Either-Or
This post is a few days late as I've been bombarded with preparations for LeakyCon and with getting my 70 new students settled in their online classes. If you're on schedule, you should be well into Part 3 by now. However, this post is just going to deal with Part 2: Either-Or.
Part 1 ended with Ellis Wyatt's middle finger to the world: "I'm leaving it as I found it. Take over. It's yours."
Part 2 is where things REALLY start to fall apart. Genius businessmen around the country have started disappearing at an alarming rate, Taggert Transcontinental is amputating diseased limbs to stay alive, and Rearden Steel is suffocating under regulations and government greed... and James Taggert married a gal from the perfume counter at the five and dime. Wait, did that happen in this section? I can't remember. It's all blurring into one story.
There were some great scenes in this section. I loved Hank's court scene, where he refuses to acknowledge the court's authority to exist. A small snippet (that I really hope doesn't infringe on any copyright laws):
One of the judges, acting as prosecutor, had read the charges. "You may now offer whatever plea you wish to make in your own defense," he announced.
Facing the platform, his voice inflectionless and peculiarly clear, Hank Rearden answered:
"I have no defense."
"Do you--" The judge stumbled; he had not expected it to be that easy. "Do you throw yourself upon the mercy of this court?"
"I do not recognize this court's right to try me."
"What?"
"I don not recognize this court's right to try me."
"But, Mr. Rearden, this is the legally appointed court to try this particular category of crime."
"I do not recognize my action as a crime."
"But you have admitted that you have broken our regulations controlling the sale of your Metal."
"I do not recognize your right to control the sale of my Metal."
That man is a genius. I love him.
Here's another great excerpt, this time from James' discussion with the board:
"There's been enough invented already--enough for everybody's comfort--why should they be allowed to go on inventing? Why should we permit them to blast the ground from under our feet every few steps? Why should we be kept on the go in eternal uncertainty? Just because of a few restless, ambitious adventurers?..They've done nothing but harm, all through history."
I love this whole section (there's plenty more ranting about the suffering inflicted on the world by entrepreneurs) because it reminds me so much of the arguments today about taxing the wealthy. Here's an article which links to other articles on the subject: Can Taxing the Rich Erase the Deficit? I've always had a problem with this idea, even when I was a child. Punishing someone for making more money seems counter-productive to me. Here's a post I did last year on a similar issue.
And Part 2 is where we finally figure out what the title Atlas Shrugged is all about:
"Mr. Rearden," said Fransisco, his voice solemnly calm, "if you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater his effort the heavier the world bore down on his shoulders--what would you tell him to do?"
"I...don't know. What...could he do? What would you tell him?"
"To shrug."
Poor Atlas. I'd tell him to chuck the Earth as far from him as possible, go on vacation, and put a sign in his place: I'm leaving it as I found it.
Dagny is starting to irritate me. I wish she would just follow in Wyatt's footsteps and let Taggert Transcontinental die. I'm also irritated that she seems to still have feelings for Fransisco. As much as I am positive he has deep and true motivations for his actions (I'm sure he's a "good guy") I am also positive that Dagny and Hank belong together. Although I'm not sure Dagny will ever belong with ANYONE if she can't take her beloved railroad and drop it like it's hot. She's got more guts than I; I would just let the whole thing burn, and hope it takes all those lily-livered, hand-wringing, conniving politicians and bleeding-heart liberals down with it.
Part 2 ends with Dagny chasing after the one good thing left in her life: the motor. Of course, that looks like a lost cause too. That poor gal needs to take that little plane and fly to a private island somewhere and just let America fall into the abyss.
Part 1 ended with Ellis Wyatt's middle finger to the world: "I'm leaving it as I found it. Take over. It's yours."
There were some great scenes in this section. I loved Hank's court scene, where he refuses to acknowledge the court's authority to exist. A small snippet (that I really hope doesn't infringe on any copyright laws):
One of the judges, acting as prosecutor, had read the charges. "You may now offer whatever plea you wish to make in your own defense," he announced.
Facing the platform, his voice inflectionless and peculiarly clear, Hank Rearden answered:
"I have no defense."
"Do you--" The judge stumbled; he had not expected it to be that easy. "Do you throw yourself upon the mercy of this court?"
"I do not recognize this court's right to try me."
"What?"
"I don not recognize this court's right to try me."
"But, Mr. Rearden, this is the legally appointed court to try this particular category of crime."
"I do not recognize my action as a crime."
"But you have admitted that you have broken our regulations controlling the sale of your Metal."
"I do not recognize your right to control the sale of my Metal."
That man is a genius. I love him.
Here's another great excerpt, this time from James' discussion with the board:
"There's been enough invented already--enough for everybody's comfort--why should they be allowed to go on inventing? Why should we permit them to blast the ground from under our feet every few steps? Why should we be kept on the go in eternal uncertainty? Just because of a few restless, ambitious adventurers?..They've done nothing but harm, all through history."
I love this whole section (there's plenty more ranting about the suffering inflicted on the world by entrepreneurs) because it reminds me so much of the arguments today about taxing the wealthy. Here's an article which links to other articles on the subject: Can Taxing the Rich Erase the Deficit? I've always had a problem with this idea, even when I was a child. Punishing someone for making more money seems counter-productive to me. Here's a post I did last year on a similar issue.
And Part 2 is where we finally figure out what the title Atlas Shrugged is all about:
"Mr. Rearden," said Fransisco, his voice solemnly calm, "if you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater his effort the heavier the world bore down on his shoulders--what would you tell him to do?"
"I...don't know. What...could he do? What would you tell him?"
"To shrug."
Poor Atlas. I'd tell him to chuck the Earth as far from him as possible, go on vacation, and put a sign in his place: I'm leaving it as I found it.
Dagny is starting to irritate me. I wish she would just follow in Wyatt's footsteps and let Taggert Transcontinental die. I'm also irritated that she seems to still have feelings for Fransisco. As much as I am positive he has deep and true motivations for his actions (I'm sure he's a "good guy") I am also positive that Dagny and Hank belong together. Although I'm not sure Dagny will ever belong with ANYONE if she can't take her beloved railroad and drop it like it's hot. She's got more guts than I; I would just let the whole thing burn, and hope it takes all those lily-livered, hand-wringing, conniving politicians and bleeding-heart liberals down with it.
Part 2 ends with Dagny chasing after the one good thing left in her life: the motor. Of course, that looks like a lost cause too. That poor gal needs to take that little plane and fly to a private island somewhere and just let America fall into the abyss.
1 comments:
The part with Hank in the courtroom is a favorite of mine.
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