Equality’s assessment of his sin is correct because at the end of Anthem, Equality now sees his so called curse as a gift and plans to show the society how it is a great thing to be different. “We were born with a curse.”(18) Equality is gifted with knowledge and curiosity but through his life, people have taught him that he had a curse because he wasn’t
Equality slowly embraces freedom as he discovers his own ego. The author demonstrates humanity’s need for ego through Equality’s futile attempts to be alone, to separate himself from his peers, to escape his restrictive society, and his desperate endeavor to discover a word for his ego. Equality reluctantly pursues his ego, as he cannot deny his inherent solitary nature. Equality finally tastes his first experience of freedom when he discovers a tunnel hidden underground with a friend. As Ayn Rand describes, “It was old and rusted by many rains.
In chapter five, Equality says, “We must bring it into the sight of all men. We need all our time, we need the work rooms of the Home of the Scholars, we want the help of our brother Scholars and their wisdom joined to ours.“ (Rand, 60). Equality convinces himself that he wants to help his brothers, but this isn’t actually what he wants. Later, when finally Equality arrives there, he presents to them his invention, and they are not only shocked, but they are frightened of it. The council talks to one another about how he should be punished and that they should destroy it, so Equality grabs his box and runs to the Uncharted Forest.
He knows that the acceptance of submission broke the structure of man and that his society is wrong to let the rights of man collapse under such a worship. Therefore, Equality sacrifices himself for the power of individuality. He takes the struggles of the martyr and rebels against the evil of the word “we”. Equality is correct to morally judge his society by pronouncing his denouncement of them in moral terms for they took away man’s freedom, shamed their people for their differences, and censored man’s power of
Equality lives out the beginning of his life in the Home of Infants. Already the idea that he was to be the same as the rest of his brothers is being pushed upon him. One of Equality’s earliest memories is that “the sleeping halls there were white and clean and bare of all things save one hundred beds” (20). Within the Home of Infants there is no opportunity to express any sort of individuality. When Equality presents his lightbox to the World Council of Scholars, they show that they are extremely against individual creativity.
Equality said “The learning was too easy… The teachers frowned when they looked upon us” (Rand 21). This quote explains that Equality is without a doubt smart, and this is why his teachers disliked him. He is disliked by his teachers because everyone in the society is supposed to have the same knowledge and keep at the same pace. Equality’s intelligence is first step to rediscovering the lightbulb, but there is another step. Equality’s individuality is the second step to rediscovering the lightbulb.
Equality 7-2521’s epiphany justifies his assessment of expressing his thoughts because he is an individual, and individuals are entitled to their own opinion. Thus, Equality 7-2521 is correct to think that communicating his thoughts to himself is not a sin because he is an individual who can have his own assessment of a certain
Equality has a new home to which he now lives free of totalitarian rules. Vocations were chosen by the leaders, and Equality and his brothers had no say in what job they were to pursue and were forced to be happy about it. “He declared to all his brothers that a man has rights which neither god nor king nor other men can take away from him, no matter what their number, for his is the right of man, and there is no right on earth above this right.” (Ch. 12, paragraph 5 right side) “We shall never leave this house,” we said, “nor let it be taken from us. This is our home and the end of our journey.
Equality has a different potential from the rest of the people, as one, and this concerns the Council. When worked in a group, man is more limited to his actions since everybody has to agree, but alone, a man has no limits. Equality grew up to be independent, rather than dependent (what the Council wants) and he is considered evil. To try and level his thoughts, they make him a street sweeper so that he will underestimate himself and not try to do something
In Equality’s world, to be in egoist was bad, in the speech The Soul of an Individualist it states that “Men have been taught that the ego is the synonym of evil, and selflessness the ideal of virtue.”, since men such as Equality were taught of that, then he would have been taught to believe not to be an egoist. Equality later on in the story developed a crush on Liberty 5-3000, also known as the Golden One, in the speech, it states “To think, to feel, to judge, to act are functions of the ego”, in Equality’s world, showing emotion is being an egoist, but Equality and Liberty simply showed the forbidden