Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors
used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
Light
Light represents truth in Anthem. Thus,
Liberty 5-3000 becomes the Golden One, and
Equality 7-2521 becomes Prometheus, the bringer
of light. Equality 7-2521’s contribution
to the world is his invention of the lightbulb, and the house he
and the Golden One find in the forest has windows to let in the
light. By contrast, the city is dingy and dark, and the only colors
are gray, white, and brown. The whole society lives by candlelight,
and the society’s leaders fear the light when Equality 7-2521 brings
it to them. Light illuminates human dignity and human error for
Rand, both of which the society in Anthem tries
to sweep under the rug. In the vast gray haze of this society, all
things are indistinct. Only when light is brought to bear can those
with exceptional qualities be differentiated from the crowd. Thus,
Equality 7-2521’s lightbulb makes him a harbinger
of tremendous social unrest at the same time that it helps him see
himself as the unique individual he really is.
The Forest
For Equality 7-2521, the state
of nature affords him the chance to live alone and sustained by
the work of his own hands, an opportunity he is denied in society.
Unlike society, which constrains what an individual can claim as
his own, the forest welcomes Equality 7-2521 and
provides him what he needs. The forest is also a connection between
the past and the future. In the forest, Equality 7-2521 and
the Golden One find a home—one of the only remnants of
the Unmentionable Times in the story. This home suits them, and
in it they discover their own natural states. The forest thus provides
them with a place to effect their own rebirth.
Manuscripts
In the society in Anthem, manuscripts
carry history and are sacred vessels for self-expression. The manuscripts
that Equality 7-2521 steals from the Home
of the Scholars are very important to him because they are his only
means of recording his private thoughts. Because he is accustomed
to believing that no thought is valid unless it is shared by the
entire community, his willingness to record his thoughts, to see
them as valuable, represents his first significant break with society.
The books he finds in his new forest home are also important to
him because they teach him the history of the old world’s destruction
and, most important, teach him the word “I.” This discovery concludes
Equality 7-2521’s search for individual expression
and allows him to think of himself as separate from the rest of
his peers. It also teaches him a deeply personal kind of pleasure,
both in the form of reading, which is itself a solitary activity
in his life, and in writing, which allows him to speak so that only
he can hear. Equality 7-2521’s obsession
with his manuscripts, then, reflects a deep-seated need to escape
the prying eyes of the society around him and to realize his full
potential as an individual.
