She loves Equality 7-2521 and everything he stands for, regardless of what her brothers and sisters believe. The Golden One understands at some wordless level that human beings must conduct life in accordance with their own judgment, and that life's meaning lies in the attainment of personal values. Against all the beliefs of her society, she flees the city and pursues Equality 7-2521 through the Uncharted Forest. Though the result is damnation and execution if she is caught, she will not be denied. He - and the independence he represents - is what she wants out of life, and all the teachings of the collectivists are powerless to change her mind. She is drawn to Equality 7-2521 because of his unconquered soul. At a conscious level, she accepts the only beliefs she has ever heard. The Golden One, like Equality 7-2521, has been taught that life's meaning lies exclusively in selfless toil for her brothers and sisters. He wonders, what is the word that they lack?Īyn Rand continues her theme of independent thinking and personal values in another form. He looks into her eyes, knowing that for one instant they had been on the verge of a discovery. " But she frowns and shakes her head, realizing that those words - that word, "we" - do not capture the truth of her feelings. One day the Golden One says to him, "We love you. If this solitude of theirs is evil, he wonders, then what kind of happiness is possible to human beings? If this is wrong, as they have been taught all their lives, then what is right? Now for the first time, he begins to doubt the truth of this teaching. That night they make love, and he discovers that to hold a woman in his arms is "the one ecstasy granted to the race of men."īut even in his newfound happiness he asks disturbing questions. They stand together for a long time, and he is frightened that he has lived for 21 years without knowing the joy that is possible to men.
#In the forest of the night book summary skin#
He bends to raise her to her feet, but when his skin touches hers it is "as if madness had stricken us." Her takes her in his arms, presses his lips to hers and she wraps her arms around him. She kneels before him.Įquality 7-2521 does not understand what happens next. She says he may do as he pleases with her, but he must not send her away. She tells him that she will go where he goes, that she will face the dangers he faces and share the fate that befalls him. Her tunic is torn and her skin is cut, but she takes no notice of either.
On the night of the day she heard of his escape, she fled from the Home of the Peasants, entered the forest, and followed the trail he had left. She says that she followed him and tells him that the whole city speaks of his escape. She is too overcome initially to speak, but he asks how she came to be in the forest.
When the steps come closer, he recognizes the form of the Golden One. On his second day in the forest, Equality 7-2521 hears steps behind him.
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