ATLAS SHRUGGED - Page 2 of 5 - book summaries and study materials

Character Analysis John Galt

Galt is the hero and main character of Atlas Shrugged, because his principles drive the action and the conflict of the story. The book explores what occurs when the thinkers go on strike. Galt conceives of the strike, initiates it, sustains it, and carries it to a successful resolution. Part […]

Summary and Analysis Part 3: Chapter 10 – In the Name of the Best within Us

Ayn Rand

Summary Rearden, Dagny, Ragnar, and Francisco rescue Galt from his torturers, and they fly back to the valley. Eddie Willers, after days of negotiation, has reopened the Taggart station in San Francisco and restored transcontinental service. He rides the Comet, attempting to return to New York, but it breaks down […]

Summary and Analysis Part 3: Chapter 9 – The Generator

Ayn Rand

Summary Robert Stadler realizes that regardless of the outcome of events in Washington, he has no place there. If Galt wins, Stadler will be rejected as a traitor to the mind’s cause. But if the looters win, he’ll be subordinate to a pack of ignorant dolts whom he despises. In […]

Summary and Analysis Part 3: Chapter 8 – The Egoist

Ayn Rand

Summary After Galt’s speech, the American people show signs of discontent with the looters’ regime. Mr. Thompson wants to negotiate a deal with Galt. The looters broadcast repeated messages trying to reach Galt, but he doesn’t reply. Thompson tells Dagny that he is worried. The pro-terror faction led by Floyd […]

Summary and Analysis Part 3: Chapter 7 – This is John Galt Speaking””

Ayn Rand

Summary The nation panics when Rearden retires. Under the looters’ control, the newspapers print contradictory stories. Some papers say that he has quit, some that he was tragically killed in a car accident, and some that he is still working at his mills. But with Rearden gone, the output of […]

Summary and Analysis Part 3: Chapter 6 – The Concerto of Deliverance

Ayn Rand

Summary The union of Rearden steelworkers demands a raise, but the Unification Board rejects their demand. A newspaper story claims that the steelworkers are starving and mentions that the raise in wages was rejected. The story doesn’t, however, specify who rejected the raise. The government places an order of attachment […]

Summary and Analysis Part 3: Chapter 5 – Their Brothers’ Keepers

Ayn Rand

Summary Taggart Transcontinental doesn’t have copper wire for desperately needed repairs. The copper shortage reaches crisis status when Francisco d’Anconia, on the hour and day that his company is to be nationalized, destroys every mine, piece of property, and bank account belonging to d’Anconia Copper. Nothing remains for the looters […]

Summary and Analysis Part 3: Chapter 4 – Anti-Life

Ayn Rand

Summary James Taggart wants to celebrate. In several weeks, Argentina will be declared a People’s State. Taggart has helped bring to fruition a deal between American, Argentinean, and Chilean politicians, whereby all the holdings of d’Anconia Copper in those South American countries will be nationalized. The politicians have set up […]

Summary and Analysis Part 3: Chapter 3 – Anti-Greed

Ayn Rand

Summary Robert Stadler attends and sanctions a demonstration of the government’s previously top secret Project X. The project, housed in rural Iowa, is a new weapon that employs sound waves and is capable of mass destruction. Floyd Ferris convinces Stadler that the weapon is a necessary instrument of control at […]

Summary and Analysis Part 3: Chapter 2 – The Utopia of Greed

Ayn Rand

Summary Dagny voluntarily works as Galt’s cook and housemaid in the valley. The strikers don’t always stay in the valley; they often go to the outside world in order to further their cause. But it’s now June, and ever since the valley was established 12 years earlier, the strikers have […]