The Extraordinary Potential of Man Revealed in Atlas Shrugged
Freewill is the tenet on which men founded the United States of America, and the glory of "America the Beautiful" stems from the unlocked potential of its people. The callused hands of the laborers sip from the cup of American wealth, not the lazy plowman demanding government help. The inventor's mind synthesizes, theorizes, and designs the American dream, not the indifferent, insolent mechanic. The steel will of the industrialists propels the nation to greater heights, not the selfish arrogance of the beggar. The men who carry the weight of the world, Atlas and his proteges, do so by their incredible strength, not because of weakness, just as Ayn Rand asserts in her
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The mighty dollar is criticized, and those who work for their own benefit are branded selfish and evil.
Dagny's brother, Jim Taggart, is infected, and works against her plans to expand Taggart Transcontinental. He claims his humanitarian conscience will not allow him to watch his sister conduct business with sucessful industrialists to the exclusion of less competitive and successful tycoons. As Dagny travels from the steel metropolis of New York to the deserts of the Southwest, Jim and his "Washington man" slow her attempts to bring prosperity to the fragmented company, while she also works on a new railroad line, the John Galt. Why should Dagny try to drive people out of business in her quest for financial success, Jim asks, if she has any sense of morality or responsibility for the American people?
Rand tosses this question around for a while, before answering it with resounding clarity. In essence, Dagny refuses to satisfy the desires of the people simply because they demand such right. In fact, she, Rearden, and their fellow torchbearer Francisco D'Anconia only trade items, ideas, and emotions of equal value to their own. In this way man can grow, reach his potential, and realize that a truly positive outlook on life requires that one lives life, no matter how difficult, in accordance with one's own morality and integrity. So, Rearden, Taggart, and other
In addition to new freedoms arrives the idea that one can make as much money as he or she desires. If those methods were to include educational scholarships or a job, money is always available. Dana Gioia’s “Money” poem makes the statement, “Money breeds money” (69). In the minds of the America
The character Madame Defarge plays a role as one of the leading villains in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, whose actions turn out to be one of the major causes of the French Revolution in the book. The main influence of Madame Defarge's hatred is fueled by a self-centered issue that was germinated by another family who happens to be aristocratic. In Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, Madame Defarge is justified in her hatred against the St. Evremonde family because her sister was raped and her brother was killed by the two patriarchs.
Anthem, the futuristic novel pinned by Ayn Rand in 1937 gives light to a very scary place and time. This writing expressed her views and beliefs that the United States would be repeating a dark place of its history. Setting the preface where slavery and dictatorship was once more the social norm. As with most forward thinkers their thoughts and ideas are concerned extreme and not given the validity they deserve until future generation look back into the past. History and human behavior always repeats itself.
America: “The land of the free, and the home of the brave” (Key 7-8). When our forefathers overcame the colonial reign of the British Empire, they formed the United States of America based on the premise of enlightened ideals promoting life, ownership of land, and liberty. But after the revolution, the country’s problems were far from solved. The country’s post-revolution issues sparked a Civil War, which was followed by a reconstruction. In some ways, the Civil War and Reconstruction helped the United States accomplish its original goals, but in many ways, that was not the case.
American beliefs and opinions give a great understanding of what an American values. The want and need for freedom is described in many different ways based on origin or social beliefs. The main backbone of America today is freedom. Through the building of an American empire everyone can’t come to an understanding of what it is to be equally free. By comparing and contrasting the perspectives of Patrick Henry’s speech to the “Virginia Convention,” to take up arms and fight for our freedom. Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July,” who feels it’s time to end slavery. It is clear that the struggles of the American story are still prevalent and America has not yet found a way for freedom for all.
An enslaved future in which people in a society are punished for wanting independence. This is the dark future Ayn Rand, author of Anthem, has set in this heart-wrenching dystopia. Ayn Rand sets the protagonist, Equality 7-2521, against his society to find the meaning of individuality and the sacred word “I”. Modern Day U.S society is much more progressive that Anthems’ society because of its’ individuality, education, and technology.
Ayn Rand’s Anthem challenges the prevailing wisdom that selflessness and sacrifice are morally superior to selfishness and self-interest. In the 1937 novel, Rand depicts a future in which individual identity is erased and all action is collective in nature. The word ‘I’ has been eradicated and all people use the plural ‘We’ to refer to themselves, as it is the concept of self that a society based on selflessness must destroy. In Anthem, the banishment of individualism leads to severe dystopian consequences that are explored through their impact on the protagonist, Equality 7-2521, on the end of innovation in society, and as the basis for the collapse of society itself into a totalitarian dictatorship.
What lies at the heart of each character of The Fountainhead is their own central principle, idea and drive. Roark, the hero and protagonist, embodies creativity, efficiency, independence, and reason. On the other hand, Lois Cook is the avatar of a notorious logical fallacy—the Appeal to Novelty. This fallacy states that because something is novel and never-before-seen, it is automatically better than an existing predecessor; the only criterion used to measure greatness is modernism. While this fallacy may be a rebellion against the familiar, conceivably stagnating “don’t fix it if it ain’t broke” mentality, it manages to be only a complete reversal of the philosophy, providing no further reasoning as to why the novelty is actually better.
Set in the age where government has become synonymous with oppressor, Anthem by Ayn Rand focuses on the perspective of Equality, a boy who grew up nestled underneath the boot of collectivism trying to find an identity. Equality’s narrative expresses both Rand’s fears and hopes for the society where government threatened to rein all. To comprehend fully what devices and mechanics that Rand did to implement her predictions of civilization under the tyranny, you must take into consideration the rhetorical theories of great rhetoricians like Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero. While Plato and Cicero’s theories explained details and choices, Aristotle’s theories explained how Rand introduced her paramount message and supported it.
In the eyes of Dagny Taggart, Vice-President in charge of operations at Taggart Transcontinental Railroad, John Galt is worthless. The simple thought of his name brings out a bitter taste in her mouth. She thinks he is an empty shell of man who is below even the lowest of criminals. Taggart may as well call John Galt an "it" because he is not worth being called a human being, at the time.
In the novelette, “Anthem”, by Ayn Rand, a young boy grows up in a communist society. He is told daily how to act and think collectively. If these restrictions are not obeyed, he is punished by authorities and put into jail. As the young boy, Equality 7-2521, grows up, he discovers the Uncharted Forest, a place of freedom. Although entering is not permitted, he journey’s the forest and comes across a book in an abandoned house. From the book, he reads the words “I am. I think. I will.” These significant words allow him to realize things he has never realized before, and change his whole perception on life.
Throughout the Novel The Fountainhead the main conflict between Individualism and Collectivism is put on display. Howard Roark, the embodiment for individualism, creates buildings that are not currently accepted in society. Throughout the course of the novel he is fighting Ellsworth Toohey, the embodiment of collectivism. Toohey feels that people should do what everyone likes and individuality should be non-existent. These two ideas couldn’t be more different and are constantly clashing.
Ayn Rand’s, Anthem, is a scientific novel written as a diary about a man named Equality 7-2521, who lives in the future also referred to as the unmentionable times where people forgot all knowledge of individualism. The main character, Equality 7-2521, believed he was cursed because of the constant struggle he was having to deal with from the society but he didn’t let that keep him from finding a way out to freedom, from finding his individuality
Possessing a sense of self-independence is an important aspect of the reality of the American Dream. In the letter, “What is an American?,” written by J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, he describes the experience of European immigrants on the verge of becoming an American citizen. According to the author, “The American is a new man, who acts upon new principles; he must therefore entertain new ideas, and form new opinions” (Crèvecoeur 29). America will mold you into a different person. It is our destiny to
Henry David Thoreau was man of simplicity, and if he were to experience life in Cary, he would not only be surprised, but disappointed in humanity itself. Thoreau believed in the necessities of life, nothing more, and the people of Cary live lives exactly the opposite. Cary residents live lives of material possessions, business, and over-complexity. These traits of society are precisely opposite of Thoreau’s