In fact, fear is everywhere in the City.As Equality 7-2521 prepares himself for sleep, he looks around at his "brothers" and realizes that their eyes are dull, their bodies are hunched, and they never make eye contact.Everyone must be happy at all times, but apparently they're not allowed to show it spontaneously. Later that night, in the dining hall, Equality 7-2521 starts to sing without realizing it, because he is "happy." He is of course reprimanded.Three women start to approach from the field, and Liberty 5-3000 walks away.The idea is actually so disgusting that for a moment there he finds himself hating all of his "fellow men." Equality 7-2521 can't bear the idea of anyone else touching her.That means she hasn't yet been subjected to the Time of Mating. Evidently he's started to think about the Time of Mating. Equality 7-2521 asks Liberty 5-3000 how old she is.Liberty 5-3000 tells Equality 7-2521 his eyes are unlike any other man's.Liberty 5-3000 asks if Equality 7-2521 always works the same stretch of road every day.Equality 7-2521 says that Liberty 5-3000 is not one of his "sisters" either.When he tells her, she tells Equality 7-2521 that she does not think he is "one of her brothers," because she does not wish him to be… Liberty 5-3000 asks Equality 7-2521 what his name is.Equality 7-2521 tells Liberty 5-3000 she's beautiful and calls her by name.Flashbacks are just always more vivid in real time). When she sees Equality 7-2521, Liberty 5-3000 walks to the hedge, looking straight at him all the while.Liberty 5-3000 was kneeling at a moat, looking at Equality 7-2521, and water was falling from her hands seductively.
All the other women were far off in the field, and the Street Sweepers were a ways behind Equality 7-2521.
Equality 7-2521 does not like the Time of Mating.Afterwards, they never see their children. Except, that is, during the one night each year that is appointed for the Time of Mating, when men and women "of age" are matched up with total strangers by the Council of Eugenics for an anonymous but biologically optimal roll in the hay. Men and women are not supposed to think of each other like that, Equality 7-2521 says.In his mind, he calls her "the Golden One." Equality 7-2521 no longer thinks of Liberty 5-3000 as "Liberty 5-3000" anymore.
Now he feels for the first time as if it's actually good to be alive. He now definitely values one person more than everyone else, and that is bad. Equality 7-2521 knows this is also high up on the list of things no one's supposed to do.Eventually they even progress to greeting each other with a hand gesture. Every morning afterwards, Equality 7-2521 and Liberty 5-3000 greet each other with their eyes.But the next day, when Equality 7-2521 passes.One day, Liberty 5-3000 looks at him back.Every day after, Equality 7-2521 tells us, he looks at Liberty 5-3000 as he passes.Somebody calls the beautiful woman "Liberty 5-3000" and she retreats further into the fields.For the first time in his life, Equality 7-2521 feels fear.She is attractive and her eyes in particular are striking: "no fear in them, no kindness, and no guilt" (2.4). So, one day while he's doing his street sweeping near the fields, Equality 7-2521 sees Liberty 5-3000 at work and gets a crush on her.It's separated from the fields by a hedge. The Street Sweepers have to clean a road that runs from the city to the north and passes by the fields.There's a group of women, Equality 7-2521 tells us, who are assigned to work in the fields just outside of the city. It's also time for another extended flashback sequence….Her name is Liberty 5-3000, and he tells us he can't think of anybody else. We learn that Equality 7-2521's got a crush on a girl.
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