Posted on 01/24/2009 12:15:04 PM PST by Publius
I vote for “The Road to Serfdom”. Only because that is the next one on my list...
Please add me to your ping list. Thanks.
I truly appreciate your assessment of the Reardon Steel chain that Hank gave to Lillian. I simply missed the potential of all the when I first read the book last year. You really nailed it for me. I am often slow on such things. Thanks for posting.
Admittedly I rushed through the book because I suppose that I felt somehow denied that I had not read the thing 20 or 30 years ago. Bad me.
I'll be reading it again soon.
I think that your post concerning the issue is profound.
Thanks again.
Ping to Chapter 2.
Something for later, because this is a fascinating discussion, is how would the relationship between Hank and his wife had changed if they had a child? I wonder how it would have affected Hank’s decisions near the end. As much as I love Atlas Shrugged and many of Rand’s other works, she never brings children into the mix, possibly because she never had any of her own and could not describe this relationship from a personal viewpoint. Children do change your world perspective. People love their children unconditionally regardless of how they turn out, and will sacrifice for them without hesitation.
Kind of like hank Rearden’s family and the professors in the train. Hatred toward success.
Absolutely. Hold that thought. I want to write on it now but I promised no spoilers... :-(
Should you not be aware, these are included in chronological order, along with other letters, papers and documents, in Library of America's two volume set Debate on the Constitution.
Also, when I did a Google search I found a LOA page, http://www.loa.org/debate/ , with a teaser offer for this set and a 1600 page collection of ThJ's papers &c. IMHO, this is a great offer even if we never have any organized discussion of these volumes here.
ML/NJ
In addition, an .rtf version of AS is available on the bookz chat channel. A little rough in the editing, but certainly readable. I’m using that with uBook on my laptop and my HPC’s, since I can’t find my hard copy right now.
If anyone wants it, ping me.
Now, regarding the bracelet, which is indeed a chain, it is a metaphor for Hank’s life. He presents it to his wife, mistakenly believing she will appreciate it, and understand what it cost him to make it. I think AR refers to the chain in the chapter title in order to connect the bracelet to the chains which instead bind Hank to and by his family and the world.
I’ve read AS about ten times, starting in 1957, when I was 14. I was planning to read it again, as soon as I finish P. J. O’Rourke’s treatise on Wealth of Nations. The events of this past fall moved it to the top of may list.
I don't think he expects her to understand anything. It is a pure token of love.
ML/NJ
Ping to Chapter 2.
Again, I think it’s more than his love, it’s his life, or at least the last ten years of it (This is my body, broken for you), and AR’s description of his demeanor when he is presenting it implies, to me at least, that he expected her to appreciate it for what it was, and was confused when she didn’t.
K
Ping to Chapter 2.
It occurs to me that Reardon’s wife and brother are cut from the same cloth as well as his mother. There is always something profoundly disturbing about the selfishness and jealousy that drives those surrounding Reardon. They despise Reardon for surpassing them or resent them for not paying them enough attention. The biggest slap in the face was when Philip didn’t want his organization to be associated with Reardon even though he was helping to fund it. They want Reardon to submit to their whims while simultaneously leaching off of his success. At the same time they derisively belittle his success to inflate their own importance and the appearance of moral superiority. The Left always gets a lot of mileage out of that one.
Please add me to the “Atlas Shrugged” ping list, thanks.
ping to the “Atlas Shrugged” book club!
Thank You.
I’m still trying to catch up with all of you, but I’m getting there. Another day or two and I should be caught up with you, so I can participate in the current discussion.
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