Summary—Chapter I: Atlantis
I swear by my life and my love of it
that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another
man to live for mine.
(See Quotations, p. )
Dagny opens her eyes and looks into the face of a man—a
face that bears no mark of pain or fear or guilt. His name is John
Galt, and he had been the pilot of the plane she followed. He is
the man Jeff Allen described. He is also the inventor of the motor
and the destroyer Dagny has feared. She has injured her ankle. He
carries her away from the wreckage. On the way to his house, Dagny
discovers that this remote mountain valley is the home of all the
vanished industrialists. The banker Midas Mulligan owns the valley.
Hugh Akston, the composer Richard Halley, Judge Narragansett, and
many others who have disappeared are all living here. Francisco
is also, not surprisingly, a member of the community.
The industrialists have all built businesses, and the
valley is self-sufficient. Galt’s motor powers the electricity as
well as a special ray screen that hides the valley from the rest
of the world. When Galt takes Dagny to see the building where the
motor is kept, she reads an inscription above the door: “I swear
by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake
of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.” This is the
oath of the valley, and until a person will say it and mean it,
he or she cannot live there.
At a dinner at Mulligan’s home, Galt explains to Dagny
that they are all on strike. The only men who have never gone on
strike in human history, he tells her, are the men who bear the
world on their shoulders. All other laborers have at one point or
another presented demands to the world. This, he tells her, is the
mind on strike.
Summary—Chapter II: The Utopia of Greed
The next morning, Dagny meets the pirate Ragnar Danneskjold, who
lives in the valley. He has come for breakfast with Galt and Francisco,
who has not arrived yet. Although many of the strikers live in the
valley, others, like Francisco, go back and forth to the looters’
world. But every June, all the members of the community spend the
month in the valley together. Dagny agrees to stay the month
and then decide if she will remain. Although Danneskjold has created
an account for her at Mulligan’s bank, she refuses to use the money
and instead agrees to work as Galt’s maid to earn her keep.
Owen Kellogg arrives on Dagny’s third day in the valley.
He tells her that everyone in the outside world thinks she is dead,
including Rearden. The next day Francisco d’Anconia arrives at Galt’s
home. He has been searching for Dagny’s plane for days and is shocked
and overjoyed when he sees her. He tells her he loves her and knows
she will always love him, even if she belongs to another man. Galt
forbids any outside communication, so Dagny cannot get word to Rearden
that she is safe.
Dagny comes to realize that she is in love with Galt and
that he loves her too. He is the man she has always imagined finding.
He admits he has watched her from afar for years. Since they are
still on opposite sides of the strike, she fears they cannot be
together. She also fears Galt will hide his feelings out of concern
for Francisco, who still loves her. When Francisco invites her to
his home, she turns the question over to Galt, who tells her he
wants her to stay with him instead. Galt knows this was a test and
that by not descending to self-sacrifice, he has passed. He reminds
Dagny that no one stays in the valley under any pretense or emotional
shield.
Despite her great happiness in the valley, Dagny decides
she must return to fight for her railroad. Against the warnings
of his friends, Galt decides to return as well, to watch her and
wait for her to be ready to return. She promises to keep the secret
of the valley and is escorted out blindfolded and flown to the outside
world.
Analysis: Part Three, Chapters I–II
In her description of the valley, Rand presents her ideal
world. In it, men and women with creative, productive minds live
in a self-sufficient community where innovation is encouraged and
property and money are respected. All the members of the
community are egoists, meaning they are focused on themselves and
on seeking their own happiness through the exercise of their unique
talents. Men have no moral obligations to each other except to respect
the individual rights of others. Everyone takes
responsibility for themselves, their actions, and their decisions,
and there are no pretenses or false realities—everything is as it
seems. The oath the strikers live by is Rand’s
own oath and a cornerstone of her philosophy, the philosophy of
the ego.
The mysteries that have driven the novel so far are finally
solved. Dagny has found everything she was looking for in John Galt:
the destroyer, the inventor of the motor, and her life’s love. We
now understand what Francisco was trying to explain all along and
why the great thinkers have all come here. Even the identity of
Eddie’s mysterious friend is now clear. We know from the description
of Galt as having “a face without pain or fear or guilt” that he
must be the track worker, since this is the exact description Eddie
had used. Furthermore, Galt claims he has watched Dagny every day
for years, which would only be possible if he worked nearby. But
since Dagny doesn’t know about Eddie’s friend, she is still unaware
that Galt is her employee.
The mind on strike is a central theme of Atlas
Shrugged. To Rand, the mind provides the motive power of
the world. The ability to think rationally and to apply rational
thought in creative production makes man’s happiness and success
possible. The rational mind is behind every idea and invention that
has moved civilization forward. Without the mind, men are plunged
into chaos and cease to produce. The strike of the mind is no mere
concept, but a real action that has had serious consequences. The
withdrawal of the strikers’ minds hastened the destruction of civil
society and brought the looters closer to their eventual oblivion.
This strike is very different from most and throws the logic of
labor strikes on its head. As Galt points out, strikes throughout
history have been of laborers, and the argument has been that manual
labor is the true source of wealth, exploited by industrialists.
But Galt’s strike proves that the thinkers are the ones responsible
for prosperity. Manual laborers still remain in the looters’ world,
but since the guidance of the thinkers has been withdrawn, they
don’t know what to do and cannot make progress.
The strikers are sure that the looters cannot change and
must be allowed to destroy themselves, but Dagny still believes
there is a chance. She thinks the looters are capable of rational
thought and will ultimately recognize their errors and step aside
for people like her and Rearden to fix the problems they have created.
While there is still a chance, she must return to the world. Galt
is sure the looters will never be able to look directly at the reality
they inhabit and will evade the truth until the end. He is sure
that end is coming soon and wants to be near Dagny when she sees
it too.
payment page
