Summary
Equality 7-2521 wakes in the forest
and realizes that for the first time in his life, he is waking because
he is rested and not because someone is ringing a bell to wake him.
He observes the forest in some detail, and it seems magnificent
to him. He stretches his body out on the moss, and he laughs and
laughs for no reason except that he is free. He realizes that he
can stay asleep and lie on the moss as long as he wants. His body,
of its own volition, jumps up and whirls around in a circle.
Equality 7-2521 takes his lightbulb
and heads into the forest. The forest is dense, and as he works
through the leaves, he compares the forest to the sea, thinking
of the bushes as waves below him, spraying up into the treetops.
When he is hungry, Equality 7-2521 stops
and uses a single stone as an arrow to kill a bird. He cooks the bird
and eats it. He finds great satisfaction in killing the bird and
is surprised to find that he takes pride in eating.
Equality 7-2521 then comes to a
stream, where he stops to drink. He sees his reflection for the
first time, and it takes his breath away. He is frozen in front
of the stream staring at his own image. He discovers he does not
look like his brothers, because they are shapeless, formless, and
downtrodden while he is thin, strong, and lithe. He is hard and
strong and concludes that he can trust himself and has nothing to
fear of his own company.
Equality 7-2521 has walked through
the forest all day when he suddenly remembers that he is exiled
from society, or, in his words, “Damned.” He laughs because he does
not care that he is damned. It is the only time he thinks of what
he has left behind. Equality 7-2521 tells
us that he is writing on the same paper he used in the tunnel. He
intends to write a great deal because he concludes he has a great
deal to say to himself. At the moment, however, there is too much
he does not understand to continue writing.
Analysis
Equality 7-2521’s return to nature
to escape the evils of man reflects Rand’s belief that only other
men can limit the freedom of a man and that in the state of nature
man is completely free. This theme is common in philosophy, especially
in the work of eighteenth-century Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques
Rousseau who, in his Confessions, suggests that
man was a superior being before society and its constructs weakened
his constitution. In Anthem, in the forest, where he
has been forbidden by society to go, Equality 7-2521 experiences the
joy of his body for the first time when he is not oppressed by work
assigned to him by others and the yoke of collectivism. His legs
return him to the state of nature instinctively because, for Rand, individualism
constitutes a near-instinct, a feeling so ingrained in human make-up
that it cannot be completely abolished and will be rediscovered,
as Equality 7-2521 has rediscovered it, under
even the most dire circumstances.
For Rand, physical beauty and athletic prowess accompany intellectual
and moral perfection naturally, and the two combine in Equality 7-2521 to
create what she considers an ideal man. Vanity and pride are both
positive attributes in Rand’s thinking, which is why she relates
the story of Equality 7-2521’s discovery
of his own reflection with no irony. The incident closely resembles
the story of Narcissus, the Greek mythological character who became
so obsessed with his own reflection that he sat at the edge of a
pool staring at it until he became a flower. Nevertheless, in Anthem, Equality 7-2521’s
self-admiration is a form of self-discovery and liberation from
social convention. Additionally, the episode of Equality 7-2521 feeding
himself is a manifestation of his perfection. Though as a street
sweeper Equality 7-2521 has never been hunting
for birds before and has probably never cooked a bird before, he
fells a bird with a single throw of a sharp rock, cooks the bird
over a fire, and very much enjoys his meal because he is a perfect
man, capable of succeeding in everything he tries, even when it
is completely new to him. Rand often referred to herself as a Romantic,
by which she meant that she was concerned chiefly with the ideal.
Omitting details such as Equality 7-2521’s
probable first ten tries to kill the bird is an example of her disregard
for realistic detail in favor of imbuing her heroes with perfection
befitting her ideal.
