Anthem Symbols and Motifs

Symbols

The Glass Box of Light-
          This represents Equality 7-2521's source of life. When the World Council of Scholars tells Equality 7-2521 that he mus die for his transgressions, he pleads with them that they may do anything to him, just not the box. When they tell him the box will be destroyed also, he grabs it, curses them for being so stupid, and runs into the Uncharted Forest where he knows he will most likely die. However, he does not care as long as he has the box because it is the source of life that keeps him going, like his heart.

The Uncharted Forest-
          This represents Equality 7-2521's way of escaping his society and finally being alone forever. The society he lives in requires everyone to always be with someone and to live for everyone. Equality 7-2521 does not like this and the Uncharted forest represents his escape from society.

The Manhole/Tunnel-
          When Equality 7-2521 first discovers the manhole/tunnel that was left from the Unmentionable Times, he gets this urge to disobey the law and check it out. This is the first act of defiance we see of him and the first of many actions. The tunnel gives him the opportunity to be himself and go about studying and writing things; things that he is forbidden to do. Therefore, the tunnel represents his defiance of the law because it is where most of his law defying acts take place. It can also be representative of an escape from society like the Uncharted Forest because it is where he goes to get away from everything and be himself and write.

Motifs

Names-
          Everyone's names in the book have something to do with the idea of "brotherhoodness" and how no one is better than another. Their numbers just represent that there are many of that name and is just a way to identify one from another. The names Equality, Collective, International, Union, Fraternity, Solidarity all have the idea of "brotherhoodness" and every time the names come up, the reader is reminded of it and how that is the culture of these people.

Knowledge-
          Equality 7-2521 is so interested in gaining knowledge; he just wants to know how everything happens. We are reminded that knowledge is important to him when he wants be in the Council of Scholars, when he constantly works every night experimenting with different elements to create knew things, and when he wants to find out with all his heart what the Unmentionable Word is. He says, "May knowledge come to us! What is the secret our heart has understood and yet will not reveal to us, although it seems to beat as if it were endeavoring to tell us." (Rand 93).