This is not a post reviewing a book. These are my notes on Atlas Shrugged which I'll keep editing and updating. Perhaps a second reading might enable me to understand fully what Ayn wishes to say, and subsequently accept or refute her arguments and write a review.
#Page 97. Conversation between James Taggart and Francisco
d'Anconia. James asks Frisco to learn certain ideals, be selfless. That his
inheritence is not for his personal pleasure and he should think of the
underpriviledged. Read this with the conversation between James and Francisco
on page 94. James questions Francisco's obsession with earning money.
Francisco replies he wants to be able to afford the price for admission in the
heavens. On page 98, Francisco justifies his conduct to Dagny Taggart. For
him, the code of competence is the only system of morality, everything else is
just sham in the name of ethics.
It is curious to note that Rand makes a very ingenious
argument for the case of Capitalism- that earning money is the greatest virtue,
and being competent in one's job is the highest ethic. The argument, in my
opinion, missed a crucial link in establishing Capitalism as the act of human
greatness. It is no doubt of utmost important to give your best to the society.
Afterall, how is the society supposed to function effectively unless everyone
is excellent at the work he does. But vices and vile acts are as important for
the society to function in an effective manner. There is a reason Utopia cannot
exist. You cannot walk if the surface is too smooth. Friction, although in
theory impediments motion, keeps you from falling. However, even if we consider
self competence to be the greatest virtue, I fail to see how that justifies
minting money for personal pleasure, though making money might be a consequence
of your competence at the job. Rand has, till page 111 failed to convince me
how and why self competence and sensitivity to public good cannot co exist. It
justifies Dagny's attitude towards James when he cites public good to oppose
policies that would benefit the railroad company. She wishes to be competent at
the job and this competence requires her to be immune to public service. But
isn't her competence in the end going to give better railroad services to the
country- the only 'ends' that could justify her 'means'. In my opinion, self
competence motivated by a greed for earning money for the sake of earning money
is the utmost crime that can be perpetrated in today's society. Only two kinds
of competence can be allowed to exist- one that exists because the individual
exhilerates in being competent, because being the best is the only goal in his
life and money is just a card in the game, and the other that is motivated by
giving the society the best service that is possible, where social good of the
best standard is the ultimate aim.
#Rand should've written romance novels as well. She would
have created a whole new genre of romance. The love between a man and a woman
in her novels is founded on higher and more evolved emotions like beauty, lust,
soulmates or kindred spirit. Her love is based on the need to be together. As
if one's existence is justified and complimented and finds the raw expression
of being in the others presence. It is instinctive, crude and in a very twisted
way-innocent. The conversation between Dagny and Francisco on page 97 somehow
reminded me of the 'always' in Harry Potter. But the difference is of such
stark brightness that it is almost indecent to think about both of them in a
single plane of thought. Somehow, it is more adult and passionate.
#Women in Rand's novels are always a figure of rebellion. Be
it Dominique Francon or Dagny Taggart. They are fragile beings, delicate to
touch but defying their own brittle existence in every act they do. They are
powerful figures. Not necessarily liked, but definitely sought after. They are
perfect. They are warriors. The description of Dagny in her first ball dance at
page 101- a bold, beautiful, powerful and dangerous woman. Innocent yet aware,
free of compunctions, determined to question the cynical society, waiting to
break all rules, enjoying in others shock at her indecent behavious, in her
refusal to conform to conventional act, in her affinity for the taboo. Fearless
because she knows she can conquer anyone and everyone- the Alpha Female.
#Page 380- Never before has anyone defended the paper so
vehemently. It is when a certain Bertram Scudder, one of the many tiny
components of Rand's super villain, comments, 'You know, money is the root of
all evil...', that the-could-have-been protagonist Francisco d'Anconia argues
for the case of the paper, questioning all premises, making a connection
between money, to those who make money
to those who have the capacity to make that money juxtapositioning such money-
makers who produce goods with their ability to think, to develop against
looters who use guns, and moochers who use tears. He makes the statement in a
tone of absolute confidence- 'Wealth is the product of man's capacity to
think.'
