Anthem Chapters 2 - 5
Love between individuals is forbidden in the collectivist society where Equality 7-2521 lives. Equality 7-2521 meets a woman named Liberty 5-3000, a soil worker in the Home of the Peasants, who he has been observing from a distance for a little while. One day, the girl takes notice of the writer and looks at him for a brief moment. She walks away but greets him with a smile; the following day. From then on, the two pass gestures to one another, as it is a transgression to speak with people who work in different trades. He gives her a name in his thoughts, ‘The Golden One, ’ Men are only allowed to think of women at the time of mating, which comes for a night in the spring when the men are twenty, and the women are eighteen years old respectively. The Council of Eugenics assigns one woman to every man in the City Palace of matings. Babies are born every winter, but the kids hardly ever get to know their parents. The writer has been sent to the palace of mating twice and he finds the whole process to be extremely ugly and shameful. The day comes when the writer breaks one more law as he finally speaks to the Golden One from across a hedge. The writer tells her that she is beautiful and confesses his feelings for her. Liberty 5-3000 tells him that she is seventeen, and he can’t help but imagine her going to the Palace of Mating. He feels protective of her and wildly begins to imagine any means for preventing her from going to that ugly place. The Golden One departs when her sisters approach the road, and the writer is reprimanded for singing aloud happily while returning home, for even happiness is a transgression.
Equality 7-2521 takes notice of his comrades living in fear. His fellow Fraternity 2-5503 cries uncontrollably every day, and Solidarity 9-6347 screams in his sleep. The writer finds solace in his tunnel as it smells of no men. Before returning to bed, Equality looks towards the Uncharted Forest and remembers the tales associated with it. Men who enter the forest do not return. Either they die of hunger, or the wild beasts kill them. He has also heard some idle gossip that the forest has grown over the ruins of the Unmentionable times. The writer wonders about the secrets and legends of great wars and massive fires that destroyed everything in their path. In the history of his people, the Great Fire is marked as the dawn of the great rebirth. Equality 7-2521 reflects on an Unspeakable Word that has long been lost, and to utter the word is to commit the only crime punishable by death. He was ten years old when he saw a man burned alive for speaking the unspeakable word. He remembers the transgressor making eye contact with him as he burned to death. The sight haunted him and stayed with him because he thought he had seen the man as a saint, who had chosen him.
The writer rejects the collectivist society and embraces his identity and a sense of purpose. Equality 7-2521 claims to have discovered a secret all by himself about the power of nature. He calls the Council of Scholars ‘blind’ because of the statement they made that things known to us exist and strange and unknown things do not exist. However, the writer claims that the secrets of this earth are for those who seek them. He found one such secret of the earth two years ago when he was cutting open the body of a dead frog and noticed its leg jerking on its own. The writer was astonished as something beyond human knowledge made it move even after death. After repeatedly testing, he found that the copper wire attached to the frog and the metal knife supplied power to its body. The discovery haunted Equality 7-2521, and he kept experimenting. Each step came up with an unfolded miracle. He also found that the needle stolen from the Home of the Scholars moved, and his new power defies every law. Men of his society are unaware that the metal draws power from the sky and causes lightning.
Equality 7-2521 gathers all that he can in his tunnel. He finds globes of glass with threads of impossibly thin metal. He thinks that the people of the Unmentionable Times were aware of all these discoveries. His discoveries motivate him to learn and know more, as he has already surpassed the scholars' limited and confined knowledge.
Many days have passed since the writer met the Golden One. They stare at each other while standing at the hedge, and the writer reveals that he has a secret name for her in his mind, and he names her ‘The Golden One.’ Liberty 5-3000 is visibly moved by his name for her and confides that she too has a secret name for him, ‘The Unconquered.’ Although such thoughts are forbidden, Equality 7-2521 asks her to consider them. Liberty 5-3000 is taken aback when the writer calls her ‘our dearest one’ as no man has ever addressed any woman with such words. Equality 7-2521 drinks water through her hands and doesn’t realize when the water finishes and his lips remain pressed against her palms. He is taken aback, wondering what had happened to him, while the Golden One walks away. The writer admires himself for what he has discovered. He has finished building a strange glass box with copper wires that is capable of emitting light. He is speechless when he realizes that he has created a light bulb through metal that turns red when current is passed through it. He blows out the candle, and his fingers glow red when he places his hands around the light. The thought of spreading light throughout every city comes to him. He realizes that he can help men control the power of the skies.
Equality 5-3000 decides that he will reveal his discovery to the Council so that it may be used for the benefit of humanity. He is not meant to be a street sweeper; instead, he should have access to the workrooms of the Home of Scholars. His knowledge and the wisdom of the Home of the Scholars will yield great results. The World Council of Scholars meeting is held once every year in different cities around the globe. He plans to attend the conference and present his glass box of light as a gift. He expects them to understand and forgive him as his skill is superior to the transgression. They will explain it to the Council of Vocations, and he will be transferred to the Home of Scholars for his excellent achievement. Equality 7-2521 must wait and guard the tunnel against the Scholars as they will need help understanding the relevance of his experiment. The writer is careful of his body as he is proud of the hands that made the discovery. He also wishes to know how he looks as there are no mirrors in society, and being concerned with one’s physical appearance is said to be sinful.
Analysis
Physical appearance is indicated to be of great importance in Anthem. The author uses physical appearance to serve as a representation of the inner nature of the characters. All the heroes or positive characters of the novel are described to have hard, and perfect bodies. On the other hand, the villains, like the council and other citizens, are described to be soft, pale, and death-like gaunt. This section of the novella introduces us to the Golden One, who serves as the mirror for the perfection of Equality 7-2521. He is immediately overcome by the sight of her beauty and constantly thinks of her as an objective to be accomplished. Rand’s description of female characters has been criticized for being dehumanizing and subjugated to the will of male characters. It is also important to note, that Rand separates feelings of love and lust quite clearly. Equality’s description of the Palace of Mating is presented as an evil and dishonorable practice. Furthermore, Equality’s feelings of love for the Golden One have nothing to do with his sexual attraction towards her since the very thought of being with her at the palace of mating fills him with horror. The author believes will to be the most important part of sex, and without the will of the participants it couldn’t truly be sex.
