Alex Williams Reaction 8

The final chapters of Part 2 of Atlas Shrugged seemed the same as the others to me, leading up to something greater. The first chapter of Part 3 answered the questions left by Ragnar’s visit to Hank and all the things I wondered as I read the book, but also left me with even more unanswered questions. 

            First of all, I thought that the revelation of this city, “Atlantis”, according to Dagny, was pretty predictable. Rand left foreshadowing all over the book. However, I did not expect it to be the way that it is.

            It seems that all the business leaders and the top professionals settled there, and even if they’re all working towards their own goals, I didn’t expect it to be like it is. Even though some are working in their own fields, such as Richard Halsey and Midas Mulligan, others, like Lawrence Hammond, are working at a grocery store instead of continuing their old line of work, or Dwight Sanders as a farmer. They say that they are all free to follow their own pursuits and nothing is free there, then how can some of them afford to do this? Also, if John Galt’s motor runs everything, why is Ellis Wyatt working with oil? What would they need with oil? Also, it seems that the best have a monopoly on their particular industry in this town. This seems great for efficiency. However it seems too idealistic. Andrew Stockton says he will work for Hank when he arrives. If there are only monopolies, what’s to stop someone from ripping everyone off? Even though they all seem happy working together for their town (seems like their own “public good”), they are after all selfish industrialists according to Rand. I don’t see anything wrong with this, but I find it very contradictory. All these people who moved here to escape from serving the socialists, but they’re all sort of working for their own version of the public good. I assume that this is Rand’s version of paradise, as she mentions Dagny woke up and thought she was in heaven, but I think it all contradicts itself to a certain degree.

            I found this new town very interesting and it answered many of the questions I had, but with 300 pages left of this book, I’m really curious to see what will happen. I think that somehow all these people will beat the socialists and there will be a version of a happy ending by Rand.