The ongoing theme suggests that if you put your name on something, you stand behind it and are accountable. By "nationalizing" the name, you don't have the same passion or drive to keep it thriving. The fact that Dagny questions the owner about his product, shows he does not stand behind the quality. Dagny does stand for Quality and her questioning leaves him defensive, thus his projection back on her "impolite question".
Rand is expert at using metaphors and symbols, something she may have picked up from Edgar Allen Poe. So far, we’ve seen a rotted out tree, a bar on the upper floor of a skyscraper that is decked out like a cellar, and now a precision machine rusting away on the property of the United Locomotive Works. Of what significance is this symbol? How does it relate to its predecessors?
The world is topsy turvy and without a core value. There are a few that understand that the value of providing goods and services does benefit the masses. The opposite is happening with those "rulers" who altruism truly hides their greed and lust for power. But it is those "rulers" who have no soul or value.
Dagny’s walk through Manhattan to her apartment reads like a tour of one of the circles of Dante’s hell. It opens a window onto the society of America’s greatest city and its influence over the rest of the country. Let’s take those four images apart and see what makes them tick.
The radio playing the concert, "They were a long screech without shape, as of cloth and flesh being torn at random This one stuck out to me as again a soulless melody reflecting upon a society that will accept anything in the culture. Much like today's movies, music etc.
We are developing a body count. Richard Halley disappeared eight years ago. Owen Kellogg left the railroad to vanish in Chapter 1. Now McNamara, the Cleveland rail contractor, has gone out of business and disappeared. Let’s build a list and watch it grow.
Each new disappearance leaves a vacuum to those that want power.
Woody Allen once said, “Sex without love is a meaningless experience – but as meaningless experiences go, it’s one of the best.” Why can’t Jim Taggart enjoy his meaningless experience?
There is no soul, thus, even the mechanics of sex cannot be satisfying.
The threat of the railroad’s Mexican property being nationalized was foremost in Dagny’s mind, which is why she left the railroad’s worst assets available for the looters to confiscate. Orren Boyle insisted it would never happen and Jim bought those excuses. When nationalization occurred, Jim took credit for Dagny’s quick thinking, then delegated the blame for his own failures to two fall guys who were summarily fired. Is this any different from what happens today in the offices of America’s largest corporations? What does this say about the current state of American business?
The people that run the best companies take responsibility for every decision, as with Dagny. Companies and in turn, Government that shirk that responsibility to others continue into a spiral blame game that never solves anything. The credit crunch we are in right now has a start and an exact blame. Has the Government taken that responsibility? Who do they blame? Also, who do the companies that were affected, who do they blame? Again we are in a spiral, with only pointing fingers with no solution. Only more of exactly the same thing that will continue the spiral.
Dan Conway echoes Jim Taggart’s statement that it’s not right to buck the will of the majority. In his case, however, Conway is the victim of that will. Examine the holes in Conway’s logic when he gives in. Later we will hear the expression “the sanction of the victim”, but it doesn’t hurt to introduce the concept now. Dan Conway is the sixth person to say, “Who is John Galt?” Contrast his use of the expression to his five predecessors.
To go along with the majority means never having to take a stand for right or wrong. He is the victim because he gave up the will to prove right or wrong. With each other utterance of "Who is John Galt?", I felt as if they knew something that would get Dagny on the right track. With Dan Conway, I felt defeat.
We’ve seen Dagny interact with Owen Kellogg, Eddie Willers and Jim Taggart. But her interaction with Dan Conway is different; we see her emotions on display. Her interaction with Hank Rearden is of a different order of magnitude entirely; they are of like mind and joust not just as competitors, but as friends. What do we learn about Dagny? ”All that lunacy is temporary. It can’t last. It’s demented, so it has to defeat itself.” Hank believes that he, Dagny and other like minded people will save the country from itself. But just how long can such lunacy last? What is the fatal flaw in their argument?
They believe they are not alone and there are many who are working and toiling like they are...so far, there has not been that type of person displayed in this cast of characters. I loved the line Dagny said to Hank, "Certainly. I'm not a fool. I don't think you're in business for my convenience." Would the world be a different place if every worker understood that line?
Let's not dismiss Ellis Wyatt so quickly. He fits the Dagny-Hank molde and plays an important role later.