Atlas Shrugged: A Brief Examination

Paper Summary:

"This paper shall examine three memorable quotations provided by the somewhat inscrutable protagonist of Ayn Rand? 1957 classic, Atlas Shrugged. The paper argues that Gault's quotations are intended to underscore Rand's own conclusion that the de-sanctification of private property, free-market competition, human ingenuity and creativity and, not least of all, societal standards of excellence will lead to tribalism, wide-scale mediocrity and inefficiency, and will excise a society of its essential vitality. In an age where big government remains an ever-present danger, Rand? work has lost none of its importance."

From the Paper:

The world that Ayn Rand crafts for us in Atlas Shrugged is a deeply disturbing one in which individual thought and creativity has been suppressed to such an extent that society itself has stopped moving forward. This paper reviews Rand's work by exploring three passages found on our assignment worksheet in which his views about the society he has fled are delineated. The importance of these passages to the text's underlying themes will be discussed in their appropriate sections. However, it may be said that Rand's John Gault, the man who effectively stopped the motor of the world, is the diabolical seer whose vision leads to a society of cynical indifference, mistrust, and spiritual vacuity. The story begins with Eddie Willers in a heated discussion with President James Taggart, of Taggart Transcontinental.

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