Atlas Shrugged

Atlas Shrugged

Atlas Shrugged cover by Nick Gaetano
Author	Ayn Rand
Cover artist	Nick Gaetano
Language	English
Genre	Philosophical
Publisher	Random House
Publication date	12 October 1957
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	1168 (depending on edition)
ISBN	ISBN 0-394-41576-0 (hardback edition)

Atlas Shrugged is a novel by Russian-born writer and philosopher Ayn Rand, first published in 1957 in the USA. It was Rand's last work of fiction before concentrating her writings exclusively on philosophy, politics and cultural criticism. At over one thousand pages in length, she considered it her magnum opus. The book explores a number of philosophical themes that Rand would subsequently develop into a system of ideas she called Objectivism.

Philosophy and writing

The theme of Atlas Shrugged is that independent, rational thought is the engine that powers the world.

The main conflict of the book occurs as the "individuals of the mind" go on strike, thus no longer contributing problem-solving analysis, new ideas, inventions, medical breakthroughs, research, or inventions of any kind to the rest of the world, allowing a near-total collapse of a society that they had not only been crucial in holding together, but a society which they had even been forced to subsidize. The previous peaceful cohesiveness of the world had required those individuals whose productive work comes from mental effort. They had always naturally created in direct disproportion to forceful interference by others. But given no alternative, they eventually start disappearing from the communities of "looters," Rand's term for others seeking a free dependency on productive people.

Like the Greek Titan Atlas, individuals rationally and circumspectly seeking their own long-term happiness hold the world on their shoulders. The novel's title is an allusion to this god, discussing what might happen if those supporting the world suddenly decided to stop doing so. In the novel, the allusion comes during a conversation between two protagonists, Francisco d'Anconia and Hank Rearden, near the end of chaper three, part two, where Fransisco suggests to Rearden that if he could suggest Atlas one thing, it would be to shrug.

In the world of Atlas Shrugged, society stagnates when independent productive achievers began to be socially demonized and even punished for their accomplishments, even though society had been far more healthy and prosperous by allowing, encouraging, and rewarding self-reliance and individual achievement. Independence and personal happiness flourished to the extent that people were free, and achievement was rewarded to the extent that individual ownership of private property was strictly respected. The hero, John Galt, lives a life of laissez-faire capitalism as the only way to live consistent with his beliefs.

Atlas Shrugged is a political book. It portrays fascism, socialism and communism – any form of state intervention in society, as systemically, and therefore fatally flawed. However, Rand claimed that it is not a fundamentally political book, but that the politics portrayed in the novel are a result of her attempt to display her image of the ideal person and the individual mind's position and value in society.

Rand argues that independence and individual achievement enable society to survive and thrive, and should be embraced. But this requires a "rational" moral code. She argues that, over time, coerced self-sacrifice causes any society to self-destruct.

She is similarly dismissive of faith beyond reason, in a god or higher being, or anything else as an authority over one's own mind. The book positions itself against religion specifically, often directly within the characters' dialogue.

Setting

Exactly when Atlas Shrugged is meant to take place is kept deliberately vague. In section 152, the population of New York City is given as 7 million. The historical New York City reached 7 million people in the 1930s, which might place the novel sometime after that. There are many early 20th century technologies available, but the political situation is clearly different from actual history. One interpretation is that the novel takes place a hundred (or perhaps hundreds) years in the future, implying that since the world lapsed into its socialistic morass, a global-wide stagnation has occurred in technological growth, population growth, and indeed growth of any kind; the wars, economic depressions, and other events of the 20th century would be a distant memory to all but scholars and academicians. This would be in line with Rand's ideas and commentary on other novels depicting Utopian and dystopian societies. Furthermore, this is also in line with an excerpt from a 1964 interview with Playboy magazine in which Rand states "What we have today is not a capitalist society, but a mixed economy – that is, a mixture of freedom and controls, which, by the presently dominant trend, is moving toward dictatorship. The action in Atlas Shrugged takes place at a time when society has reached the stage of dictatorship. When and if this happens, that will be the time to go on strike, but not until then," thus implying that her novel takes place at some point in the future. The concept of societal stagnation in the wake of collectivist systems is central to the plot of another of Rand's works, Anthem.

All countries outside the US have become, or become during the novel, "People's States". There are many examples of early 20th century technology in Atlas Shrugged, but no post-war advances such as nuclear weapons, helicopters, or computers. Jet planes are mentioned briefly as being a relatively new technology. Television is a novelty that has yet to assume any cultural significance, while radio broadcasts are prominent. Though Rand does not use in the book many of the technological innovations available while she was writing, she introduces some advanced, fictional inventions (e.g., sound-based weapons of mass destruction, torture devices, as well as power plants), although it could be argued the sound weapon was modeled after experimental German weapons developed during WWII.

Most of the action in Atlas Shrugged occurs in the United States. However, there are important events around the world, such as in the People's States of Mexico, Chile, and Argentina, and piracy at sea.

Plot

The novel's plot is split into three sections. The first two sections, and to some extent the last, follow Dagny Taggart, a no-nonsense railroad executive, and her attempt to keep the company alive despite repeated encroachment by a society falling toward collectivism/altruism/statism. All throughout the novel people repeat a platitude Dagny greatly resents: "Who is John Galt?" It is a reflection of their helplessness, as the saying means "Don't ask important questions, because they don't have answers."

The geniuses of the world seem to be disappearing, and the apparent decline of civilization is making it more and more difficult for her to sustain her life-long aspirations of running the trans-continental railroad, which has been in her family for several generations. She deals with other characters such as Hank Rearden, a self-made businessman of great integrity whose career is hindered by his false feelings of obligation towards his wife. Francisco d'Anconia, Dagny's childhood friend, first love, and king of the copper industry, appears to have become a worthless playboy who is purposely destroying his business.

As the novel progresses: the myths about the real John Galt, as well as Francisco d'Anconia's actions, increasingly become a reflection of the state of the culture, and seem to make more and more sense; and, Hank and Dagny begin to experience the futility of their attempts to survive in a society that hates them and those like them for their greatness.

During their plight, Dagny and Hank find the remnants of a motor that turns atmospheric static electricity into kinetic energy, an astounding feat; they also find evidence that the minds (the "Atlases") of the world are disappearing because of one particular "destroyer" taking them away. Dagny and Hank deal with the irrationalities and apparent contradictions of their atmosphere, and search for the creator of the motor as well as "the destroyer" who is draining the world of its prime movers, in an effort to secure their ability to live rational lives.

The question "Who is John Galt?" is also answered towards the closing of the novel - John Galt is a man disgusted that non-productive members of society use laws and guilt to leech from the value created by productive members of society. He made a pledge that he will never live his life for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for him, and founded an enclave, separate from the rest of the country, where he and other productive members of society have fled.

• Characters

Social Concepts in Atlas Shrugged

Sanction of the Victim

The Sanction of the Victim is defined as "the willingness of the good to suffer at the hands of the evil, to accept the role of sacrificial victim for the 'sin' of creating values."

The entire story of Atlas Shrugged can be seen as an answer to the question, what would happen if this sanction was revoked? When Atlas shrugs, relieving himself of the burden of carrying the world, he is revoking his sanction.

The concept is supposedly original in the thinking of Ayn Rand and is foundational to her moral theory. She holds that evil is a parasite on the good and can only exist if the good tolerates it. To quote from Galt's Speech: "Evil is impotent and has no power but that which we let it extort from us", and, "I saw that evil was impotent...and the only weapon of its triumph was the willingness of the good to serve it." Morality requires that we do not sanction our own victimhood, Rand claims. In adhering to this concept, Rand assigns virtue to the trait of selfishness.

Throughout Atlas Shrugged, numerous characters admit that there is something wrong with the world but they cannot put their finger on what it is. The concept they cannot grasp is the sanction of the victim. The first person to grasp the concept is John Galt, who vows to stop the motor of the world by getting the creators of the world to withhold their sanction.

We first glimpse the concept in section 121 when Hank Rearden feels he is duty-bound to support his family, despite their hostility towards him.

In section 146 the principle is stated explicitly by Dan Conway: "I suppose somebody's got to be sacrificed. If it turned out to be me, I have no right to complain."

Social classes

Atlas Shrugged conveys the impression of endorsing a natural, if not political, aristocracy. However, the characters' positive or negative assessment appears to be due to their productivity and moral integrity, and is not necessarily reflected in their class background. Different social classes are represented among both the heroes and the villains of Atlas Shrugged. Among the heroes, John Galt and Hank Rearden are from working class backgrounds, while Dagny Taggart and Francisco d'Anconia are from wealthy families. Among the villains, Fred Kinnan is from a working class background, while James Taggart and Betty Pope are from wealthy families.

Theory of Sex

In rejecting the traditional altruistic moral code, Rand also rejects the sexual code that, in her view, is a logical implication of altruism.

Rand introduces a theory of sex in Atlas Shrugged which is purportedly implied by her broader ethical and psychological theories. Far from being a debasing animal instinct, sex is the highest celebration of our greatest values. Sex is a physical response to intellectual and spiritual values – a mechanism for giving concrete expression to values that could otherwise only be experienced in the abstract.

One is sexually attracted to those who embody one's values. Those who have base values will be attracted to baseness, to those who also have ignoble values. Those who lack any clear purpose will find sex devoid of meaning. People of high values will respond sexually to those who embody high values.

The general idea of sexual desire as a response to the embodiment of our values is reminiscent of Socrates's speech in Plato's Symposium.

This sexual theory is illustrated in the contrasting relationships of Hank Rearden with Lillian Rearden and Dagny Taggart, and later with Dagny Taggart and John Galt.

Other important illustrations of this theory are found in:

• Section 152 – recounts Dagny's relationship with Francisco d'Anconia.
• Section 161 – recounts Hank and Lillian Rearden's courtship, and Lillian's attitude towards sex.
• Section 231 – recounts the value for value basis of Dagny's seemingly unconditional love for Rearden

Companies

The companies in Atlas Shrugged are generally divided into two groups: those that are operated by sympathetic characters are given the name of the owner, while companies operated by evil or incompetent characters are given generic names. Those who use their own names to name their companies become Strikers, with the minor exception of Mr. Ayers of the Ayers Music Publishing Company.

Hank Rearden's companies are all named after him; Wyatt Oil after Ellis Wyatt; and Taggart Transcontinental and d'Anconia Copper are named after their founders (and, being family-held, their present owners). Hammond Motors and Ayers Music Publishing are also presented as competent.

Orren Boyle named his government-dependent, influence-peddling company Associated Steel. The Phoenix-Durango railroad had also been insignificant, until it prospered accidentally, because of Ellis Wyatt's energy, and Taggart Transcontinental's failure to maintain the Rio Norte Line. A number of minor, but generically named, companies break contracts with Taggart Transcontinental, or otherwise let it down.

Comparison with real-life railways

It should be noted that in actuality there had never been a railway company such as Rand describes, maintaining tracks of its own all the way from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Rather, as noted in the Wikipedia page on Transcontinental railroads, in the United States, the term transcontinental railroad usually refers to a line over the Rocky Mountains between the Midwest and Pacific Ocean, and such companies tend to have the area of the Mississippi River as a transfer point with other companies active in the East.

This turns out to be more advantegous economically, an Eastern company prefering not to ally itself with a particular Western company but keep the choice of sending traffic over the most profitable of the various Western lines (and vice versa). It had been like that since the advent of railways in the Nineteenth Century, and is still true—two of the present major Class I railroads have systems east of the Mississippi, while the other two major ones are mainly west of the Mississippi.

In the book, Taggart Transcontinental is in the later part of the book driven to act in this manner and rely on other companies for the western part of its traffic; that is, however, an emergency measure which is part of the gradual collpase of the company (and the entire world) and Dagny is far from pleased with the need to resort to it.

Fictional technology

Because the book centers on industrial capitalism, Ayn Rand mentions many technologies throughout the book. In addition to normal technologies, she introduces several fictional inventions, including refractor rays (Gulch mirage), Rearden Metal, a sonic death ray ("Project X"), voice activated door locks (Gulch power station), motors powered by static electricity, palm-activated door locks (Galt's NY lab), shale-oil drilling, and a nerve-induction torture machine.

She also refers, however, to the "screech" of a traffic-signal, implying that it signals by moving flags on mechanical arms, which was already old-fashioned when the book was written.

Rearden Metal

Rearden metal is a fictitious metal alloy invented by Hank Rearden. It is lighter than traditional steel but stronger, and is to steel what steel was to iron. It is described as greenish-blue. Among its ingredients are iron and copper.

Initially no one is willing to use Rearden metal because no one wants to stick his neck out and be the first to try it. Finally, Dagny Taggart places an order for Rearden Metal when she needs rails to rebuild the dying Rio Norte Line.

Project X

Project X is an invention of the scientists at the State Science Institute, requiring tons of Rearden Metal. It is a sonic weapon, capable of destroying everything in a 100-mile radius. The scientists claim that the project will be used to preserve peace and squash rebellion. It is destroyed towards the end of the book, and emits a sonic pulse that destroys everything in the surrounding area, including Cuffy Meigs and Dr. Stadler, as well as the Taggart Bridge.

Galt's Motor

John Galt invented a new type of electrical apparatus described in the book as a motor. This motor generates energy from static electricity; since it is designed to provide its own power as long as it is activated, it is a type of perpetual motion machine.

Dagny discovers a discarded prototype of the motor and it is superficially described in section Part 1, Chapter 9. Galt shows Dagny the motor and describes it in Part 3, Chapter 1.

Galt's Speech

John Galt's speech is the philosophical core of Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged. In it, Rand lays out, through the novel's hero, John Galt, her philosophy of Objectivism. The speech encompasses metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and politics.

Format

The speech is extremely long, spanning 56 pages in one paperback edition, with only one interruption, which occurs after the first paragraph. It is largely written in the second person.

Place in Atlas

Template:Spoiler Galt's speech is the longest of several long speeches appearing in Atlas. It appears in the aptly titled chapter "This is John Galt Speaking," appearing in the third section of the book: A is A. The question "Who is John Galt?" which begins the novel is answered to many characters, although it was previously answered to the reader.

Reception

Atlas Shrugged was reviewed shortly after its publication in 1957 in Christian Science Monitor, New York Herald Tribune, Commonweal, New York Times, Catholic World, The New Yorker, American Mercury, Atlantic Monthly, Saturday Review, Human Events, Newsweek, Time and National Review. The initial reviews were largely negative, criticizing both the book's literary qualities and its political vision. Arguably, the bulk of critical discussion has focused on the latter. As Thomas Reed Whissen has said, “Rand's critics say that she cannot write, but one senses in such an indictment more of a political than a literary posture; for surely the enduring success of The Fountainhead --not to mention the enormously popular Atlas Shrugged --cannot be attributed to her philosophy alone. Her style may be somewhat overwrought and her characters cardboard, but she is a genius at plotting, and she knows how to tell a story.”

The conservative magazine National Review commissioned a highly critical review (by Whittaker Chambers) arguing against the novel's implicit endorsement of atheism whereby "Randian man, like Marxian man is made the center of a godless world." In response, the Objectivist magazine The Intellectual Activist argued that Chambers did not actually read the novel..

Another conservative, philosopher Russell Kirk, is said to have complained that people read her novels "for the fornicating bits."

Writer and former Objectivist George Saunders claims that the mentality of Atlas Shrugged is very similar to neoconservativism. He says the book tells people they are special without giving any proof of it, and equates weakness with evil. He also claims that "Ayn Rand writes bad prose".

Political critic Arianna Huffington asserts that Rand's vision of businessmen in Atlas Shrugged differs from how they act in reality. Rand's businessman is one "who earns what he gets and does not give or take the undeserved" and "does not ask to be paid for his failures, nor does he ask to be loved for his flaws", which, according to Huffington, contradicts with how modern CEOs act, especially in the case of the Enron scandal. The answer given by Rand supporters is that she does not imply, in Atlas Shrugged or elsewhere, that most businessmen live up to this ideal in practice. This, however, is reminiscent of the argument (which was totally and outspokenly rejected by Rand) that Socialism is a good ideology and only its implementation in the Soviet Union and elsewhere was faulty.

Former Ayn Rand associate Nathaniel Branden argues that Atlas Shrugged "encourages emotional repression and self-disowning" and that it, along with Rand's other major Objectivist novel, The Fountainhead, contains contradictory messages. Though he notes that the book shows that Rand understood the human need for social interaction, Branden claims that "rarely you find the heroes and heroine talking to each other on a simple, human level without launching into philosophical sermons," which he believes is used to increase the reader's self-alienation. He further questions the psychological impact of the novel stating that John Galt's claim that contempt and moral condemnation are appropriate responses to wrongdoing clashes with the recommendations of psychologists, who say that this kind of behavior only causes the wrongdoing to repeat itself.

On the other hand, Howard Dickman of Reader's Digest wrote that the novel had "turned millions of readers on to the ideas of liberty" and said that the book had the important message of the readers' "profound right to be happy." The libertarian Cato Institute held a conference to celeberate the fortieth anniversary of the publication of Atlas Shrugged. Conservative Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Clarence Thomas cites Atlas Shrugged as among his favorite novels, as does neolibertarian Larry Elder.[1]

Chip Mellor of the libertarian Institute for Justice writes that "Whether they have adopted her philosophy wholeheartedly or found her writings of more transitory interest, countless individuals working to secure liberty have found inspiration in the works of Ayn Rand. With her unique ability to depict heroism, idealism, and romance behind the creativity of the individual, Rand inspires readers to come to the defense of free minds and free markets. [2]"

In a three-month online poll of reader selections of the hundred best books of the twentieth century, administered by publisher Modern Library, Atlas Shrugged was voted number one, ahead of The Fountainhead, Battlefield Earth, and The Lord of the Rings, while the list chosen by the Modern Library panel of authors and scholars contains no works by Rand. Because Battlefield Earth and two other books by science fiction writer and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard were in the top ten, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ray Jenkins compares Rand's popularity to that of Hubbard, calling her "a goddess of a great American cult." He goes on to state that her works were "ignored or deplored by the critics of the day" and that even the most dedicated fans find Galt's sixty-page speech to be "heavy slogging."

Literary critic Harold Bloom found Atlas Shrugged and Rand's other fiction to have enough significance to include her in a critical anthology he edited, American Women Fiction Writers, 1900-1960, Vol. Three, (Chelsea House, 1998). The C-Span television series "American Writers" listed Rand as one of twenty-two surveyed figures of American literature in the twentieth century, though making primary mention of The Fountainhead rather than Atlas Shrugged.

Film adaptation

Rights to the novel Atlas Shrugged were purchased by the Baldwin Entertainment Group in 2003. Lions Gate has picked up worldwide distribution rights, and James V. Hart is writing the screenplay; Angelina Jolie has been confirmed to play the role of Dagny Taggart, and Brad Pitt is rumored to be cast as John Galt. . Both are fans of Rand's works.

Two works of Rand's – The Fountainhead and We the Living – have been adapted into movies so far.

Atlas Shrugged in popular culture

In the first episode of the libertarian/dystopian science fiction television series The Prisoner, the protagonist "No. 6" is briefly shown gazing upwards at a statue of Atlas carrying the world.

In the South Park episode Chicken Lover, Officer Barbrady reads Atlas Shrugged after overcoming his illiteracy. He later states to the town that after reading this book, he never plans to read again because of it.

WhoIsJohnGalt is a cheat code in Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft III. The cheat speeds up research of new technologies.

In the Marvel comic book X-Factor, the mysterious, precognitive teenage character Layla Miller is seen reading Atlas Shrugged, which makes the other characters slightly uneasy.

See also

• We the Living
• Anthem (novella)
• The Fountainhead
• Ayn Rand
• Objectivism (Ayn Rand)
• Laissez-faire capitalism
• Dystopia
• Transcontinental railroad

Further reading

Publications

• Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand; Signet; (September 1996) ISBN 0-451-19114-5
• Atlas Shrugged (Cliffs Notes), Andrew Bernstein; Cliffs Notes; (June 5, 2000) ISBN 0-7645-8556-8
• The World of Atlas Shrugged, Robert Bidinotto/The Objectivist Center; HighBridge Company; (April 19, 2001) ISBN 1-56511-471-X
• Atlas Shrugged: Manifesto of the Mind (Twayne's Masterwork Studies, No. 174) Mimi Reisel Gladstein; Twayne Pub; (June 2000) ISBN 0-8057-1638-6
• The Moral Revolution in Atlas Shrugged, Nathaniel Branden; The Objectivist Center; (July 1999) ISBN 1-57724-033-2
• Odysseus, Jesus, and Dagny, Susan McCloskey; The Objectivist Center; (August 1, 1998) ISBN 1-57724-025-1

Foreign translations

• German: Wer ist John Galt? (Hamburg, Germany: GEWIS Verlag), ISBN 3-932564-03-0.
• Italian: La rivolta di Atlante, 2 vol. (Milano, Garzanti, 1958), Out of print. Translator: Laura Grimaldi
• Japanese: 肩をすくめるアトラス 　(ビジネス社), ISBN 4-8284-1149-6. Translator: 脇坂 あゆみ.
• Norwegian: De som beveger verden. (Kagge Forlag, 2000), ISBN 82-489-0083-5 (hardcover), ISBN 82-489-0169-6 (paperback). Translator: John Erik Bøe Lindgren.
• Polish: Atlas Zbuntowany (Zysk i S-ka, 2004), ISBN 83-7150-969-3 (Twarda). Translator: Iwona Michałowska.
• Portuguese: Quem é John Galt? (Editora Expressão e Cultura), ISBN 85-208-0248-6 (paperback). Translator: Paulo Henriques Britto.
• Spanish: La Rebelion de Atlas. (Editorial Grito Sagrado), ISBN 987-20951-0-8 (hardcover), ISBN 987-20951-1-6 (paperback).
• Swedish: Och världen skälvde. (Timbro Förlag, 2005), ISBN 91-7566-556-5. Translator: Maud Freccero.
• Turkish: Atlas Vazgeçti. (Plato Yayınları, 2003), ISBN 975-96772-6-1. Translator: Belkıs Çorapçı.

Reviews

• A negative review from the December 28, 1957 issue of National Review by Whittaker Chambers.
• A critique of the Chambers review, claiming that Chambers did not actually read the novel
• A blog with a review in the archive and past in-depth Chapter-by-Chapter, Motif-by-Motif, etc. analysis.

Satires and parodies

• "Telemachus Sneezed" within Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminatus! Trilogy (Search for "Taffy Rhinestone" in the former link to read the spoof.)
• The Abridged Atlas Shrugged – a thousand pages distilled into about a thousand words.
• Atlas Shr, a look at parallel universes wherein all of Ayn Rand's books are four hundred pages shorter
• Elvis Shrugged, an early '90s comic book miniseries published by Revolutionary Comics in which popular entertainers Elvis Presley, a cyborg Frank Sinatra, Frank Zappa, Madonna, Spike Lee, and others take the place of various Atlas Shrugged counterparts.
• Oscar Shrugged, a depiction of the first film festival held in Galt's Gulch
• Atlas Shrugged 2: One Hour Later, starring Bob the Angry Flower

External links

• Wikibooks synopsis Atlas Shrugged
• Excerpt from Atlas Shrugged at the ARI
• Atlas Shrugged at IMDb
• Atlas Shrugged movie news at The Atlas Society
• Atlas Shrugged's cover illustrator Nick Gaetano at Quent Cordair Fine Art
• The Annual Atlas Shrugged Essay Contest