The Differences between James Taggart and his sister Dagny Taggart

          The differences between the characters James Taggart and his sister Dagny Taggart are seen when we meet both characters separately.  In chapter one when we first meet James Taggart, he is talking to Eddie Willers about the crash of the Rio Norte Line.  James does not take authority over the situation and just sounds annoyed for being bothered.  However, when Ayn Rand first introduces us to the James’ sister Dagny Taggart, we do not know who she is, but we can sense that she is a strong woman by the way that Rand describes her.  We learn this is true when she gives orders to the workers, which shows us that she is a woman who has authority.  When we first see the interaction between James and his sister we can tell the differences between the two even more distinctly.  Dagny walks straight into her brother’s office and takes authority and tells him everything that she has done.  Dagny is a strong and confident woman and shows this by switching the order to Rearden Metal even though no one has ever used this kind of metal before.  When James asks her, “Whose judgment did you take,” she says “mine” (page 27).  However, on the other hand James does not want to be the first to use the metal.  This shows that James is not a leader and would rather use what everyone else uses even if it is not working for his business.  The last situation that shows how James and Dagny are foils is when James asks Dagny, “Are you taking responsibility for it”? (page 29).  James is scared to take responsibility for choosing Rearden Metal just in case it does not work, but on the other hand Dagny is confident and strong in her decision and says she will take full responsibility.