Their discovery of a home surviving from the Unmentionable Times is significant because it links them in physical action, as well as in spirit, to the attainments of the lost era. Equality 7-2521 had intended to build a home, which would be a great accomplishment. But a home that he would build would not express the kinship existing between him and the freethinkers of the past who had reached such lofty achievements. By finding and occupying a home from the forgotten era, Equality 7-2521 and the Golden One not only derive practical benefits from the lost advances but also immerse themselves in the world they seek to re-create. The great thinker who re-invents electric light links himself inextricably with the independent thinkers of the past who originally created it.
Equality 7-2521 realizes that the books in the home can provide the knowledge possessed by those of the Unmentionable Times, secrets lost for centuries. His decision to study the books is a continuation of his crusade to gain both scientific understanding of nature and a moral and philosophical understanding of humankind. His research into the “power of the sky” and his harnessing of electricity to create light are obvious examples of his scientific discoveries. But his philosophizing is of even greater importance. He is one of the few in his society, like the executed Saint of the Pyre, who searches for the Unspeakable Word and for the precious knowledge represented by this word.
Equality 7-2521’s noblest quality (which will result in his greatest achievement) is his unflinching quest to rediscover the individualistic nature of man and the political liberty that such a nature requires. Against every type of social opposition, he persists in this endeavor until, in this chapter, with the books at his disposal of those who understood these sacred truths, he stands on the threshold of the wisdom he seeks. He is as great a philosopher as he is a scientist. The books of the individualistic, capitalist past will give him the knowledge denied to those in his collectivist present.
