My favorite novel — "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand.
“Atlas shrugged” is one of the most revered work of fiction; a masterpiece and a widely celebrated effort of “Ayn Rand” that came out in 1957 i.e., almost 14 years after her previous best “The Fountainhead”. Ayn Rand (1905-1982) was born and educated in Russia, however, later moved to the United States in 1926 where she took up a job as a screenwriter in Hollywood. There was no looking back since then and she continued to step up the ladder and ended her journey of life as a venerated Russian-American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and a philosopher.
The philosophical aspect has been a subject of study for years (controversial and full of criticism too) and very rightly so because of the profound insights she has offered to the entire world. A very simplistic assessment of her philosophy is — “A” is “A” which implies that we believe and work according to the things that exist in the real world, not paying much heed to faith, religion and the outer world aspect. Hence, she had rightly chosen the term — “Objectivisim” where “reason” is absolute and individual rights are of paramount importance. No wonder, she was a believer in laissez-faire capitalism/Economic liberalism. At an individual level, she basked in the glory and grandeur of “human spirit” and did her best to portray the ideal man, the essential man and the man at his highest possibility in her own assessment. She herself possessed the weapon of full integrity and positive energy.
The working title of the novel was “The Strike” that happened to be the theme of the novel. It’s an unusual strike against the destroyers of human spirit. The story unfolded with one of the first-rate individuals trying to save the biggest railroad of the country that was on the verge of decline. She came across various sets of people throughout her journey and fought valiantly like a lone warrior, only to realize that the best of men were slowly disappearing from the scene. She realized that she was up against her biggest enemy who could ironically be her hero. The story progressed with spectacular events like the building of “John Galt” rail-line amidst the immortal query of “Who is John Galt?”; the evolution of characters like Henry Rearden and Fransisco D’ Anconio etc., and reached to a point when it seemed like all the heroes of the world had disappeared and it had been left with mediocrity all around. It was as if someone has pulled out the plug from the motor of the world. Was it a destroyer or a hero in real sense?
Ayn Rand also believed in “romantic realism” and had a grand vision of relationships. One of the most interesting aspects of the novel is that the main protagonist had to fight his toughest battle against his lady love and not his direct enemies. The plot then moved on to throw some light on why a productive genius became known as a worthless playboy… why the innovator and head of an indigenous steel firm was almost set to lose his battle…why a composer gave up his career on the night of his victory and most importantly why someone had to stop the motor of the world.
In her earlier masterwork “The Fountainhead” (1943), she had tried to sketch a strong character and journey of a first-rate being namely “Howard Roark”. There were parasites/second handers like Peter Keating who thrived on Roark’s brilliance and then there were perennial enemies like “Ellsworth Toohey”. While that was primarily a story about “individualism and collectivism within man’s soul”; this time round she wanted to cover the story in a broader perspective of an individual’s relation to the world. According to the author; throughout the human evolution the society has been making one fundamental error by letting parasites feed on the efforts of the first class beings. This was alarming as well as panicking to her and she set out to show as to what would happen when the worshipers of the work and essentially those who moved the world with their efforts went on a strike. It would be like the giant Atlas who’s holding the world on his shoulders deciding to “shrug” when the burden is unevenly increasing with his arms trembling, his knees buckling and him bleeding.
Ayan Rand definitely managed to prove how prolific an author she was by dishing out a story that thrived on its theme and went on to become a highly regarded piece of literature. The story is an artistic portrayal of a breathtaking plot, full of suspense and eternal romance. What is amazing is the tremendous scope of the story that concerns the entire world. Society, politics, economy, education, corporate, technology, individual brilliance and the opposite; all combined into the single whole.
Therefore, it is the sheer brilliance of the story; the endearing characters and the philosophy that it runs upon interest me much. Undoubtedly, this is the best work of fiction I have read so far and apparently not only because of the way it is written but also because of the imaginary world that the author created in the story. To quote the author (shared by Leonard Peikoff, heir to Ayn Rand’s estate and founder of the Ayn Rand Institute) — “creating a new, original abstraction and translating it through new, original means—This, as far as I know, is only me—my kind of fiction writing.” By dint of the virtue of writing, she created a kind of world she wanted to live in and enjoyed living in it thoroughly.
The world still exists in forms of her writing and when I plunge into it; all I feel is brilliance, ecstasy and freedom. I am sure most of the readers would feel the same. I conclude with Ayn Rand’s philosophy in her own words:
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