Atlas Shrugged
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by Ayn Rand=
Atlas Shrugged
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This is the rhetorical question that is uttered throughout Atlas
Shrugged. It is a cry of hopelessness, pessimism, and despair. For years
people have been taught that things such as reason, ego, ambition, and
capitalism are evil, whereas altruism and collectivism, at any cost, are
considered the highest of virtues.
People
mistrust their own reasoning capabilities and cannot make any decisions or=
act
because they don’t want to be accountable for the consequences. They talk
without saying anything and act without doing anything.
In this novel by Ayn Rand, published in 1957, the book’s female
protagonist, Dagny Taggart, struggles to manage a transcontinental railroad
amid the pressures and restrictions of massive bureaucracy. Her antagonist=
ic
reaction to a libertarian group seeking an end to government regulation is
later echoed and modified in her encounter with a utopian community, Galt’s
Gulch, whose members regard self-determination, rather than collective
responsibility, as the highest ideal.
“Who is John Galt?”
Atlas Shrugged contains the most complete presentation of Rand’s personal philosophy, <=
span
style=3D'position:absolute;top:80.5%;left:28.65%;width:20.03%;height:3.0%'=
>known as Objectivism,
in fictionalized form.
in fictionalized form.
by Ayn Rand
Atlas
Shrugged
Dagny Taggart, t=
he
heroine followed throughout the book, is Vice President of Operations of
Taggart Transcontinental Railroad. She is ambitious, intelligent and not
afraid to make the tough choices. Her brother, James Taggart, is the Presi=
dent
of the railroad. Throughout the story Dagny is the one who keeps the compa=
ny
operating by making shrewd business decisions and taking action—despite the
best efforts of her incompetent and spineless brother to run the railroad
through inaction and crooked deals with friends in Washington. She produces
and her brother gladly takes all the credit.
Dagny and Jim had=
built
a railroad line into Mexico to “help” a poor neighboring country, while th=
eir
Rio Norte line going to Colorado, a region where industries are exploding,=
is
falling apart. A childhood friend of theirs, a brilliant aristocrat named =
Francisco
d’Anconia has copper mines in Mexico serviced by the railroad’s San Sebast=
ian
line. Francisco had invested $15 million of his own dollars into the mines=
and
Jim Taggart and his cronies invested a lot more, purely based on Francisco=
’s
reputation as a businessman.
by Ayn Rand
Atlas
Shrugged
The
mines end up being worthless and the railroad service to Mexico archaic. J=
im
demands that Dagny give the San Sebastian line efficient service at the co=
st
of the Rio Norte line. She refuses. After Mexico is nationalized, Jim takes
full credit for having the foresight to put minimal investment in the rail=
road
that is seized by the Mexican government.
Dagny
is furious at Francisco who perpetrated this fraud upon the world and has
transformed himself from a brilliant productive mind to a worthless
squandering playboy. She could not understand his motive, although both
Francisco and Dagny both knew that Mexico was becoming a “people’s state” =
and
the government would be able to seize whatever it wants.
Later we find out that Francisco was one of the first strikers and kn=
ew
all along that the mines were worthless. He just wanted to sock it to the
looters like Jim Taggart, Orren Boyle and others who would blindly invest =
in
his business interests solely based on his past reputation, rather than ma=
king
rational decisions. They financed most the the project thereby losing mill=
ions
of dollars in the mines when the the new government took possession of
them.
by Ayn Rand
Atlas
Shrugged
Legislation
causes their more efficient competitor, Phoenix-Durango to cease operations
into Colorado, and Taggart Transcontinental has to rebuild the Rio Norte
line…fast. Dagny wants to use Rearden Metal, a new alloy stronger than ste=
el
developed by Hank Rearden over a ten-year period.
Dagny,
who has a degree in engineering, knows it is the best product for rebuildi=
ng
the railroad. Hank Rearden also designs a bridge of Rearden Metal, utilizi=
ng a
new technique of involving trusses and arches. Ellis Wyatt of Wyatt Oil in
Colorado, demands the same type of efficient reliable service from Dagny t=
hat
he received from Don Conway’s Phoenix–Durango railroad.
Dagny
in turn demands rail from Rearden in nine rather than twelve months. Jim
refuses to have anything to do with the project because he wanted his frie=
nd
Orren Boyle of Associated Steel to provide the rail and also because the
government has not endorsed the product.
Dagny
spins off her own railroad in her determination to get it done and calls it
the John Galt Line, mocking the “can’t-do” attitude of society. The John G=
alt
line will become part of Taggart Transcontinental if it works. If it doesn=
’t,
it is her failure. When it succeeds, she turns the railroad over to Jim.&#=
13;
by Ayn Rand
Atlas
Shrugged
Dagny
and Hank ride together to Colorado on the first run. They stay at the home=
of
Ellis Wyatt. They have an affair that lasts for years. Dagny and Hank take=
a
road trip touring old factories and they find an unfinished motor at what =
was
the Twentieth Century Motor Com-pany in Wisconsin. This revolutionary motor
converted static electricity into useable energy. Why was this great inven=
tion
left as scrap? Dagny had to find the inventor and finish the motor.
<=
/span>
Her
search for the inventor kept leading her to dead ends. Finally, Dagny meets
the widow of a man who worked at the company who directs Dagny to a diner =
in
Colorado. The owner of the diner is Hugh Akston, the world’s last great li=
ving
philosopher and a champion of reason, who had disappeared from sight years
earlier. He had taught philosophy at Patrick Henry University in Ohio and =
had
three star students, Francisco d’Anconia, Ragnar Danneskjold and another w=
hom
he would not name, saying he knows who invented the motor but that man will
not be found.
Dagny
contacts Dr. Robert Stadler of the State Science Institute who recommends =
that a talented yo=
ung
scientist named Quentin Daniels, who is in Utah but refuses to work for the gover=
nment.
Dr. Stadler had been a professor of physics at Patrick Henry University a=
nd
taught the same three students. He had become a bureaucrat <=
span
style=3D'position:absolute;top:85.75%;left:29.96%;width:72.28%;height:3.0%=
'>and subscribed to =
the
popular view of collectivism and also the belief that science should not be for
commercial use.
by Ayn Rand
Atlas
Shrugged
As
the story unfolds, it seems that Dagny and Rearden are practically the only
ones left in the country capable of having an independent thought. People =
who
were productive, creative and indus-trious have mysteriously disappeared or
retired. Ellis Wyatt set fire to his oil fields and disappeared; Francisco=
was
blowing up his copper mines; Ragnar had become the anti-Robin Hood, a pira=
te
who robbed ships carrying relief supplies to peoples states in Europe and
South America.
More
and more legislation passed until the government had seized control of eve=
ry
industry. Meanwhile businesses were failing,
strikes and
violence
erupting and the American standard of living had become that of a third wo=
rld
nation—people subsisting on hand-outs, everything rationed and regulated a=
nd
business crippled by controls. The government had unlimited power to dish =
out
their special projects to whomever they choose.
A
thug named Cuffy Meigs took control of the railroad industry. He diverted =
all
the trains to California for a pet soybean project of someone connected and
caused a bumper crop of wheat in the Midwest to rot because it he refused =
to
allow the wheat to be transported. Unless you had the power of pull, you w=
ere
powerless.
by Ayn Rand
Atlas
Shrugged
Hank
Rearden defied government regulation by refusing to sell his metal to the
government for use in a secret project. Instead he sells more than the
allotted quota to another industrialist, Ken Dannager. Hank is put on trial
and exposes the government as looters and refuses to cooperate with their
tactics, finally realizing, as Francisco had tried to explain to him, that
looters need his moral sanction. He eloquently defended his capitalistic v=
iews
and was fined $5000.
Quentin Daniels sends Dagny his resignation and she goes to Utah to t=
ry
to talk him into staying. She suspects that someone is draining the countr=
y of
its minds and she must stop this destroyer. Someone picks up Quentin in a
private plane and Dagny follows their plane into a remote valley in the
mountains of Colorado, hidden by an optical illusion. This is Galt’s Gulch
where all the people who have mysteriously disappeared have gone on strike=
and
started their own world hidden from view.
Dagny spends a month there, earning her k=
eep
as John Galt’s housekeeper while the rest of the world thinks she died in a
plane crash. She falls for John Galt but decides to go back and take care =
of
the railroad. She is not ready to give up on it yet. Hank searches for her=
and
meets Ragnar, the pirate, who gives him gold and explains that there is mu=
ch
more gold in his account because he gives back to the producers what is ta=
ken
by the looters. When Dagny returns to New York, she is interviewed on a ra=
dio
talk show and reveals her affair with Rearden saying that he only signed t=
he
certificate giving the government the rights to his metal because they
threatened to ruin Dagny’s reputation. She was cut off the air abruptly.
by Ayn Rand
Atlas
Shrugged
Later
in the book, Mr. Thompson, the head of state, is scheduled to give a speec=
h to
reassuring the country. His broadcast is interrupted by a three-hour speec=
h by
John Galt explaining why the minds are on strike. Afterwards the government
tries to convince the people that Galt is on the government’s side and tri=
es
to find him in order to make him economic dictator of the country—replacing
Wesley Mouch. They believe that every man has his price, but in this case =
they
were quite mistaken.
As
it turns out Galt was the inventor of the motor. When Twentieth Century Mo=
tors
announced new policies of rewarding need and punishing production, Galt st=
ood
up and quit, promising to stop the motor of the world. Dagny seeks him out
after learning that he was a railroad laborer on her payroll. He was also a
man that her assistant Eddie had confided in for years in the company
cafeteria, knowing him simply as Johnny.
Dagny goes to John’s apartment and knowing
that government agents will soon follow, John and Dagny decide that she wi=
ll
play along and turn him over to the authorities for the reward money. Once
apprehended, Mr. Thompson and his people try to get him to cooperate. He
refuses. When he exposes to the world that they have him at gunpoint the
government tries to torture him by electrocution. Dagny and Rearden finally
join Francisco and the others. The strikers rescue John Galt, the regime
falls, and the strikers are free to come back and rebuild the world.
by Ayn Rand
Atlas
Shrugged
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There have been s=
everal
attempts of makin=
g a
movie base=
d on
Atlas Shugged.
The = book is full of amazing characters and intertwined
plot= s and subplots. Perhaps the cast of the X-Files could play
the = roles on the big screen…
The = book is full of amazing characters and intertwined
plot= s and subplots. Perhaps the cast of the X-Files could play
the = roles on the big screen…
![](3D"slide0008_image014.png")
Hank Reardon
Richard Halley
Midas Mulligan
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Ellis Wyatt
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Ragnar DanneskjÖld
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John Galt
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Dagny Taggart
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James Taggart
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Eddie Willers
Lillian Reardon
Robert Stadler
![](3D"slide0008_image021.png")
Hugh Akston
Francisco d’Anconia
Cheryl Brooks
![](3D"slide0008_image022.png")
Wesley Mouch
Mr. Thompson
Floyd Ferris
Simon Pritchett
Orren Boyle
The Looters
The Strikers
lovers
childhood
friends
![3D"Text](3D"slide0008_image023.png")
=
husband/
wife
wife
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=
husband/
wife
wife
![3D"Text](3D"slide0008_image025.png")
former lovers
![3D"Text](3D"slide0008_image026.png")
brother/sister
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