Atlas Shrugged Reaction (Whole Book): Libby Evans

I have never read a book like Atlas Shrugged. Sure I have read things with a political bias, but none as blatantly capitalist as this book. Though it was stressful trying to finish the book on time, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The romance, the conflict/mystery, the drama, it is anything you could ever hope for in a book (at least depending on what genre you like). Ayn Rand is the author of this book and should be commended for her fantastic work. You may think at 1000+ pages a book would get boring and repetitive, but Rand ingeniously made it so that each answer to a question just left the reader with two more questions. Every action of the characters all has significance and eventually effects all other characters. Such would be Dagny’s relationship with Francisco when she was younger affecting the current one she had with Rearden, which then complicated things between her and John Galt. The never ending trouble in love, soon turned into a love square (one step up in complication from a love triangle).

           Throughout the story people suddenly go missing, and it isn’t until 12 years later that Dagny pieces it together that a person deemed the destroyer is the cause of it all. Of course, when she meets this destroyer, it seems only fitting that he then seems to be destroyer for her by trying to make her chose between her beloved railroad, and a somewhat utopia in Colorado. How does Rand come up with this? She has taken characters which besides the confusion surrounding them, had the depth of a puddle on the street and has given the emotional depth of an ocean. Dagny has evolved from an unpopular business woman with an unknown past, to the only thing keeping the rail road afloat leaving the hearts of 3 men in her path. However, I cannot say my opinion of Jim or anyone of the other Washington boys improved over time. In fact, I disliked them more, despite the few times I pitied them. Jim remained a sniveling whiney little coward, but I did sympathize with his being overshadowed by his sister and feeling as if no one understood him. However, these brief moments were always ruined by his opening his mouth. I had similar pity towards Lillian, what with her unrequited love. However, her determination to ruin her husband and her overall awfulness ruined such moments. The Washington boys had no moments of pity, just frustration and immense annoyance towards everything they said and did. I mean, do they actually think it was a good idea to give preference to some foreign countries economy even though it was destroying their own? Also, the fact that they thought incompetence was means enough to take money from the rich in the name of general welfare was baffling. Some of the worst phrases they all said were whining about how it was not their fault and they did not have enough power (courtesy of Mouch) and saying that it was not their job (said by too many to count). Just thinking about it annoys me.

          Then moving on to the love square, Rand seems to have correlated all major events with Dagny’s relationship and business life. With Francisco, Dagny was still young and full of potential just as Francisco. She was not as experienced as in life same as in love. Dagny was just climbing up in power in the rail road business. When Francisco left her, Dagny became more focused on her work and bringing the railroad to a new level of success despite under Jim’s control. Then with the start of Dagny’s relationship with Rearden (which was the destruction of his marriage with Lillian), was the beginning of the destruction of all business. A love which developed between the two, all the while people were deserting their jobs and factories were being shut down. Then entrance of John Galt, Dagny’s railroad is near completed destruction. While she parades around flirting with Galt in the business utopia in Colorado, Taggart Transcontinental was on its way out. It was interesting to find out what happened with each relationship she entered.

         What was one of the most rewarding things about reading the book was having all the troublesome questions answered. In the beginning, the question was just what had happened to make Dagny the way she was and what happened between her and Francisco. When that was answered if lead to the question as to what Francisco’s secret was. I was kept on my toes throughout the book and happily surprised with the unexpected outcomes.