Commentary on Atlas Shrugged, part 2

Grey is metaphorically used to describe the inconstant and ever-changing nature of the collective enemy fighting against the heroes. It’s used interchangeably with fog and has the connotation of an enemy that’s undefeatable because of its refusal to assume any definite shape, thus denying the heroes the ability to judge it’s movements in order to formulate a method to combat it. It clouds foresight as it constantly redesigns its form to suit any change in public opinion and makes the task of mapping its future movements an impossible job since it never admits its motive, so it cannot be clearly defined as which direction it will decide to move towards next. Unlike most modern epics or heroic stories, the enemy is in fact the majority and the minorities are the victims. But the classic battle of the heroes confronting immeasurable odds that seem to predict their inevitable failure takes on the realistic setting of the modern business world and there for seems more likely of being an actually possibility than the super heroes and protagonists of romanticism, casting the novel in the reflective light of truth.  It borders on the realm of nonfiction when one takes into the consideration the decline of industry in America that’s occurred within the past fifty years.

The dramatic irony encircling the interactions of Rearden, Dagny, and Francisco at the opening chapters of book two reaches an intense volume when they all three are brought within walking distance of one another and the closeness of Rearden’s proximity and magnetism towards her unnamed previous lover comes to a climax when he asks her his identity again, but remains in the dark that he’s just confessed his admiration of him. Despite of the more philosophical matters that compose the heart of this novel, Rand couldn’t resist creating a few scenes of drama to ensure that the reader wouldn’t abandon the novel after the character’s give lengthy arguments to their view points that consume several pages worth of reading time. But despite of the profuseness with which they elaborate on the key points that make up the heart of the novel’s meaning, they are never the less well worth the time needed to read them since they reveal several reasons as to why the world is slowly being brought to a standstill. They are not immediately obvious, but they hint at who’s to be at fault for unknowingly orchestrating their own demise by punishing those who move the world forward.

This novel offers a glimpse of the methods employed by political corruption to suppress and cash in on the success of the wealthy by claiming it is all conducted under the guise of public interest. It’s incredible how Rand completely inverts the reader’s understanding of what society teaches as good and offers an entirely new, substantial argument for the morality of what platonian virtue describes as greed, inhuman, and evil. It’s this radical approach to ethics that has always captivated my interest in her work, and Atlas Shrugged is her most violent counter argument to the popular notion of the purpose of money, business, and government.