his own accomplishment. Walking onward, he reaches a stream and, kneeling to drink, he sees his face for the first time in the reflection. He sees that his body is beautiful and trustworthy because his face is not pitiful like those of others. He continues walking until the sun sets, and he finds a hollow among some tree roots in which to sleep. Only now remembering that he is Damned, he laughs. He continues writing in his journal with paper he had hidden in his clothing, as he never gave the journal to the World Council of Scholars, but he does not understand enough of what he thinks to express it on paper.

After the resigned despair at the end of the previous chapter, Equality 7-2521 writes his next journal entry in an entirely different tone. His first day in the Uncharted Forest teaches him that his society's teachings about "the corruption to be found in solitude" are fabrications, and he barely thinks of his separation from the community as he explores the forest. As he journeys deeper into the wilderness, he is both physically and spiritually walking away from collectivism and the City. In Anthem, the only true restraint on man is other men, and the real corruption comes from the opposite of solitude. Although Equality 7-2521 does not yet have the vocabulary or the organization in his thoughts necessary to express what he has learned, his subconscious immediately recognizes and understands his new position. The dystopian setting of the novel has certain advantages for the message Rand tries to convey. By taking collectivist ideas to their logical, if extreme conclusion, Rand offered a rebuttal to contemporary philosophers who believed that collectivism could be positive if humans did not try to take advantage of the system. Furthermore, the author chooses to explore the negative aspects of a collectivist society first so that Equality 7-2521 can recognize the full spectrum of suffering caused by collectivism before he sees the other side of the coin. The day after he leaves the City is his first experience of freedom, and he feels it more intensely because he has been deprived of it for twenty-one years. The text has thus far hinted that the end of the Unmentionable Times occurred because humanity did not appreciate what it had gained in its knowledge and principles, but Equality 7-2521 will never make the same mistake. Despite a life in the City and no experience in the wilderness, Equality 7-2521 adopts the ways of nature with surprising facility. He has an innate connection with nature, as shown by his unconscious decision to run to the Uncharted Forest after his disastrous appearance at the World Council of Scholars. His entry into the forest purifies him, and his killing of the bird reflects his capability and his will to live, as well as his physical superiority. In Rand's narrative, he kills the bird on the first attempt, in spite of the unlikeliness of the scenario, because he is the representative man who embodies the best of human potential. To Equality 7-2521, the needs of the body are incidental to his ability to satisfy them, and after he eats the bird, he wishes to be hungry again so that he can again feel pride in his accomplishments. His revived interest in his body recurs throughout the day. As he sees the stream of water and observes his reflection for the first time, he reverses the Greek myth of Narcissus. Whereas Narcissus saw himself and became so enamored of his image that he wasted away by the river, Equality 7-2521 sees vitality in his appearance. Rand does not describe him in detail, giving him a universal, representative quality, but he sees a beautiful, proud body just as he had previously expected. The characteristics he admires are the same that he sees in the Transgressor at the stake and the Golden One, and they in turn have recognized him for the integrity of his appearance, while the Councils also see his body and understands that they are afraid. By entering the Uncharted Forest, Equality 7-2521 continues his transformation into the prototypical man. Unlike Adam of Genesis, however, he does not fall from the Garden of Eden by following Eve and consuming an apple from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Instead, Equality 7-2521 is able to enter the forest precisely because he has begun to learn the truth of what is good and what is evil. His time in the Uncharted Forest cements his will to learn, although he still does not quite know what answer he seeks, and he characterizes his experience through laughter. The Council of Vocations sent International 4-8818 to the Home of the Street Sweepers because he liked to laugh, but Equality 7-2521 has regained happiness because he can laugh and sing without consequence.

Equality 7-2521's first day in the forest is a "day of wonder" . When he wakes up, he realizes that he's free. He can do anything he wants. No bells to wake him up, no Street Sweeping to worry about. This makes him ridiculously happy. Equality 7-2521 takes his box and moves further into the forest, with nothing to feel except the "song of body" . When he gets hungry, Equality 7-2521 throws a rock at a bird and kills it. Then he roasts it. The experience is extremely satisfying. Walking further, Equality 7-2521 comes upon a stream. And he's astonished to discover that in the stream he can see his own face. Equality 7-2521 is pleased to see his face. And his body. He's kind of gorgeous. Later that day, Equality 7-2521 recognizes that he is "Damned." And laughs.

Equality 7-2521's first day in the forest is astonishing to him. His first impulse is to leap to his feet as he has every day of his life, but then he realizes that no bell has rung. The forest has no Councils to tell him what to do, no authorities that must be instantly obeyed. He experiences joy when he realizes that no activity is denied him any longer. For the first time in his 21 years, he is free. He walks with no destination, but not aimlessly; he enjoys the freedom of movement. He keeps walking and comes upon a stream. When he kneels to drink, he stops. For the first time, on the water before him, he sees the reflection of his face. He notices the taut lines of his body and the countenance that arouses no pity. In this regard, his face and body are unlike those of his brothers. Theirs are bowed and defeated, evoking in him a general sense of pity. But his features are straight and healthy, generating the feeling of pride. He realizes that he can trust this man he sees before him in the stream; he has nothing to fear.

For anyone, the first day of freedom is exhilarating. For Equality 7-2521, who has been subjugated in a slave society for 21 years, the right to pursue his own happiness is akin to the first bite of food to a starving man. For the first time, he can do as he pleases and is not subject to the commands of the Councils. He spends his first day of freedom discovering his body and its capabilities. He climbs a tree, hunts and cooks his own food, sees the image of his face for the first time. This pleasure is far more than that of someone enjoying the luxury of a hard-earned vacation; it is the exploration of a man released from a lifelong imprisonment, free now to discover himself. His time in the forest is a voyage. In one way, he journeys physically from one place to another -- from the city to the home he eventually finds in the mountains. But in a more profound way, he travels a long path of self-discovery, and he learns quickly. He has been limited to sweeping the streets, but now he engages in hundreds of different activities and learns his own diverse abilities. Ayn Rand believes in the heroic potential of humans. Although Equality 7-2521 has never hunted game or cooked a meal, he is a rational man and possesses the capacity to learn. Human beings have often reached difficult goals under arduous circumstances. They have circumnavigated the globe, traversed the polar ice caps, and climbed Mt. Everest. Individuals with less genius and will to live than Equality 7-2521 have survived emergencies and catastrophes. Equality 7-2521's willingness to face all dangers and to learn new skills reminds us of the human potential. Long ago, Aristotle defined humankind as the rational animal, and Equality 7-2521 -- inventor, independent thinker -- is an example of how much a rational man is able to accomplish by use of his own mind. That Equality 7-2521 sees his face for the first time is significant. He is not one of the faceless masses who blends into the multitudes of society. He is an exceptional man who stands forth from the crowd. He, by virtue of his independence, has created his own unique identity. Appropriately, he recognizes his differences from the other members of society. He thinks and acts differently; therefore he looks differently. Where others have allowed their souls to be conquered and stand with bowed spine, he has maintained his independence and walks erect. Upon seeing his reflection for the first time, he takes an important step on the path to self-discovery: he recognizes that his willingness to think -- his inner difference -- results in an outer difference as well. An individual's appearance is not an utterly distinct matter from his inner reality. Equality 7-2521's integrity -- his refusal to surrender his mind to society -- shows in his posture, his movements, and his eyes. The Golden One recognizes these outer manifestations of his spirit and approves -- she is drawn to him. The Councils also recognize them, but disapprove; they punish him. Now Equality 7-2521, too, sees the unmistakable differences between himself and others. His quiet shock at his own outer beauty drives home to him what he already knows: He is a man of great strength of character. He continues writing his thoughts, just as he did when alone in the tunnel. He has made progress, but there is still so much that he does not comprehend. He searches for the words to understand. This dedication to knowledge is what sets him apart.

Equality 7-2521 wakes with joy in his new forest home, realizing that for the first time in his life he didn't wake to a bell. Despite knowing that he's "damned," he finds himself laughing aloud, yet another sign of his break with society as he relishes his newfound freedom. He's more than willing to find his own food for the first time in his life, enjoying the taste of the food his own hands have prepared. When he sees his reflection in a nearby stream, he realizes that he doesn't look like his peers. Though he's come a long way, he admits, there's still much to learn.


We have not written for many days. We did not wish to speak. For
we needed no words to remember that which has happened to us.

It was on our second day in the forest that we heard steps behind
us. We hid in the bushes, and we waited. The steps came closer.
And then we saw the fold of a white tunic among the trees, and a
gleam of gold.

We leapt forward, we ran to them, and we stood looking upon the
Golden One.

They saw us, and their hands closed into fists, and the fists
pulled their arms down, as if they wished their arms to hold
them, while their body swayed. And they could not speak.

We dared not come too close to them. We asked, and our voice
trembled:

"How [-did you-] come {+you+} to be here, Golden One?"

{+But they whispered only:+}

"We have found you. . . ."

"How [-did you-] come {+you+} to be in the forest?" we asked.

They raised their head, and there was a great pride in their
voice; they answered:

"We have followed you."

Then we could not speak, and they said:

"We heard that you had gone to the Uncharted Forest, for the
whole City is speaking of it. So on the night of the day when we
heard it, we ran away from the Home of the Peasants. We found the
marks of your feet across the plain where no men walk. So we
followed them, and we went into the forest, and we followed
the path where the branches were broken by your body."

Their white tunic was torn, and the branches had cut the skin of
their arms, but they spoke as if they had never taken notice of
it, nor of weariness, nor of fear.

"We have followed you," they said, "and we shall follow you
wherever you go. If danger threatens you, we shall face it also.
If it be death, we shall die with you. You are damned, and we
wish to share your damnation."

They looked upon us, and their voice was low, but there was
bitterness and triumph in their [-voice.-] {+voice:+}

"Your eyes are as a flame, but our brothers have neither hope nor
fire. Your mouth is cut of granite, but our brothers are soft and
humble. Your head is high, but our brothers cringe. You walk, but
our brothers crawl. We wish to be damned with you, rather than [-pleased-] {+be
blessed+} with all our brothers. Do as you please with us, but do
not send us away from you."

Then they knelt, and bowed their golden head before us.

We had never thought of that which we did. We bent to raise the
Golden One to their feet, but when we touched them, it was as if
madness had stricken us. We seized their body and we pressed our
lips to theirs. The Golden One breathed once, and their breath
was a moan, and then their arms closed around us.

We stood together for a long time. And we were frightened that we
had lived for twenty-one years and had never known what joy is
possible to men.

Then we said:

"Our dearest one. Fear nothing of the forest. There is no danger
in solitude. We have no need of our brothers. Let us forget their
good and our evil, let us forget all things save that we are
together and that there is joy [-as a bond-] between us. Give us your hand.
Look ahead. It is our own world, Golden One, a strange, unknown
world, but our own."

Then we walked on into the forest, their hand in ours.

And that night we knew that to hold the body of [-women-] {+a woman+} in our
arms is neither ugly nor shameful, but the one ecstasy granted to
the race of men.

We have walked for many days. The forest has no end, and we seek
no end. But each day added to the chain of days between us and
the City is like an added blessing.

We have made a bow and many arrows. We can kill more birds than
we need for our food; we find water and fruit in the forest. At
night, we choose a clearing, and we build a ring of fires around
it. We sleep in the midst of that ring, and the beasts dare not attack us.
We can see their eyes, green and yellow as coals, watching us
from the tree branches beyond. The fires [-smoulder-] {+smolder+} as a crown
of jewels around us, and smoke stands still in the air, in
columns made blue by the moonlight. We sleep together in the
midst of the ring, the arms of the Golden One around us, their
head upon our breast.

Some day, we shall stop and build a house, when we shall have
gone far enough. But we do not have to hasten. The days before us
are without end, like the forest.

We cannot understand this new life which we have found, yet it
seems so clear and so simple. When questions come to puzzle us,
we walk faster, then turn and forget all things as we watch the
Golden One following. The shadows of leaves fall upon their arms,
as they spread the branches apart, but their shoulders are in the
sun. The skin of their arms is like a blue [-mist.-] {+mist,+} but their
shoulders are white and glowing, as if the light fell not from
above, but rose from under their skin. We watch the leaf which
has fallen upon their shoulder, and it lies at the curve of their
neck, and a drop of dew glistens upon it like a jewel. They
approach us, and they stop, laughing, knowing what we think, and
they wait obediently, without questions, till it pleases us to
turn and go on.

We go on and we bless the earth under our feet. But questions
come to us again, as we walk in silence. If that which we have
found is the corruption of solitude, then what can men wish for
save corruption? If this is the great evil of being alone, then
what is good and what is evil?

Everything which comes from the many is good. Everything which
comes from one is evil.
[-This have-] {+Thus+} we {+have+} been taught with our first
breath. We have broken the law, but we have never doubted it. Yet
now, as we walk [-through-] the forest, we are learning to doubt.

There is no life for men, save in useful toil for the good of [-all-]
their brothers. But we lived not, when we toiled for our
brothers, we were only weary. There is no joy for men, save the
joy shared with all their brothers. But the only things which
taught us joy were the power [-we-] created in our wires, and the Golden
One. And both these joys belong to us alone, they come from us
alone, they bear no relation to [-all-] our brothers, and they do not
concern our brothers in any way. Thus do we wonder.

There is some error, one frightful error, in the thinking of men.
What is that error? We do not know, but the knowledge struggles
within us, struggles to be born.

Today, the Golden One stopped suddenly and said:

"We love you."

But {+then+} they frowned and shook their head and looked at us
helplessly.

"No," they whispered, "that is not what we wished to say."

They were silent, then they spoke slowly, and their words were
halting, like the words of a child learning to speak for the
first time:

"We are one . . . alone . . . and only . . . and we love you who
are one . . . alone . . . and only."

We looked into each other's eyes and we knew that the breath of a
miracle had touched us, and fled, and left us groping vainly.

And we felt torn, torn for some word we could not find.

Equality 7-2521 does not write in his journal for several days because he does not need words to record these events. On his second day in the forest, he hears footsteps behind him, so he hides in the bushes and waits. Finally, he sees a white tunic and a hint of gold, and he runs out to find the Golden One. Her hands close into fists, and her arms straighten as her body sways. At first, she does not speak, and he does not dare approach her. In a shaky voice, he asks her why she came, and she says in a whisper that she has found him. He asks again, and she raises her head and proudly telling him that she followed him. She tells him that everyone in the City had been speaking of how he had entered the Uncharted Forest, so she ran away in the night and followed his trail into the forest. Her tunic and arms are torn by the branches, but she does not seem to care, and she tells him that she will follow him, even if it means danger, death, and damnation. In a low but bitterly triumphant voice, she compares his eyes to fire and his proud mouth to granite and says that the other men lack hope and fire and that they are too soft and modest. Saying that she would rather be damned in his company than be blessed and remain with the others, she kneels before him. Equality 7-2521 kneels, but instead of helping the Golden One to her feet, they kiss and embrace each other for a long time. He is startled because he has lived for twenty-one years without knowing joy. He tells her not to fear the forest or solitude and that she should forget good and evil. They decide to forget everything but their bond and their new world, and they hold hands as they continue into the forest. They begin making love at night, and Equality 7-2521 realizes that sex is not a matter of shame but rather one of ecstasy. They walk away from the City each day, using a handmade bow and arrows to kill birds for food while gathering water and fruit in the forest. At night, they sleep in a ring of fire to protect themselves from animals. He hopes to build a house one day but is content to continue walking. He does not understand his new, simple life, but forgets his questions as he watches the Golden One and her beauty as she walks through the forest. However, as they travel in silence, he continues to wonder about the truth of whether solitude is truly evil. He notices that although he has been taught to find joy only in working for others, he was only tired when he did so and only now finds joy as he lives for himself, and he wonders about where their thinking about morality went wrong. One day, the Golden One tells him, "We love you," but frowns because something in the statement is not right. She then says slowly, "We are one...alone...and only...and we love you who are one...alone...and only," but they both know that they have not quite grasped something significant. They are missing an unknown word.

While the previous chapter concludes with Equality 7-2521 feeling that he cannot speak because he does not have the necessary understanding, he opens the next journal entry saying that he does not write because he feels recent events so intuitively that he has not needed to explain. On the one hand, he still does not know how to express his search for the Unspeakable Word. He has been increasingly articulate about his rejection of the ideals of his society, noting that he now doubts the collectivist teachings that glorify the many and castigate the individual. He knows that he has only been happy when working for himself and not for his brothers, but he cannot yet explain the error in their philosophy. On the other hand, his experience of love with the Golden One has been so logical and obvious that it has clarified the puzzle. In his desire for truth and knowledge, Equality 7-2521 uses a rational approach much as he did with electricity, albeit with a slightly different dependent variable. When he constructed his glass box, he knew he had come closer to success when the box worked, but his search for the Unspeakable Word and for the true nature of morality is akin to the search for happiness. When he achieves happiness, as in his first day in the forest, his creation of the glass box, and his reunion with the Golden One, then he gathers another clue to the concept for which he searches. He and the Golden One continue to walk away from the City through the Uncharted Forest, and he mentions that he plans to build a house one day, although he is not in a hurry. His movement from the City to his own house parallels his search for the Word. As Equality 7-2521 discovers love with the aid of the Golden One, he continues to equate love to the sharing of his convictions with someone of the same essence. Basing his conclusions on his trips to the Palace of Mating, he equated sex with shame, but now that it is a personal choice rather than a social fulfillment, he is no longer humiliated by the act. Love makes him happy because such a significant and now guiltless form of having a preference naturally concludes in happiness. He loves himself, and the Golden One is like himself, so their love is an extension of his self-love. However, because they do not yet have the Unspeakable Word, the Golden One is unable to tell him "I love you" with the proper implications, and they consequently feel denied. The Golden One acts both as Equality 7-2521's lover and disciple. She continues as his foil, echoing his admirable attributes and discomfort with the teachings of their society, but she has not yet traveled as far as Equality 7-2521 has down the road away from collectivism. She feels drawn to him and chooses to break from the Home of the Peasants and follow him, but she still believes that she is damned, as evidenced by her words and her bitter, triumphant voice. She is at an earlier stage of self development, and he teaches her, informing her that solitude does not damn as the authorities have claimed. To some extent, Rand portrays the Golden One as Equality 7-2521's disciple because she is not the main character and does not have her remaining belief in collectivism destroyed as thoroughly as his has been, but the feminist reading of her character finds her to be lacking. Rand describes her as the ultimate female, but Equality 7-2521 worships her for her appearance and her obedience only to a worthy man rather than for anything that she has actually accomplished. He gleans all her positive qualities from her body, and even his name for her, the Golden One, reflects her hair and not her real self, whereas "the Unconquered," her name for him, describes the essence of his spirit. He never follows her, and her position as the symbolic mother of humanity extends solely from his position as the symbolic father. Nevertheless, she has the aura of being his equal.

Equality 7-2521 says that he has not written for many days. We enter into another flashback. On his second day in the forest, Equality 7-2521 hears footsteps behind him and discovers the Golden One! Liberty 5-3000 has followed him into the forest. Equality 7-2521 is overjoyed, and wants to know how she found him. Liberty 5-3000 responds that she heard about Equality 7-2521's flight into the forest. And the night she heard it, she ran into the forest herself. She was able to follow the tracks his feet had made, and the trail of broken twigs he'd left as he went through the forest. Liberty 5-3000 says she will follow Equality 7-2521 wherever he goes and kneels before him in reverent admiration. Equality 7-2521 reaches down to raise her up, but is promptly seized with sexual desire. He kisses her passionately on the lips. After the kiss, they embrace and just stand there for a while. Equality 7-2521 says that the forest belongs to them, and they walk further in together, holding hands. That night, Equality 7-2521 and Liberty 5-3000 discover "the one ecstasy granted to the race of men" . By the time he's writing, Equality 7-2521 tells us, he and Liberty 5-3000 have been in the forest for many days. They've grown to like the lifestyle. They've even made a bow and arrow to go hunting. Equality 7-2521 is also discovering that everything he learned in the City was wrong. Toil and the service of others are not the only joy in life. The real joys he's had in his life were his building of the light, and Liberty 5-3000. And those belong to him alone. The day that Equality 7-2521 is writing, Liberty 5-3000 stopped walking at one point to say "We love you." But she was frustrated she wanted to say something else. Something that would express that "we are one...alone...and only...and we love you who are one...alone...and only" . Equality 7-2521 thinks that both of them are missing some crucial word. But what is it...?

On his second day in the forest, Equality 7-2521 hears steps behind him. When the steps come closer, he recognizes the form of the Golden One. She is too overcome initially to speak, but he asks how she came to be in the forest. She says that she followed him and tells him that the whole city speaks of his escape. On the night of the day she heard of his escape, she fled from the Home of the Peasants, entered the forest, and followed the trail he had left. Her tunic is torn and her skin is cut, but she takes no notice of either. She is not afraid. She tells him that she will go where he goes, that she will face the dangers he faces and share the fate that befalls him. If he dies, then she will die with him. She says he may do as he pleases with her, but he must not send her away. She kneels before him. Equality 7-2521 does not understand what happens next. He bends to raise her to her feet, but when his skin touches hers it is "as if madness had stricken us." Her takes her in his arms, presses his lips to hers and she wraps her arms around him. They stand together for a long time, and he is frightened that he has lived for 21 years without knowing the joy that is possible to men. That night they make love, and he discovers that to hold a woman in his arms is "the one ecstasy granted to the race of men." But even in his newfound happiness he asks disturbing questions. If this solitude of theirs is evil, he wonders, then what kind of happiness is possible to human beings? If this is wrong, as they have been taught all their lives, then what is right? Now for the first time, he begins to doubt the truth of this teaching. One day the Golden One says to him, "We love you. " But she frowns and shakes her head, realizing that those words -- that word, "we" -- do not capture the truth of her feelings. He looks into her eyes, knowing that for one instant they had been on the verge of a discovery. But then the instant flees. He wonders, what is the word that they lack?

Ayn Rand continues her theme of independent thinking and personal values in another form. The Golden One, like Equality 7-2521, has been taught that life's meaning lies exclusively in selfless toil for her brothers and sisters. At a conscious level, she accepts the only beliefs she has ever heard. But implicitly, she does not agree. She is drawn to Equality 7-2521 because of his unconquered soul. He -- and the independence he represents -- is what she wants out of life, and all the teachings of the collectivists are powerless to change her mind. Though the result is damnation and execution if she is caught, she will not be denied. She refuses to surrender her love. Against all the beliefs of her society, she flees the city and pursues Equality 7-2521 through the Uncharted Forest. The Golden One understands at some wordless level that human beings must conduct life in accordance with their own judgment, and that life's meaning lies in the attainment of personal values. She loves Equality 7-2521 and everything he stands for, regardless of what her brothers and sisters believe. If she is to be happy, then she must be true in action to her convictions. In the heroine's character, as well as the hero's, the author shows that the meaning of life lies in values that are personal, not social, in things and goals that are uniquely and distinctively one's own. Love is one such value. Because human beings are denied individuality in this society, they know no love. The state understands that love is preference, the valuing of one individual over all others. To stamp out individuality, the collectivist authorities must forbid love, which is why procreation is controlled by the state. In deciding who sleeps with whom and when, the authorities ensure that men and women are prohibited from making choices based on their own values. Equality 7-2521 and the Golden One discover love as a consequence of their commitment to their selves. They think for themselves, judge for themselves, and choose for themselves. The depth of love they hold for each other is a direct result of their recognition that human beings are unique individuals, not interchangeable parts of a whole. The romantic love experienced by Equality 7-2521 and the Golden One is not shared with the rest of humankind. Love is a function of the self. Everything Equality 7-2521 is -- his genius, his inventiveness, his relentless pursuit of truth -- comes from his independence. This essence of him -- of his self, of his soul -- is what draws the proud, unconquered spirit of this beautiful young woman. She stands out from her sisters regarding the exact virtues that cause Equality 7-2521 to stand out from his brothers. They choose each other, and they choose in accordance with their own values, not in compliance with society's laws or customs. Their love is personal, a function of the deepest convictions of their individual souls. This is the nature of romantic love, according to Rand. Equality 7-2521's quest for knowledge is also personal. Society disapproves of the questions he asks regarding both science and philosophy. His passion for truth drives him. His is the mind of a great thinker, determined to understand, fearless regarding the consequences. He seeks to discover the Unspeakable Word though it means certain death if he is caught. Rand shows that great scientists and thinkers such as Equality 7-2521 are driven by their own vision, their own passion for knowledge, despite the antipathy of society. They are on a relentless quest generated by a love of wisdom they possess deep in their souls. His attempt to identify the Unspeakable Word -- the forbidden thought that would explain so much -- comes close to fruition. The Golden One, struggling with the same idea, expresses herself haltingly: "We are one . . . alone . . . and only . . ." They look at each other then, knowing that "the breath of a miracle had touched" them. But then the moment was gone, leaving them with the aching awareness that some vital component of knowledge was still denied them.

In this scene, the Golden One, after tracking his footprints, finds Equality 7-2521 in his forest hovel. The two are overjoyed at each other's company, the Golden One explaining that she wants to share his damnation. Next, the two individuals make love in a powerful, beautifully imaged author narrative, as Rand demonstrates that sex is not ugly, as the Palace of Mating makes it out to be, but that it is indeed the pinnacle of the human experience. It's "the one ecstasy granted to the race of men," Equality 7-2521 boldly asserts. In this manner, both Equality 7-2521 and his lover continue to reject society's ideals and replace them with their own, though they still yearn for the Unspeakable Word.