1. There
was no pain in their eyes and no knowledge of the agony of their
body. There was only joy in them, and pride, a pride holier than
it is fit for human pride to be.
While he watches the Transgressor of
the Unspeakable Word burn at the stake in Chapter II, Equality 7-2521 makes
this observation about the Transgressor’s stoicism. The word the
Transgressor has spoken is “I,” a concept forbidden in the society
because everyone must work for the good of his or her brothers and
any thought that occurs in private is necessarily evil. The Transgressor
does not believe in collectivism, and he finds Equality 7-2521 in
the crowd and locks eyes with him while he dies, a moment that Equality 7-2521 concludes
marks him and destines him to start a new race of men who are individuals.
It is the same kind of stoicism that Equality 7-2521 himself
demonstrates when he is incarcerated and beaten at the Palace of
Corrective Detention for refusing to tell the council about his
tunnel when he returns late to the Home of the Street Sweepers.
Equality 7-2521’s observation about
the peaceful and even euphoric nature of the Transgressor of the
Unspoken Word’s death relates closely to Rand’s belief that humans
do not feel bodily pain when they suffer for the sake of an ideal.
Rand’s heroes do not feel fear or remorse about their social sins
when they are committed in the name of a higher good, namely, the
individual. Indeed, for Rand, any action grounded in the individual’s
sense of self is admirable. The Transgressor is the only character
in Anthem, other than Equality 7-2521 and
the Golden One, who demonstrates a sense of self-worth and a willingness
to suffer for his autonomy and who thus rises above the constraints
of his society.
