Connection to the Stranger

      I am starting to see a connection between The Stranger and Atlas Shrugged  in the way people are “supposed” to act versus how people want to act. People like James Taggart do and support certain things because it sounds better. It sounds better to think about the greater good than to sound selfish and doing things purely for yourself. In The Stranger the pastor was upset because Meursault did not say the things expected of him.  Most of us are at least somewhat intolerant to the fact that he also did not cry at his mother’s funeral.  We all grow up learning right from wrong and most of us care how others perceive us. So when Dagny and Hank deliberately explain they have no reason for their actions other then to make a profit, society is already preprogramed with stereotypes and and a biased on that being the right or wrong thing to say. When we read about characters like Dagny or Meursault, who do not care at all about what the public thinks, it can make readers uncomfortable, or at least question how they came to that point. It is the fear of the unknown and fear of the different, 

I see many similarities in Dagny, Hank, and Meursault. They think about themselves, but they are not necessarily selfish with the negative connotation added to that word. It makes me think of that naturally selfish part of all of us, no matter what we say or what image we try to create. Whoever supports the Equalization of Opportunity Bill has a personal interest at heart. It becomes clear with the painfully obvious contradictions people make while speaking in favor of the Bill; supposedly it helps the new little guys have a chance and supports the people who have been in the business the longest. It makes me wonder, if we are all naturally selfish and look out for our own self interest in everything we do, why is there so much emphasis and importance in our lives for what others think of us? Possibly it is in our self interest to care about what others think, yet Dagny and Hank proved otherwise with the initial success of the John Gault line. However, it did not really help Meursault’s survival in the end. 

Merusalt, Hank, and Dagny do some things that seem cold, robotic, and inhuman. To suggest that they are more in touch with their natural tendencies and selves is difficult to grasp. Yet, I start to think about life, and what is the meaning of life without connections to others. Perhaps there is some sort of balance, or I am just wrong.