The Importance of Freedom Exposed in Anthem In the novel Anthem, Ayn Rand writes about the future dark ages. Anthem is set in the city of a technologically backward totalitarian society, where humanity is born in the home of newborns and dies in the home of the useless. Imagine being born into a life of slavery with no freedom, no way of expressing yourself, no ego. The city represented slavery. While in town, Equality had committed many transgressions. He wasn't like his brothers, he was different, he was smarter, healthier and stronger. At the age of five he went to the student's house, where he was scolded for learning faster than his brothers. Equality teachers told him he had evil in his bones because he was taller than his brothers. Then at the age of fifteen when the Equality House of Vocations was founded he was guilty of the great transgression of preference because he wanted to be a scholar, but his chosen vocation was to be a street cleaner. Every day, as he swept the fields, he looked and smiled at Liberty and she smiled back. Libertà was a woman who worked in farmers' houses. It was forbidden to come into contact with a woman, except in the mating palace. The mating palace was where people were forced to reproduce. Equality thought that touching a woman was shameful and ugly. Th! en one day, while sweeping the streets, he found a grate leading to an underground tunnel full of things from unspeakable times. For two years he went into the tunnel and discovered a new shining light. Then one day, while in the tunnel, he decided that he had to share his secret with his brothers. He decided that he would bring his secret before the world council meeting. When Equality entered the World Council meeting, scholars were frightened and angry. They asked him to explain why he was there. He connected the wires and they lit up, the scholars leaning against the wall as they stared in horror. They told him they would punish him for breaking so many laws. Equality trembled in fear, quickly grabbed the light and ran into the unexplored forest. No man followed him because he feared the unknown.