This is an evil thing to say for it is a transgression, the great transgression of preference, to love any among men better than the others, since we must love all men and all men are our friends" Prometheus shares with the reader (30). In this society, the strangest emotion he feels is love. He falls for a woman named Liberty 5-3000, his "golden one", who is in fact his soul mate. Love, emotions, and equality are all ideals that this society completely distorts to one side of the spectrum or another to oppress the people.
Subsequently, while oppressing and brain washing the people the society must have a method that will retain their own power. The leaders continuously reinstate the belief that man alone is nothing and that only the collective has worth. Every night the people must chant, "We are nothing. Mankind is all. By the grace of our brothers are we allowed our lives. We exist through, by and for our brothers who are the State. Amen" (21). With this feeling instituted it is only natural that to stand out from the crowd would be a sin. For example, Prometheus's teachers tell him constantly, "There is evil in your bones, Equality 7-2521, for your body has grown beyond the bodies of your brothers" (18). During his childhood, this feeling of worthlessness the teachers bestowed on him makes him try to be like his retarded friend, Union 5-3992, but he cannot turn his mind off. For his intelligence and for applying himself in his studies he is not rewarded but oddly enough he is punished. He along with International 4-8818, who is a talented artist, are made to be street sweepers, the lowest position imaginable for being different. Quite the opposite of our society, extra curricular learning is a crime punishable by imprisonment. As Prometheus states in the opening paragraph, "It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see.