Peter Pan and John Galt

     Though my comparison may seem a little far at first, I do believe there is a certain amount of truth to it. Then again, I did think of it so I am a bit biased. This concept of a land in which men only work for themselves and everything is driven by their own wants and needs seems like a perfect idea when solely observing the ideals. This reasoning behind Galt's establishment of such a place is admirable and his determination to have more people in it is admirable as well. Galt worked hard to help other people come to the truth in their minds that they themselves did not want to believe. He pushed for these people to realize the wrong in working so hard for someone else, to give away the fruits of your work to some looter, and to see that they needed to destroy it all to get away from it.
     I very much agree with the idea that Galt, or rather Ayn Rand is proposing. Nevertheless, when put into practice the land of the geniuses if you shall seems much like Peter Pan's Neverland and John Galt starts to resemble Peter Pan as well.  In Neverland there is a group of "Lost Boys" and their leader Peter Pan who believe in staying a kid forever. To them, being a kid is everything and the world of adults is one filled with ridiculousness that they do not care to join so they remain under their own control in Neverland. In this case, the Lost Boys are all of the people John Galt has successfully convinced to come with him into Galt's Gulch. Here the mentality is not that adults are awful, instead it is that looters are awful and every many must live for himself. However, this land is located in a secluded strip the inhabitants rarely, if ever, interact with the outside world. Though the world is successful on its own, its failure to be involved with the real word is what makes it lack this true utopian sense. The people in Galt's Gulch are only living the way they do because they have barred all others from entering. In Peter Pan, the lost boys are living this way because the have barred adults from entering.
     The goal of both lands, is to get rid of the enemy (looters or adults) until there are no more and then start over once again. The problem with both of these propositions though is that one cannot permanently get rid of looters since there will always be someone incapable of producing as much as all the others. In the same way, you cannot get rid of all adults because children need to turn into adults in order to keep the population thriving.
- Talia Akerman