Posted on 03/07/2009 7:48:34 AM PST by Publius
Yes. I should also have added that when there are those splashes of color, there's generally only one, and it's a vivid primary color. Again... like an illustration painted to draw the eye to one thing.
An exhausted, gray city inhabited by black-and-white people with only every now and then a flash of a bright red dress and all the heads turn.
“How about just coming to the threads and reading Publius’ summary of the chapter? That way you get the gist of AS, can join in the discussion, and don’t have to read it actually unless you chose to.”
I’m already up to Chapter 2 of A is A (don’t worry, I won’t spoil it for those of you who aren’t that far yet), and I use Publius’s synopsis as a review. It’s also helpful because I haven’t been very consistent in my reading habits lately. I read Ch.1 of A is A and then didn’t pick up the book again for almost two weeks.
Guten Tag!
A couple of things stood out to me in this chapter:
When Dagney says to herself while working late and being alone, “This is not the world I expected”. How many of us will be saying that pretty soon? Or have been saying it now? Thank goodness we have FR to talk to like-minded people to stave off the mental loneliness that Dagney was feeling.
What about crime? That same scene, with alleys, half-demolished buildings, late at night, her being alone and seeing a stranger loiter by her doorway - in todays’ world, it could be a dangerous situation. Yet, she felt no fear and even went after the stranger. Perhaps with everone’s needs met, they had no need for crime. But I don’t think that fits in with human nature - everyone wants more, more, more.
The government loans for 2/3 of the money for buying businesses for owners who “have never had a chance”. Sounds a lot like recent events of banks being forced to give loans to people who cannot repay them.
Lastly, the part about Hank Rearden being a greedy monster because he made money and supposedly didn’t help anyone hit home. I recently had an acquaintance (ie., a liberal I’ve known for years but wouldn’t call a friend) lambast CEOs and how much they made. Envy rears its ugly head again - but only for those employed in capitalistic endeavors. When asked about those employed in Hollywood or athletes that probably make more than most CEOs, he had no class envy for them. I pointed out that Hollywood is doing more to promote immorality than CEOs and many athletes using drugs are poor role models for our kids - he didn’t care about that. Only the CEOs are “evil”.
That’s another reason Publius’ summaries should be encapsulated together!
BTW, is it just me? When trying to find old threads on AS, I don’t have much luck. What keywords work?
Thank you! This is so great. I had meant to read this for YEARS, sheepish look, and now, with thanks to you, I am! AND enjoying the discussion, and all manner of insights that enrich the experience :)
Tatt
“Her characters also seem to be 2 dimensional. I don’t know if it’s poor writing (going to get flamed here for that!) or brilliant writing that sets the tone perfectly.”
Perhaps Rand saw her characters as secondary to the setting? Or perhaps she simply fleshed out the characters sufficiently to serve the point she wanted to make?
I just did a search on “atlas shrugged” and it brought up all the Book Club threads (plus a lot of others!).
Bump
I may do that, I was tempted to read the Cliff Notes
This is indicative of how the press operates today, and indeed has operated for quite some time. They, the press in AS, condemn without actually condemning, they slam without slamming, they instill fear in the public without actually instilling it; They leave themselves "plausible deniability" by, if they were to actually be confronted with their statements, saying they never actually said it wouldn't work. But in the end, it's an attempt to sabotage the work. You know what they implied and meant, I know what they implied and meant, THEY know what they implied and meant, but they never actually said it, therefore, it was never meant. (Whew, trying to follow liberal logic will make your head spin).
In addition to this travesty, which I admit has existed in internal corporate politics ever since corporations have been around, it's unforgivable, IMO, for the press to NOT question what they mean, exactly, by the statements they make. By simply glossing over facts and giving credence to those making the statement, they are in fact endorsing the (non)opinion that the operation won't succeed and therefore should be avoided by investment or enthusiasm. To compound this, many "disinterested parties", who have (non)condemned this project in fact seek to profit from it. "Mr. Mowen bought stock in the name of his sister. Ben Nealy bought it in the name of a cousin. Paul Larkin bought it under an alias."
To put this into todays perspective, witness the attempted character assassination of John McCain and his supposed affair in which the press never actually said he had one, but the picture was perfectly painted to let the reader assume it had. When confronted, members of the press used as their defense, "We never actually said it happened."
The one section of the chapter that almost literally had me cheering was Dagny's putdown of the union thug. That short section had me smiling in a big time way..
On each thread, at ping time, I post links to earlier threads on the book. They’re right there in plain sight.
All the criminals were in government or tied to government.
I was talking about when I do a search during the week to try to find an AS thread, none of the keywords I try works.
I guess I have to do the entire title. I was just putting in ‘atlas’ to safe some typing
ps. thanks!
If your check your prior “Pings” you’ll find everything you’ve done for years. The Atlas Shrugged threads will show up there.
I have way too many pings to go through each page, though. I was looking for an easier, quick way.
Using the entire title seems to work on some weeks’ threads, though. Weird that it’s not for all.
Maybe it's the questioning voice in our heads that she managed to extract and put to print?
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