The beginning of chapter VIII, By Our Love, demonstrates how
humans are truly creatures of habit. Dagny despises living in that cabin.
However, I believe that experience taught her a lot about herself. For example,
Dagny came to the realization that she needs a purpose in life. In other words,
her actions, her thoughts, her life must be dedicated to something. Dagny needs
a reason for living. She hates that cabin because she has absolutely nothing to
do. At first she described how her days passed so slow, but without leisure. As
time passed, she sees that any sense of motion or directive will help her pass
time, but that does not mean it makes her happy or feel like her actions are
fulfilling.
When
Dagny goes out to buy supplies she demonstrates how people just don’t know
better. They don’t move the vegetables or make new roads because “they’ve
always been there” or “it’s always been that way”. People can’t change
something if they have never been taught to see something different, if they
haven’t been taught to think in that way. Although Dagny sees these people as
different, she falls into the same category as them. She hates living in that
cabin because she’s not used to it. She can’t change her lifestyle in that
moment because she doesn’t know how and she can’t go back to the railroad. It’s
interesting to see how people react to being taken out of their own element. I
think Rand portrays how Dagny deals with it very well. We all know Dagny can’t
live without the railroad and we expect for her to drive herself crazy, but she’s
trying to deal with it.
Francisco
D’anconia then goes to visit Dagny at the cabin. How he found her is never
explained, but it’s obvious that all Francisco wants is to win her back and
tell her that he loves her. He never got to the chance to do so because the
tunnel collapsed as soon as he started talking about how a disaster was eminent.
Francisco always seems to be spot on; it’s as if he has a sixth sense.
Supposedly, he knew twelve years before that this type of catastrophe was going
to happen and that is why he faked an image for himself as a playboy. This way
he could destroy his own company without causing too much attention. Yet, I think
Rand is the one with the actual sixth sense. She was foreshadowing that the
events of her book would happen in real life, and they have, as we discussed in
class about the government shutdown.
Jim is
a coward in my eyes. He wanted the directive to be issued, he supported every
aspect of it and when it backfired on him, he was about to resign. He wasn’t
going to be a man and take responsibility for the disaster he created. Once
again, he needed his sister, Dagny to come and save the day. The worst part is
that he won’t swallow his pride and admit he needs her. Plus, he goes on to
blame her for the tunnel collapsing. Thankfully, Dagny does not pay attention
to him and goes straight to work. Francisco’s words of starting all over stuck
with Dagny. She told Eddie that they were going to rebuild the tunnel and start
from nothing again. Dagny impressed me
with this because it showed she’s going to break laws and fight back, she won’t
conform or simply let it happen.
Jose Novas
At first, while reading your first two paragraphs I quickly found myself disagreeing with what you had you had to say, but after giving it more thought, I realized that what you depict about Dagny being in the same category as the rest of the people from the small town is true. Dagny can not live without constantly being at work, especially on her railroads. This made me wonder how it would affect her life in Mulligans Valley. Galt mentioned how once you were there, you would not go back. Dagny would have a different job to work for there, just like everyone else. A more simple task unlike managing a railroad that ran across the whole country. I can already tell that Dagny is confused by how calm and relaxed everyone is with their new lives, it is not the way she is used to living, so she cant bring herself to see herself living in that way and especially away from Taggart Transcontinental.Dagny even mentions at one point how even Daniels is "one of them" unlike herself. After thinking about Jose's point on how Dagny is so accustomed to doing things the way she is used to doing them, I am curious and anxious to keep reading to see how Dagny will adapt to the new lifestyle she has discovered, and if she will be able to find happiness in that practice the same way she received happiness from her railroads.
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