Summary: Chapter III
While dissecting a frog hanging on a copper wire, Equality 7-2521 discovers
the power of electricity, which he explores in his tunnel underground.
In his journal, he recounts his experiments: he makes a magnet move
using electricity and creates a lighting rod outside the tunnel.
He explores his tunnel to look for technology, and he discovers
unidentified boxes with wires and switches and lightbulbs, although
he does not yet know how to use them. He worries that he is the
only person in the world with this knowledge because he has been
taught that the Council of Scholars knows everything and that all
men share all collective knowledge. Along these lines of thinking, anything
known by only one person cannot be true by virtue of the fact that
not everyone knows it.
At first Equality 7-2521 says that
he has discovered a new power that was previously unknown to any
man. This power frightens him even though he believes it is a very
important and potent force. Later, Equality 7-2521 concludes
that electricity is the power of the sky, and that men in the Unmentionable
Times had harnessed the power of the sky. He becomes an avid scientist,
exploring the power of electricity, and in his quest he realizes
how much he does not know and how much of his previous learning
had been mistaken. Equality 7-2521 announces
in his journal that he knows more than the Council of Scholars,
something which his society believes is impossible.
Summary: Chapter IV
Many days after his first conversation with the Golden
One, Equality 7-2521 speaks to her again
by the hedges along the road he sweeps. She is waiting for him there
when he arrives one afternoon, and he sees that she will obey him,
despite her scorn for the rest of the world. He tells her that he
has renamed her “the Golden One,” and she tells him that she has
renamed him “the Unconquered.” He warns her that such thoughts are
not permitted, and she responds that he thinks them anyway and wants
her to think them. He agrees, but, calling her “dearest one,” warns
her not to obey him. He believes he is the first man ever to call
a woman “dearest one.” She offers her body to him in submission
by gesturing that she belongs to him.
The Golden One urges Equality 7-2521 to
come into the field where it is cooler, but he refuses to cross
the hedge, so she brings him water to drink. She holds the water
in her hands and holds her hands to his lips, and they stand that
way for several moments after he has finished drinking. Even though
their conversation remains undiscovered by the others in the field,
they each back away, confused by their intimate gesture.
Analysis: Chapters III–IV
Equality 7-2521’s break with society
manifests itself in both explicit and more subtle, structural ways.
With the discovery of electricity, Equality 7-2521 moves
away from his musings on the state of his society and less frequently
exhorts the Councils to forgive him. Instead, he writes with newfound
fervor for his scientific exploration. This shift signifies his
increasing independence from the society around him because it shows
him finding truth in the external world rather than in the opinions
of others. Nevertheless, at this point in the novella, Equality 7-2521 still
worries about the conventions of society, especially about the fact
that his discoveries are his alone. Later, he breaks entirely with
such conventions, but here he still doubts what he thinks he knows
about himself and the world around him. Such doubts allow us to
witness the slow and gradual process of his leaving society.
The content of the conversations that Equality 7-2521 has
with others constitutes important markers of his progress toward
an eventual break from his society. Because these conversations
are rare—Anthem consists almost entirely of musings
about the state of the natural and human world and thus often bears
resemblance to a scientific journal or a religious meditation—they
gain even greater significance in their function as expressions
of individual will. Equality 7-2521’s conversation
with International 4-8818 in Chapter I demonstrates
Equality 7-2521’s willingness to break the
law in pursuit of truth. His conversation with the Golden One here
builds upon his growing desire for freedom from the society that
constrains him. His calling her “dearest one,” which evidences his increasing
attraction to her, demonstrates his willingness to break the law
in the pursuit of love.
