Atlas Shrugged
Saturday, December 16th, 2006
Atlas Shrugged (1957)
(from the objectivistcenter.org)
This
is Ayn Rand’s masterwork – her monumental story of the man who swore he
would stop the motor of the world…and did! It is the novel in which
Rand first presented and dramatized her radical morality of rational
self-interest – and which has launched a philosophical revolution.
PLOT OVERVIEW
(taken from Sparknotes.com)
In
an environment of worsening economic conditions, Dagny Taggart, vice
president in charge of operations, works to repair Taggart
Transcontinental’s crumbling Rio Norte Line to service Colorado, the
last booming industrial area in the country. Her efforts are hampered
by the fact that many of the country’s most talented entrepreneurs are
retiring and disappearing. The railroad’s crisis worsens when the
Mexican government nationalizes Taggart’s San Sebastian Line. The line
had been built to service Francisco d’Anconia’s copper mills, but the
mills turn out to be worthless. Francisco had been a successful
industrialist, and Dagny’s lover, but has become a worthless playboy.
To solve the railroad’s financial problems, Dagny’s brother Jim uses
political influence to pass legislation that destroys Taggart’s only
competition in Colorado. Dagny must fix the Rio Norte Line immediately
and plans to use Rearden Metal, a new alloy created by Hank Rearden.
When confronted about the San Sebastian mines, Francisco tells Dagny he
is deliberately destroying d’Anconia Copper. Later he appears at
Rearden’s anniversary party and, meeting him for the first time, urges
Rearden to reject the freeloaders who live off of him.
The State
Science Institute issues a denunciation of Rearden metal, and Taggart’s
stock crashes. Dagny decides to start her own company to rebuild the
line, and it is a huge success. Dagny and Rearden become lovers.
Together they discover a motor in an abandoned factory that runs on
static electricity, and they seek the inventor. The government passes
new legislation that cripples industry in Colorado. Ellis Wyatt, an oil
industrialist, suddenly disappears after setting fire to his wells.
Dagny is forced to cut trains, and the situation worsens. Soon, more
industrialists disappear. Dagny believes there is a destroyer at work,
taking men away when they are most needed. Francisco visits Rearden and
asks him why he remains in business under such repressive conditions.
When a fire breaks out and they work together to put it out, Francisco
understands Rearden’s love for his mills.
Rearden goes on trial
for breaking one of the new laws, but refuses to participate in the
proceedings, telling the judges they can coerce him by force but he
won’t help them to convict him. Unwilling to be seen as thugs, they let
him go. Economic dictator Wesley Mouch needs Rearden’s cooperation for
a new set of socialist laws, and Jim needs economic favors that will
keep his ailing railroad running after the collapse of Colorado. Jim
appeals to Rearden’s wife Lillian, who wants to destroy her husband.
She tells him Rearden and Dagny are having an affair, and he uses this
information in a trade. The new set of laws, Directive 10-289, is
irrational and repressive. It includes a ruling that requires all
patents to be signed over to the government. Rearden is blackmailed
into signing over his metal to protect Dagny’s reputation.
Dagny
quits over the new directive and retreats to a mountain lodge. When she
learns of a massive accident at the Taggart Tunnel, she returns to her
job. She receives a letter from the scientist she had hired to help
rebuild the motor, and fears he will be the next target of the
destroyer. In an attempt to stop him from disappearing, she follows him
in an airplane and crashes in the mountains. When she wakes up, she
finds herself in a remote valley where all the retired industrialists
are living. They are on strike, calling it a strike of the mind. There,
she meets John Galt, who turns out to be both the destroyer and the man
who built the motor. She falls in love with him, but she cannot give up
her railroad, and she leaves the valley. When she returns to work, she
finds that the government has nationalized the railroad industry.
Government leaders want her to make a speech reassuring the public
about the new laws. She refuses until Lillian comes to blackmail her.
On the air, she proudly announces her affair with Rearden and reveals
that he has been blackmailed. She warns the country about its
repressive government.
With the economy on the verge of
collapse, Francisco destroys the rest of his holdings and disappears.
The politicians no longer even pretend to work for the public good.
Their vast network of influence peddling creates worse chaos, as crops
rot waiting for freight trains that are diverted for personal favors.
In an attempt to gain control of Francisco’s mills, the government
stages a riot at Rearden Steel. But the steelworkers organize and fight
back, led by Francisco, who has been working undercover at the mills.
Francisco saves Rearden’s life, then convinces him to join the strike.
Just
as the head of state prepares to give a speech on the economic
situation, John Galt takes over the airwaves and delivers a lengthy
address to the country, laying out the terms of the strike he has
organized. In desperation, the government seeks Galt to make him their
economic dictator. Dagny inadvertently leads them to him, and they take
him prisoner. But Galt refuses to help them, even after he is tortured.
Finally, Dagny and the strikers rescue him in an armed confrontation
with guards. They return to the valley, where Dagny finally joins the
strike. Soon, the country’s collapse is complete and the strikers
prepare to return.
