Who Is Equality 7-2521 In Ayn Rand's Anthem

“IT IS A SIN TO WRITE THIS”(17), as Equality 7-2521 said when he was in the dark damp cave of blackness where he went to be alone so he could concentrate on his ideas that he wasn’t allowed to have. Anthem, by Ayn Rand, portrays a primitive way of life that describes a depressing future only consisting of rule and the unknown. Throughout the book there is one main thought made by all the characters and they all wonder what had happened before “The Great Rebirth” and why the Council wanted to hide it from them. It is like all their minds were wiped from the face of the earth and the clock of all time had started from zero. They had forgotten science and everything invented by it. This implies that the nature of science, technology, and the progress of it had been wiped away by the giant hand of government. Anthem establishes this view by using the idea of a primitive world in the

He is the one, put in the book to break all the rules and bring the life of knowledge and ideas back to where they belong. At first Equality felt awful for many of the things he had done for example; “each night […] we, Equality 7-2521, steal out and run through the darkness to our place.”(35), but sooner or later it didn’t matter much to Equality anymore. When Equality worked in his place (a dark hole in the ground from the unmentionable times) he worked on a box that made electricity when he finished it he brought it to the home of the scholars, who rejected it. This was the last straw for Equality and that’s when he lost it; “You fools! You fools! You thrice damned fools!”(75). Equality said this with no regret and no fear of sin because he knew his conscience was clear and that he would not live in a place that didn’t except new ideas or allow one to have ideas. He hit the road after that and never went