Liberty 5-3000 | |
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Anthem character | |
![]() From a Famous Fantastic Mysteries illustration by Virgil Finlay (June 1953) | |
First appearance | 1938 |
Created by | Ayn Rand |
In-universe information | |
Aliases |
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Position | Home of the Peasants |
Significant other | Equality 7-2521 |
Liberty 5-3000 is a character in Anthem, a 1938 dystopian novella by Ayn Rand that is set in a rigidly collectivistic future society that assigns formulaic names to all inhabitants. A farmer in the Home of the Peasants, Liberty 5-3000 is a "born radical"[1] who values individuality. When she meets the narrator and main protagonist, Equality 7-2521, Liberty 5-3000 and he fall in love at first sight. When Equality 7-2521 leaves their society, Liberty 5-3000 follows him; traveling together, the two eventually move into an abandoned home from the "Unmentionable Times" before the collectivist regime came to power and relearn the word "I". The novella ends with Liberty 5-3000 renamed "Gaea" and pregnant by Equality 7-2521 (renamed "Prometheus").
In the course of revising the manuscript for publication in 1938 (and later, the 1938 edition for republication in 1946), Rand edited scenes and dialogue involving Liberty 5-3000. Compared to the manuscript, Liberty 5-3000 in the 1938 edition is less nervous. Liberty 5-3000's adoration of Equality 7-2521 in the 1938 edition is toned down in the 1946 edition.
In scholarly analyses, Liberty 5-3000 has been considered both a "spiritually unconquered"[2] character who is on par with Equality 7-2521 and a submissive trophy wife who is ultimately passive. Liberty 5-3000's sexual intercourse with Equality 7-2521 subverts the control of the collectivist regime, and her monogamous reproductivity is distinctive in Rand's usually love triangle–laden corpus.
Liberty 5-3000 also appears in some adaptations of Anthem, including a 2011 graphic novel. In a 2013 theatrical adaptation developed by Jeff Britting, actress Sofia Lauwers portrayed Liberty 5-3000.