The book Anthem by Amy Rand is the first person story of Equality 7-2521, a man raised in a community where all men are equal and everyone is brother to their fellow man. But Equality 7-2521 was not the typical person, for he was very intelligent, and always felt that there was more to life to be discovered. He wanted to be a scholar so he could learn about his world, but instead he was assigned by the community to be a street sweeper. Upon finding an underground tunnel, Equality 7-2521 kept it to himself as a secret hideout, where he conducted many experiments to learn about the world. One invention in particular was a sort of electric device that he made, and there had never been electricity in his lifetime until then.
After much deliberation, Equality 7-2521 decided to try to present his invention to the council. He thought they would be awed by it, but instead they were angered, and wanted to put Equality 7-2521 in jail for learning more than the scholars. Equality 7-2521 then made a daring escape and ran away from the council, away from the community, as far as he …show more content…
One particular day, The Golden One suddenly stopped and told Equality 7-2521, "We are one... alone... and only... and we love you who are one... alone... and only," (87). In saying this, The Golden One again stands for Equality 7-2521's ideals, because she is trying to express her individual love for him, not using the word "we." She was never taught the word "I," therefore does not know how to say "I love you." She instead refers to herself as "alone and only" to show that she means only she loves him. This represents independence, because that Golden One is trying to break away from referring to herself as "we," which would imply her whole community. Now she has shown that she has separated herself from the community and no longer thinks of herself as "we," but as "alone, and