Luis Santos Reaction #9

This weeks reading of Atlas Shrugged really developed the characters even further. Especially James Taggart and Cherryl. When they first met, I was happy for them both. They seemed to really enjoy each others company and James was able to provide Cherryl with something she never had before: wealth. They seemed to be a perfect match for each other. After reading chapter 4 and 5 however, I got some details about their marriage that were not mentioned before. Basically their marriage is awful. They have a terrible communication system; all James does is scream at poor Cherryl. He does not understand that he is a failure and did absolutely nothing to help his company prosper. Furthermore, James will not tolerate the fact that his sister, a woman, is better than him at basically everything. Due to all these internal conflicts James ends up sleeping with Lillian Rearden. I dislike both characters. They both make me so angry. Lillian will not accept that her husband does not love her anymore. All she wants to do is get back at him. And James sleeps with Lillian simply as a way to vent his anger. What angered me even more was seeing Cherryl come home and hear both James and Lillian in James’ room talking. Then after, when confronting James about it, poor Cherryl was just screamed at and beaten down. The young girl was so conflicted; she jumped off into a lake, committing suicide. That was my least favorite part of the novel thus far. I got extremely upset because I knew her death could have been prevented if it weren’t for James. It made me even more upset when he would not admit to himself he was the cause of her death. Of course he was. She killed herself right after he told her he only married her because she was poor!

Dagny’s relationship with John Galt is also highlighted in this section of the novel. I was happy to see her with a man she really likes but at the same time I was a little confused. She says for the first time “I love you” to someone, and that someone is Galt. She then says he is the man she has always loved and searched for. But wasn’t she in love with Francisco and Hank also? Now that she is with Galt is she just going to forget about Rearden and move on? I am not sure where Dagny’s relationships will go and I cannot chose the man for her, they all gave up so much for her sake and they all seem to love her very much. I wonder who she will finally end up with.