As soon as I read the interaction between Hank Rearden and Dagny Taggart I began to fear what Dagny's character would become. I desperatly hoped that Ayn Rand would not submit to the typical and turn Dagny into a romantic character, like it seems all female characters must be, but sadly she did. I enjoyed thinking of Dagny as a character that could defy her assumed role in society, along with her assumed role in writing, she was strong and independent and the perfect candidate for this position, but then Fransisco was brought in. The moment his name was first mentioned, I feared that his character would be exactly who he turned out to be, but deciding to not let that discourage my reading I let the thought pass.
My dislike for the romanticization of Dagny's character does not mean that I did not enjoy reading about it. I actually thought it was beautiful and that Ayn Rand did a fantastic job of fleshing out the heroine of the story. The whole history was written in such a beautiful, realistic manner, that I could not put the book down as I read through it. But I do not want Atlas Shrugged to be a love story. This story was holding up without the romantic aspect in a way I have never seen before. I really wish that Ayn Rand would have taken that opportunity in this masterpiece and broken the cliche. I hate when books become just about the love story and lose their original meaning, just like The Great Gatsby. That book has been overly romanticized, which can clearly be seen in the recent movie. That book was not a love story, it was in fact a social commentary, just as Atlas Shrugged. I hope that this book does not fall to that level and spend too much time on Dagny's sex life. I would be extremely dissapointed if it did.
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