Equality In Ayn Rand's Anthem

“It is a sin to write this” (1), begins Equality 7-2521 in the novel Anthem, as he refers to the act of simply writing to the reader of the book. Equality is told all his life that there is no one person, only the group, he was never introduced the word “I’ for he knows only of “we”. With that being said, he was also told that it is against the law to be thought of as one single person thinking his or her own thoughts, that it is against the law to have your own ideas or opinions because thinking as one does not benefit the entire society. As Anthems story progresses, it is seen that Equality comes to realize that the laws put in place were over the top controlling, this eventually lead to his changing assessment of writing being a sin, for …show more content…
Towards the mid-beginning of the story, Equality first shows signs of this when figuring out an almost loophole to his law breaking, “‘The Council does not know of this hole, so it cannot be forbidden’” (8), says Equality when referring to his sneaking away to a, believed to be, banned place. This is such a wise installment of his new opinion, he is slowly realising that he should not be controlled by the Council because he deserves to be himself, apart from the group. The response to Equality’s statement then comes from International 4-8818, “‘Since the Council does not know of this hole, there can be no law permitting to enter it. And everything which is not permitted by law is forbidden’”(8), to which Equality 7-2521 replied, “‘We shall go, none the less’” (8). This shows that even after someone has pointed out to Equality that what he is doing is wrong, he still doesn't care because his yearn for knowledge is much greater than his fear of oppression. Equality’ reassessment is made even more clear later in the story when he says, “‘We have given you a name in our thoughts, Liberty 5-3000’ ‘What is our name?’ they asked. ‘The Golden One’ ‘Nor do we call you Equality 7-2521 when we think of you’" (19), this shows that Equality is becoming even more daring throughout the story by him speaking to a women. She, …show more content…
The locks are old on the doors and there are no guards about. There is no reason to have guards, for men have never defied the Councils so far as to escape from whatever place they were ordered to be… We stole through the dark passages, and through the dark streets, and down into our tunnel” (23-24). With that Equality shares one of the biggest pieces of proof of his changed opinion, a brave escape of the Council. This is a brilliant thing to do considering what his new goal is, to have more freedom, similar to the way today's society works where everybody gets to choose their own