It's interesting to finally read an Ayn Rand novel for once, I'm familiar with her philosophies and I have been exposed to different works inspired by her, but due to the ungodly length of her works I just haven't gotten around to reading her books. So I was a little shocked to find it not full of blatant propaganda as I had been led to believe. I actually like her as a writer, I really like the flow of dialogue, sometimes it feels unnatural but I also feel like that might be kind of the point. While a bit on the hyperbolic end in terms of examples of this, the whole "Who is John Galt?" thing is obviously meant to feel out of place, it gives off this slight dystopian vibe.
The point where I was really able to identify Ayn Rand as the author (at least as I am familiar with her) is the point where we discover a strong woman is in a position of power, and I am talking of course about Dagny Taggart. It is at this point that we get an impression of how Rand saw gender issues. If I recall properly, this novel was written in the 50's, so women were still not commonly seen as having positions of power (especially relative to today). The fact that a passionate female holds a Vice-President position in a company, and that we can see she is a strong character exemplifies Rand's view that success and intelligence transcend all boundaries and are well deserved if achieved.
I'm looking forward to seeing what other parts of her philosophy made their way into Atlas Shrugged, maybe it is indeed full of blatant propaganda and I have only scratched the surface.
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