Dagny and Rearden’s Metaphorical Baby (Meagan Adler)

            After this week’s reading, I particularly liked Rand’s comparison of the train on the John Galt Line to a human being.  This idea is probably a little far-fetched, but I think that the train might be Dagny and Rearden’s metaphorical baby, for it is a collaborated product of each of their individual innovations; Dagny is the creator of the train, while Rearden is the creator of the track.  In my opinion, one of the most powerful descriptions Rand makes that relates the train to a living person is when she describes Dagny as feeling as if she were an intruder when she walks down a narrow passage between its engines and the wall; she felt as “if she had slipped inside a living creature, under its silver skin” (pg. 230).  This suggests that Dagny sees the train as its own individual and that she is invading its privacy by being inside of it.  Also, she feels the “pounding of the engine’s heart” (pg. 230) and describes her own heartbeat as “one with the beating of the motors”; this suggests a synchronized rhythm in which both Dagny, the creator/mother, and the train, her product/baby share.  Rand says, the “nose of the engine was aimed straight at the sky” (pg. 229); this characterizes the train as a proud and confident person, a quality that defines both Dagny and Rearden’s character dispositions. Lastly, Dagny felt that “the sharpest jolt of the journey was the realization that the engine stood still”’ (pg.232); this can be compared the panic a mother would experience when her baby’s heart stopped beating. As the novel progresses, we are exposed to Dagny and Rearden’s intimate relationship that furthermore creates that notion of the train as their metaphorical baby.  Because Dagny and Rearden are both self-seeking materialistic industrialists, I think that their familial bond to this tangible object is quite an appropriate image for Rand to create in the reader’s mind.