Hank Rearden

The thing I loved most about this chapter of Atlas Shrugged was the fact that Rand included a character that places high value in individualism. Despite his family's inherent condescension towards his job, Hank Rearden finds happiness in what he does and the work he produces. He not only believes in what he does and makes, but he is motivated by his passion he has for his work. Quite simple, Rearden loves what he does, and he is not ashamed by it. He is a self-made man and his comment to Larkin that he should "pay attention to his man in Washington" shows that he has little patience for games such as politics. At first, I did not know how I felt about Hank Rearden because he seemed to be selfish. After reading more of the chapter, I realized that Rearden is only selfish in the fact that he is motivated to do things for himself, not to benefit any other people, which isn't necessarily a bad thing; he is a successful, virtuous industrialist. Just because Rearden has self-actualized, does not make him selfish. His family is wrong in the way they treat him and how they try to make him feel guilty. The Rearden family is similar to James Taggart, because they are weak and they depend on their weakness to take from Hank; they try to control him in every way they possibly can. Is that what a family is supposed to do? No, but the Rearden family dynamics are central to the novel, and further add to the idea that the strong feel guilty for their "strength" and responsible for the weak (just like Dagny Taggart).