Equality 7-2521 Quotes

In Ayn Rand's Dystopian/Philosophical novel “Anthem” we are given the chance to witness Equality 7-2521 flourish and bloom as a character in the first chapter alone. Despite living in a society where his rights as a human being are overly oppressed, Equality began to bring forth his uncoerced mind by the end of chapter 1 through his desire to know more about himself and the world around him. At the beginning of the story Ayn Rand portrays Equality 7-2521 as a defiant yet compliant person, Accordingly Equality states that “... there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone …The laws say that men may not write unless the Council of Vocations bid them so. May we be forgiven!”(Rand 3). Through the use of this quote Rand establishes

On the other hand, by the end of chapter one Equality 7-2521 finds an underground tunnel back from the Unmentionable Times which illustrates major change in his ideals and the start of his path of insubordination “Then," we said, "keep silent. This place is ours. This place belongs to us, Equality 7-2521, and to no other men on earth. And if ever we surrender it, we shall surrender our life with it also." (Rand 12). As a result this quote exemplifies the fact that Equality 7-2521 is burgeoning as a person, and starting to show his humanity and how he would have come about if not coerced by this despotic society. This aforementioned desire to defend and protect the place even at the cost of his own life is a major transmutation from the beginning of the story where he was willing to ask for forgiveness contrasted to now where he would rather die. Moreover, Equality 7-2521 developed even further after his discovery of the tunnel. Soon afterward Equality’s discovery of the tunnel, he magnified his already knowledgeable mind additionally and committed more and more transgressions as time progressed “We are defying the will of our councils. We alone, of the thousands who walk this earth, we alone in this hour are doing a work which has no purpose save that we wish to do