Atlas Shrugged: Part 3

A is A

Finally! Here's the last post on Atlas Shrugged. So sorry for the delay (as if any of you actually cared), but the past month has been CRAZY.  At one point, I had 250 students.  I'm down to a reasonable number now, and can finally breathe.

For the record, I did finish the novel early by a few days.  So, if any of you are thinking the book is just too big an undertaking, know that it can be done.

On to analysis! Spoilers ahead!!!

This part of the novel opens with Dagny in Atlantis, under the watchful eye of THE John Galt.  I was starting to wonder if we were ever actually going to meet this man, and I'm conflicted about whether or not I'm satisfied with who he turned out to be.  On the one hand, I'm pleased that he is, in fact, just a man.  On the other hand, I liked having him as an icon.  Bruce Wayne said this in Batman Begins: As a man, I'm flesh and blood. I can be ignored, I can be destroyed. But as a symbol … as a symbol, I can be incorruptible. I can be everlasting.

That's my issue with John Galt, the man.  But, then again, there's something to be said for showing that anyone can start a revolution.  Even a guy who speaks to the nation for a full 3 hours. 

Seriously, Galt.  Three hours?   You should have taken a red pen to that speech before you got on the air.

This part of the novel is also where we see relationships and businesses crumble.  It's especially interesting to read this section in light of the recent issues with the debt ceiling and our budget.  Think of all the people demanding that OTHERS pay, that OTHERS provide. "I have a right to free services!"  Galt says," They proclaim that every man born is entitled to exist without labor and, the laws of reality to the contrary notwithstanding, is entitled to receive his 'minimum sustenance'--his food, his clothes, his shelter--with no effort on his part, as his due and his birthright.  To receive it--form whom?...Did you wonder what is wrong with the world?  You are now seeign the climax of the creed of the uncaused and unearned."

Nothing is free.

In a way, I envy the world of Atlas Shrugged.  True, that world has years of turmoil and rebuilding ahead of it, but it will--hopefully-- emerge from the wreckage cleansed and improved.