Ayn Rand depicts characters that make important choices; her characters select from alternatives available to them — significant and sometimes life-and-death issues. Equality 7-2521 is the most obvious example, but not the only character in the book to make such choices. He chooses to wonder about the Unspeakable Word when he could (and, according to this society, should) decide not to. He chooses to conceal both the existence of the tunnel and his experiments, refusing to bow to the Councils' will. He chooses not to tell his captors where he has been though they torture him. He selects International 4-8818 and the Golden One for his intimates from all members of society. He chooses to flee into the wilderness rather than turn his light and his life over to the Councils. In his undaunted willingness to take control of his life, he is the most compelling example of this capacity to choose.
The negative characters make choices as well. The most obvious example is the one made by the World Council of Scholars when Equality 7-2521 presents the electric light. After recovering from their fear, they recognize the value the light possesses. They know the invention will put out of business the newly developed candle industry and will upset the plans of the World Councils, who will now have to incorporate the new invention into society. It is not that the Scholars do not see the light's value. The question is whether they want to take advantage of its value. The alternatives before them are starkly clear: electricity, technological progress, and independent thought; or candles, technological backwardness, and thought control. They make their choice. They select more than candles over electric light; they choose suppression and dictatorship over independence and political freedom. They choose primitive stagnation over progress. They choose squalor and misery over prosperity. They choose the same path of conformity they have followed all their lives rather than an uncharted course of independent thinking. The Scholars have the power to make important choices. Unfortunately, they choose based on their lust for power.
