Marx was Right
Many thinkers have noted the foundations of Rand's ideas rest a great deal on Marx. While I am no expert one immediate similarity is striking. Marx wrote that Capitalism reduces human relationships to cash transactions in the market. Old ideas like caste, chivalry, christian charity and everything else that impedes business has been wiped out. Rand capitulates and encourages this point with full gusto early on. Notice the sequence of arguments James Taggart offers - faith in humanity, loyalty to a friend, helping the less fortunate - all blown apart by Dagny's assertions of business needs (with such grace there may as well be 'KAPOW' and 'JABLAMM' written after). Because James is using abstracts like loyalty and charity it seems clear Rand is attacking them as such. It seems as though she is setting the context in such a way that only monetary relationships ought to give our lives meaning.
Dagny's an Idiot
This caught my eye on rereading Atlas. We are first introduced to Dagny on board a stopped train. We learned previously that the railroad is in horrid shape, crashes are common and no one seems to be fixing them. Dagny's train has hit a stop sign at night. No one can tell her why this section has been stopped. Perhaps there is a problem? Busted track? A wreck? The crew are cautious, they don't want any injuries so they stop.
Mysterious stop sign at night, cautious crew, accidents everywhere...Dagny's solution? Pull rank and get that train on the move!
Her description of Dagny after almost getting everyone killed is jaw dropping. A young man stands in absolute awe and reverence and says "That's who runs Taggart Transcontinental"
Of course, by law of Rand, this remarkably stupid idea gets the train home on time.
The second instance of Dagny's mental disability comes in her second scene. No one has tested Rearden Metal, official scientific bodies are skeptical, the Board of Directors have not approved its use. But Dagny took a few engineering courses! She knows, like God Himself (or Herself as Rand is on Dagny's side), that Rearden Metal works perfectly.
Let's look at the history of steel in America for a second. Even after near a hundred years of production there have been major accidents. In 1948 in Donora PA, seventy people died of poisonous smog in a three day period, and that was after a century of making steel.
Dagny just knows that Rearden metal is perfectly safe and scuffs at the majority of scientists. She took a few courses and likes Hank's abs, why not go into mass nation wide production and stake the company's future on it?
A token thought about Hitler
The moment of Eddie by the tree shows Rand's three categories of persons - Culture Creators, Culture Bearers, and Culture Destroyers
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