Finishing Atlas Shrugged and
annotating the last page was probably one of the greatest feelings ever. I
would have never guessed I would ever read a 1070 page book, and now that I
have done it, I see it wasn’t all that bad. This is because the story was good.
It was one of the best books I have ever read. Ayn Rand kept me interested in
the story even after 700 pages of it. There were always problems to be solved,
new people to meet, and jaw dropping, insightful philosophies from Ayn Rand
herself. Rand gives the reader multiple messages to be interpreted. I agreed
with some and disagreed with others. Nonetheless, her well developed
characters, which were the ones carrying out her philosophies, kept me
intrigued in the story. I went from really admiring one character, to hating
him by the end of the novel. I think it’s interesting how Rand was able to make
me change my mind about things. I feel like now I do not see life as I did
before, I now have much different expectations from people.
In
the beginning of the novel, I was not fond of Dagny Taggart whatsoever. In
fact, I disliked all her philosophies. Dagny to me was too focused on her work.
It was as if she had no heart and only cared about her job and things of the
sort. I felt the same about Hank Rearden. The way he treated his family
disgusted me. I could not imagine treating any family member like that, and I
felt sorry for his mother, wife and brother. James Taggart, on the other hand,
was my favorite. When James was young, he would speak of how wrong it was to be
concerned only with money. I agreed with him completely. I also think money is
not all there is too life. Characters like Dagny and Hank think the opposite.
They think hard work is most important, and if you work hard for it, the money
is rightfully yours. I had a tough time understanding that part of Rand’s
philosophy. Rand believes that it is important for one to be selfish in life.
She implies through her novel that selfishness is part of who we are and how we
are born and we should remain that way. At first I completely objected that way
of thinking. I thought humans should not be selfish at all; in fact we should
try being selflessness. As I continued reading the novel, however, my point of
view slowly changed. I started understanding why Rand believes we should be
selfish. First, it is part of our nature. Humans are animals, and like animals,
it is only natural for us to worry first about ourselves. We shouldn’t try and
change who we really are. Second, if we work hard for something, it is only
natural that we want to keep it. For example, Hank Rearden and John Galt,
worked extremely hard all of their lives to improve America. And what did
America do in return? It tried to take away some of Rearden’s and Galt’s accomplishments.
When they objected, the country started to call them greedy, and publicized in
a way that made it seem like they actually were being greedy. This brings me to
talk about another subject that Rands book taught me about. And that is the
Government. I learned much about the government through her book, and how
corrupt it can me. It is common for people to act certain ways only because of
jealousy. It is also possible for government officials to manipulate the public
into believing one thing that is completely wrong (just like they did with Hank
and John Galt). It upset me to see how corrupt a government can become.
However, it is interesting to read about it through the point of view of mostly
important influential businessmen.
After reading Ayn Rand’s novel, I
have different expectations from humans. I can now understand the concept of
selfishness. I also see that to live, people must have ambitions, and wishes
they want to achieve. Without that, life becomes meaningless and pointless. I
can really connect with that and see where Rand is coming from. Finishing the
book was bitter sweet. The book taught me so much, things I will keep with me
for the rest of my life. Hopefully, Rand’s story will never apply to the world
today, but if it does, I will now know what to do.
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