Summary: Chapter V
Equality 7-2521 discovers how to
make a lightbulb work. He believes he alone has made light. He has
found the materials for making the lightbulb in the tunnel where
he is hiding, and he has used wires to make electricity flow through
the lightbulb and produce light. He is amazed that the light has
come from the heart of the metal, without flint or fire. He compares
the glowing flint to the crack in the walls of a prison. Equality 7-2521 realizes
the meaning of the lightbulb—that he can provide clean and bright
light for all the cities in the world—and he determines that his
discovery is too important not to be shared with the world. He concludes
that electricity is the key to harnessing nature’s power and that
he must bring it to the world.
Equality 7-2521 also concludes
that he must be allowed into the Home of the Scholars, where there
are rooms to experiment and where he can ask the help of the other
scholars, in whom he has great faith. He concludes that there is
enough work ahead that all the scholars of the world should work
together to make progress with his new invention.
A month later, the World Council of Scholars, a group
of the wisest scholars from all over the world, is to convene for
its annual meeting, and this year, the meeting is in Equality 7-2521’s
city. He resolves to go to the World Council and show them his invention. He
will tell the council members the whole story of its discovery,
and he believes they will be so impressed that they will forgive
him for all his sins and transgressions. He decides that the World
Council will speak to the Council of Vocations and have him reassigned
from street sweeper to scholar so that he may continue his research.
Equality 7-2521 resolves to guard
his tunnel with his life because no one but the World Council of
Scholars will understand the significance of the light, and the
light is the most important thing. In mid-thought, he suddenly realizes
that he cares about his body. He believes the lightbulb is a part
of his physical being and he wants to see the body that helped bring
the bulb into existence. Until this point, he has never seen his
body, but now he stretches out his arms and legs and realizes his
own strength. Despite knowing that it is wrong to want it, he wants
to see his own reflection.
Summary: Chapter VI
Equality 7-2521 writes that he
was so excited about his discovery of the lightbulb that he forgot
to pay attention to the time, and he was late in returning to the
Home of the Street Sweepers. The Council of the Home asked him where
he was, and he would not answer. Without emotion, the Council ordered
Equality 7-2521 to be held in the Palace
of Corrective Detention until he told the Council where he had been.
Equality 7-2521 writes that at
the Palace of Correction, he was stripped and tied to a post where
he was whipped and beaten while being asked where he had been. He
lost consciousness and woke in a cell, happy that he had not betrayed
the tunnel and the light. He stayed in the cell in the Palace of
Corrective Detention until he realized that it was the day before
the meeting of the World Council of Scholars. He then broke out
of the Palace, which was easy because no precautions had been taken
to prevent escape since no one had ever tried to do so before. He
snuck back to his tunnel, where he writes this entry, reveling in
the idea that the next day will bring atonement and reunification
with his brothers.
