Final Blog Post

         The greatest novels a person can read are not those that force a reevaluation on the way the reader views life. In Atlas Shrugged, considered to be her best novel, Ayn Rand does exactly that. The novel caused me to reevaluate the way I view certain things because of the relevance that I was able to find within it. Despite that fact that Atlas Shrugged was published in 1957, its teachings remain one of the most accurate things that pertain to the American, if not all societies today.

            A great part of why Atlas Shrugged seemed to get “underneath my skin” was that it attacked the ideas that most people have been exposed to since infancy. Though I mentioned Peter Pan in a previous blog post, I wish to mention the Disney movies again because of how relevant I found them to the story. The Disney Classics have become some of the most widely known tales and some of the most widely watched animated films. Great deals of these are targeted towards smaller children; two of the bigger Disney movies are “Robin Hood” and “Peter Pan”.  Through the animated “Robin Hood” tale I learned that the amount of money that the rich had was not correct. It was not fair for the rich to have so much and the poor to have so little. Robin Hood became one of the most fascinating characters because he was able to partake in criminal activity for a good cause. Taking from the rich to give to the poor seemed like the brightest idea I could have heard of at the time; then again I was a young child. As I matured I was able to realize the error in the tale of Robin Hood; it is not right to take the fruits of someone’s labor and just hand it over to another individual that has nothing. Though I had realized the error in the tale, I had failed to internalize the concept. It was not until Hank and Ragnar’s first interaction that I really understood how wrong it was. Ragnar was a Robin Hood of his own sort; he helped the rich by stealing from the looters. Ragnar made clear to me that the rich are typically wealthy for the reason that they have put in the effort, the intellect, the strength to get to where the are. To take from those who have worked and to hand it over to those who have done nothing is one of the greatest wrongs that could possible be committed. If I worked to get something then I deserve that something, whether it is higher quality healthcare, money, a house, etc.      

Through “Peter Pan”, the Disney Company has fantasized the idea of being a child forever. To a certain extent this fantasy is completely OK, but on another level it is not. I myself often times envy my five-year-old brother because he lacks all of the responsibilities I have at this age. I wish that I could go back and be his age once more, even if it was only for a moment. Nonetheless, the “forever young” concept displayed in Peter Pan is flawed. The terrible economic and social conditions displayed in the novel display the gravity of the situation. In the case of the railroad, no one chooses to take conditions for any sort of action. This lack of responsibility is connected with a failure to have matured into adulthood, to some extent. Again, this lack of responsibility is one of the very things that Peter Pan glorifies. Atlas Shrugged demonstrates to us that a lack of responsibility will take us nowhere but the depths of hell.

            Atlas Shrugged forced me to see that no matter what point of time society is in, the same problems seem to strike because no one is learning from prior mistakes or warnings brought forth in literature such as Atlas Shrugged.  Rand provides this clear warning: losing the intellectuals and the leaders will cause society to come to a halt. Without these people the society will remain stagnant. With out people like Galt, Wyatt, Mulligan, etc. the country has become a wreck. The only direction they move in is backwards, and at an alarming rate at that. The cause for their departure was their inability to communicate in the society the government is creating. Today, the inability to communicate is literally causing our government to shut down. The lack of agreeing on something like healthcare is stunting the progress the government could be making. Instead, of going forward we are remaining stagnant because two damn political parties cannot agree on what they want. The longer they squabble the graver our lack of progression will get.  
            A great part of what caused Atlas Shrugged to cause me to reevaluate the way I think was due to a simple question, “Who is John Galt?” It was not the answer that John Galt is a person that made me reevaluate; it was the development of its meaning. Where in the beginning it was only some phrase that people muttered when they could not understand something, or when something was not going their way, the phrase came to mean much more. It ended up representing a struggle to prove what is right to others, to defy everyone in the midst of believing, and to triumph even though the world was quite literally against you. Who is John Galt, could be represented by one image only, the image of Atlas. Atlas hunched over, bearing the weight of the entire world and its messes on his shoulders, struggling to do so, yet somehow still trying and not giving up. Despite knowing the evil, it seems that Atlas remains and that is what made me rethink my views. I am not one to give up, but I am not one to continue if I think the battle has been lost. Atlas, John Galt, and Dagny continue in their attempt to try to carry the parts of the world that they want very well knowing the evil within it. Rand has permitted me to internalize the idea of the battle being worth it even if it is lost because in the end it is the cause that was important.    

- Talia Akerman (sorry I know it's a lot I just had a lot to say)