Summary—Chapter V: Their Brothers’ Keepers
Copper shortages make repairs impossible for Taggart.
Under the Unification Plan, crucial materials are diverted to businessmen
with Washington influence. The problem worsens when, at the precise moment
that they were to be nationalized, the mines and properties of d’Anconia
copper are blown up, and Francisco and his best employees disappear.
Rearden’s brother Philip asks him for a job, but Rearden
refuses, since Philip has no useful skills. He is surprised at Philip’s
sudden interest. Later, the Wet Nurse also asks for a job, wanting
to finally do something productive. Though Rearden would like to
hire him, the laws will not allow it. The Wet Nurse warns Rearden
that the Washington men are working on new restrictions and secretly bringing
their own men into the mills.
Despite terrible conditions, the farmers of Minnesota
have generated a huge wheat crop and need trains to carry it off.
Dagny learns that Taggart’s cars have been diverted by the corrupt
Cuffy Meigs to Louisiana, where they are used to carry soybeans
for an experimental project run by the mother of a politician. The
cars cannot be rerouted in time, and the wheat crop rots, guaranteeing
starvation for many. The farming businesses in Minnesota are all
destroyed.
The traffic system in the Taggart terminal has short-circuited. While
dealing with the emergency, Dagny sees John Galt among the workers.
Later, she walks off into the tunnels. He follows, and they make
passionate love. Afterwards, he tells her he has been watching her
for ten years from these very tunnels. He warns her not to look for
him. If she were to lead the looters to him, he might be killed.
Summary—Chapter VI: The Concerto of Deliverance
Rearden’s union steelworkers ask for a raise, but Rearden
is never told. The Unification Board rejects their request. Later,
the Board-controlled newspapers publish stories of the hardship
of the steelworkers and the unfair denial of their raise, without
mentioning who denied it. Later, Rearden receives notice that his
accounts will be attached to pay for phony back taxes. He does nothing,
waiting to see what the looters are up to. He receives a phone call
from a bureaucrat named Tinky Holloway, who asks him to attend a
meeting to straighten everything out. Rearden agrees to attend.
Holloway believes Rearden is intractable, based on Philip Rearden’s report
on his recent visit to his brother.
Rearden’s family summons him to the house and pleads with
him not to disappear. He rejects their apologies and their cries
for pity. By asking him to remain, they are asking him to sacrifice
himself for them, and this is unforgivable to him. In a pathetic
attempt to destroy him, Lillian confesses her infidelity with Jim,
but Rearden is beyond caring. When his family points out that he
cannot disappear without money, he realizes why the attachment orders
were placed.
