The conversation between the Golden One and Equality 7-2521 is
rife with biblical imagery, both in their naming of each other and her
giving him water to cool him. Naming, the original power of man
in Genesis, makes the Golden One and Equality 7-2521 more intimate
with each other and establishes their possession of each other.
Interestingly, though Liberty 5-3000 is referred
to throughout Anthem as “the Golden One,” the name
Equality 7-2521 assigns to her, her name
for him does not appear again in the text. Feminists argue that
this disparity marks the fundamental inequality in Rand’s view of
men and women, though Rand might say that the issue is entirely
stylistic: after all, Equality 7-2521 is
writing the text, and it would be hard to incorporate the Golden
One’s name for him into the text in a meaningful way.
The offering of water is important both because it represents the Golden
One’s assumption of the role of caretaker and also because it is
laden with biblical imagery. In offering water to Equality 7-2521,
the Golden One adopts a role as caretaker and comfort-giver—a role
feminists might argue Rand prescribes for her out of a heightened
sense of the traditional roles of women. The offering of water is
significant also, however, because it is an image very common in
the Judeo-Christian Bible. According to the New Testament, Jesus
Christ often asked and received water from townspeople he met in
his travels, and the sharing of water is considered to be a virtue,
as it represents the giving of life-sustaining respite from the
heat and weariness of travel. Notably, Christ usually made followers
of those who gave him water to drink. In this case, the Golden One’s giving
water to Equality 7-2521 accompanies her
conversion into obedience of him, represents her comforting of him,
and is also shot through with sexual overtones. As she nurtures
Equality 7-2521, he desires her and she desires
him shamelessly for the first time in the novella. Rand seems to
be conjoining the conversion experience and the sexual experience
into one baffling moment of ecstasy.
