Atlas Shrugged

This month I’ve been reading Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. It was definitely a daunting task; not only is the book 1074 pages long, but I swear it was printed in size 8 font. I’ve been squinting my way through the thing for the past few weeks, and I finally succeeded in finishing it late last night. I had previously read, enjoyed and reviewed two other of Rand’s books: We The Living (review) and The Fountainhead (review). The discussions I had with my coworkers and the comments that appeared in my blog following my review of The Fountainhead prompted me to read Atlas Shrugged. Of course, I was able to read The Fountainhead while in Russia because we had it in the library at my school. Not having access to Atlas Shrugged at the time, I decided that it would be one of the books filling the huge box of reading materials I shipped to Korea. I must admit that I picked it up several times… only to put it down and select something lighter (both physically and conceptually; this isn’t one of those books that you can hold with one hand).

I finally kicked myself into gear and began reading Atlas Shrugged a few weeks ago. I admit that it was difficult to get into at first. The first two-hundred pages of the book are *very* similar to The Fountainhead. True, the characters had different names and worked in different industries, but I found very little difference. I considered putting it down; why should I squint my way through over 1000 pages of size 8 font if it’s the same story told with different characters? Luckily, it didn’t quite turn out that way. Around two hundred pages in, the book finally began to evolve past the themes presented in The Fountainhead, and actually got quite interesting, and stayed that way until its conclusion (well, except for Galt’s speech, which I felt really could have been substantially shorter). As with my little post on The Fountainhead, I’m not going to give you an in-depth analysis or blow-by blow account of the book; there are plenty of those out there for you to read if you’re interested. Or you could simply read the book for yourself.

I don’t agree with everything that Rand says, but over the course of reading her works, I have found that I agree with a lot that she has to say. I have been told that Ayn Rand would not support my hermit lifestyle because I am not being a productive capitalist. I do rather beg to differ. Look at the oath which the protagonists must take when they join with John Galt:

“I swear – by my life and my love of it – that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask any other to live for mine.”

The heart of my personal philosophy has a lot to do with living my life the way *I* choose, the way I want, and supporting myself, instead of doing the sorts of things that are expected of me and living my life the way most Americans do – shackled to insurmountable debts.

To my good friend (he knows who he is) who believes that leading an altruistic life is the only way to be happy, and who told me that if I read Atlas Shrugged, I would cease to agree with Rand and start to agree with him… Well, I don’t.

I definitely enjoyed this book, even though I wish that Rand could have shortened it by a couple hundred pages. Like I stated above, I don’t agree with everything that Rand has to say. For instance, I do believe in the existence of nonprofit and charity organizations; however, I also feel that very few people have the right to subsist solely on charity. Also, I find Rand’s portrayal of sex (in all of her books) to be disturbingly violent. I agree with her that sex should be celebrated – and that a person should only engage in sexual acts with those who hold the same values he or she possesses. But why do her descriptions of sex often border on rape? That disturbs me. But other than that… I found myself nodding in agreement throughout most of the book. So go get yourself a copy and let me know what you think.