Kimberly Spear

October 21, 2015

1B HSA English 10
The Symbolisation of the Uncharted Forest in Ayn Rands Anthem
We do not wish to look upon [the Uncharted Forest] (Rand 47). Ayn Rands Anthem
provides many symbols throughout the book with names, places, colours, and actions. What is
most prevalent in this novel is the symbolisation of the Uncharted Forest that the people of this
particular dystopian society in the novel fear. The Uncharted Forest represents many things the
unknown, and mystery, in addition to fear, denial, and isolation.
. The word uncharted is described as the unknown, unfamiliar, or unexplored. Before
the late 14th century when explorers began to discover more of the uncharted parts of the
world, many people had believed the Earth was flat with four corners instead of it being a
spherical shape. When one would go out far enough into the world near the edge of the corners,
it was believed they would fall off and never return. Anthem provides the audience with the
information that what was in the Forest was unknown and no one had ever come back or went in.
Men never enter the Uncharted Forest for there is no power to explore it and these men do
not return (Rand 48). The dystopian societys government allowed people to believe there
was nothing important that should be known from the past that they called the Unmentionable
Times. Nothing is really known of the Forest until Equality 7-2521 describes what he knew so
far and finds refuge within the Forest after running from the Council of Scholars . (We seized
our box, shoved [the Council] aside, and we ran to the window (Rand 74)). As he went into
the forest, he found a house that had different kinds of technology and books that had been
forbidden by the Council.

The Uncharted Forest also symbolises mystery and curiosity- traits found in Equality,
who is the protagonist. As Equality spends time in the Forest, he discovers his reflection for the
first time when getting a drink from a river (We knelt down by the stream and we bent down to
drink and we saw our own face for the first time. (Rand 80)). Before making this
discovery, no one had known what they looked like. The Forest had not been explored and it was
said that the myths the people had heard were fabricated (But our Councils say that this is only
a legend. (Rand 48)). Equality states that he did not know where he was going, but he ran
anyway (But we ran. We knew not where we were going. We knew only that we must [] run
to the end of the world. (Rand 75)). This meant that Equality had no idea where to go or where
to stay, but he trusted himself to do what was best while he was running from the Council.
The Uncharted Forest also represents fear, denial, and isolation a trait that many people
had when they had heard about the myths. Equality had several questions he had asked himself
about the society he had previously lived in, as well as the difference between good and evil
(But questions come to us again, as we walk in silence. If that which we have found is the
corruption of solitude, then what can men wish for save corruption? If this is the great evil of
being alone, then what is good and what is evil? Yet now, as we walk through the forest, we
are learning to doubt. (Rand 85-86)). The Council had made sure everyone had been taught the
same thing, making sure that no one else would learn anything new that would reveal the truth.
When Equality had discovered good and evil, he began to doubt himself and what he was
taught. The lightbulb that Equality and his friends put together in the tunnels was against the
Councils mores of doing a job that wasnt theirs. Within isolation, Equality and Liberty were the
only two in the Forest.

Symbols represent some hidden meaning in a book. Ayn Rands Anthem has multiple
symbols, but the Uncharted Forest has the most value, representing the unknown, mystery and
curiosity, as well as fear, denial, and isolation of the characters.