what is the significance of the passage on page 79 we stopped when we felt hunger that we might know again this strange new pride in eating

By entering the Uncharted Forest, Equality 7-2521 continues his transformation into the prototypical man. Equality 7-2521 is able to enter the forest precisely because he has begun to learn the truth of what is good and what is evil. He has severed the chains of society and begun to feel real hunger for the first time instead of prescribed feeding times. He relishes in the killing and eating of a bird, Equality 7-2521 feels free and human.