That the hero and heroine take new names is significant for several reasons. They reject the collectivist names that were imposed on them by the slave society in which they were raised. The name Equality 7-2521 stands for a particular aspect of collectivist thinking. The collectivists do not mean by the term "equality" the individualistic principle that all individuals possess the same legal rights and are to be treated identically by the law. The collectivists mean that all are equal in an absolute sense — that no individual is or should be better than the crowd, that no one possesses greater talent than others or greater intelligence or greater virtue. It is the equality of an ant colony, in which all individuals are equally subordinated to and enslaved by the rulers.
The collectivists seek to prevent individuals from rising, from attaining excellence, from standing out, from achieving pride in their own person and accomplishments. Individuals free to live their lives and actualize their potential — who hold high standards in all areas of life and strive to consistently meet them — are not readily malleable by an all-powerful state. Such individuals do not conform or obey. They are independent, living by their own thinking, pursuing their own values, striving for their own happiness. But others taught that they have no right to rise above the herd, that they must seek no distinction, that each is the same as all, such unfortunates will bow and kneel and follow. Believing themselves no more than a cog in a vast machine, they will seek no individuality and will be ready clay for their masters to mold. The hero rejects this philosophy of humanity, and consequently rejects the name that embodies it.
