Finally got past that stupid
postcard in the book and was rewarded with drama beyond compare. First, I learn
of Dagny and Rearden’s meeting which seemed to be love/lust at first sight. At
least on Rearden’s part. Rearden admits to himself his love for Dagny and
demands a lawyer find grounds for him to divorce his wife. Things take a turn
towards the confusing when none other than the pirate Ragnar Danneskjold. Even
more confusing and yet intriguing, is when he gives Rearden a block of gold
claiming it is his. Apparently, Rearden has a hefty bank account waiting for
him. Rearden refuses to accept anything the pirate has to offer, but is taken
with him. So far Rearden has a pattern of alliancing himself with the so called
bad guys (Francisco and now Ragnar).
Back to Taggart Transcontinental,
the business world seems to be crumbling. James is unable to run the railroad
and the new vice president, Lochey is much worse than incompetent. Tragedy strikes
when the Comet Diesel train loses its engine when it hits a split rail. All the
new appointees seem to be cowards which refuse to make a decision. Some pushy idiot
politician aboard decides to put pressure on them thinking that will magically
make the train start moving. What follows is a bunch of yelling and anxiety and
cowardice all in the effort of pushing the blame to someone else and not
getting caught giving orders. The stupid Mitchum who was in charge decides to
shift the blame onto the Brent who rightly quit his job right then and there. And
then the engineer quit. This was all because Mitchum was too stupid to realize
if a coal burning train goes through a tunnel all the people on board such
train will suffocate. Then Mitchum disgustingly places the responsibility on
the poor message boy there who did not know who he should listen to. Then of
course the intoxicated conductor there decides it is a good idea to drive the
train. The sad and obvious end was the people on the train dying of suffocation
due to the arrogance, incompetence, and cowardice of many contributors. Later
on, Jim is happy to shift the blame to his sister for everything that has
happened all due to the fact that she resigned.
Then what do you know, the love
triangle returns. Francisco makes an unexpected visit to Dagny when she was
hiding out in the country. She realizes his feelings for her, and to her fear she’s
for him. Francisco is finally able to tell her his reasons for his business
failures. However, she leaves when she learns of the rail road accident. When
Dagny returns everything gains a twinge of pain and sympathy for Francisco who
learned that the woman he loved was with someone else and he was unable to be
with her (in addition to the pain he is causing her). Pity for Dagny who is
losing everything she values along with the men in her life. And perhaps a bit
for Rearden, but I am mostly just angry and annoyed with him right now for his
response to Francisco even though it was somewhat warranted.
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