Equality 7-2521 is a man who holds on to his own mind in a collectivist society that demands blind obedience to the group. The single most important factor in understanding his character is his independence. Despite powerful pressure from the state to conform, he will not betray the values that are important to him. Scientific research is what gives meaning and joy to his life, and he will not abandon it though he knows the severity of the punishment that awaits him if he's caught. Similarly, he dares to love the Golden One though it is forbidden. Finally, he refuses to surrender the electric light to the authorities when he realizes that they will destroy it. He accepts ostracism, banishment, and damnation from his fellow citizens rather than surrender to them his light and his mind.
His independence of thinking and of spirit is what explains his actions from the earliest days of his childhood. Even in his youth, he knew it was the "science of things" that fascinated him. Though it is forbidden to prefer one field to another, he loves science far more than any other field. Though youths are not permitted to desire a profession of their own choosing, he yearns to be sent to the Home of the Scholars where he can pursue the research he loves. In his first significant act of the present-time story, he discovers an abandoned subway tunnel and ventures into it. Though he knows that the Councils do not permit it, and though he further realizes that the tunnel is a remnant of the Unmentionable Times — to be scrupulously shunned — he explores it immediately and afterward tells his friend it belongs to him. Then he proceeds to steal materials and manuscripts, employing the tunnel for a private laboratory in which to conduct experiments. It is necessary to realize that all of these actions are not merely prohibited, they are unthinkable in this society. Such thoughts do not occur to men in this culture. For example, when Equality 7-2521 informs International 4-8818 that they will not report their discovery of the tunnel, his friend is flabbergasted. International 4-8818, though himself an exceptionally independent man, raises his hands to his ears, ""for never had they heard such words as these."" The obvious meaning is that such words had never been spoken or even thought.
