In this latest reading we finally get some information about
the situation of Cheryl, Jim Taggart’s wife, and how she is handling her
position in society. The more and more that Cheryl sees of the society that Jim
Taggart has involved himself in, the more she realizes just how corrupt Jim
Taggart really is. At first, Cheryl saw the rich and famous as a sort of
example to follow and that their success was because of their hard work and dedication,
but after being married to Jim for a while, she realizes that a major part of
the high society earned their position through corruption instead of hard work,
especially with the current state of government. This is interesting in that it
shows that all of the truly “good” hardworking people have been recruited or
trapped by John Galt’s ‘Atlantis’ and all that is left is the scum of the
earth. This brings me to a realization I have made about the three main
characters, each of them seem to be being held back by someone who does not
agree with the ideal that Rand has put in place for the perfect person. Dagny
has Jim Taggart, Hank Rearden has his brother and his family, but Francisco is
a little special. There is not a specific family member that is seeming to hold
him back, but rather he makes Dagny think that it is his reputation as the
playboy philanthropist extraordinaire that seems to be holding him back. Up
until now, Dagny has thought that this side of Francisco was controlling his
personality and was not allowing him to reach his fullest potential, but it is
revealed through cracks in his persona throughout the story and through Francisco’s
confession in this reading that this persona of his is just that, a persona. Francisco
has been putting on this act in order to stay out in the real world and recruit
people to join Galt’s wonder world. For Dagny, her brother has been pegged as
part of the scum of the earth by the description of the events happening to
Cheryl and by his actions to work with the looters in Washington. Jim blatantly
states that he wants to be loved and revered like Dagny, but without having to
do the hard work that Dagny did to get to her position, which is an embodiment
of the criticism of the socialist world as being a place where you can be
successful without making effort. In Hank’s case, his brother is an example of
the criticism of the socialist world as one where those who are in need are entitled
to help from those who are successful. Again, this is just a further example of
just how intricately Ayn Rand criticizes the socialist government and
government intervention.
Josh has hit some great points here on both of the subjects that he intended to cover in his commentary. I wanted to talk about the Cheryl case during my response this week, but I got lost in discussing my personal viewpoint in relation to Jim Taggart. His analysis that leads to the point that Cheryl is in fact a product of the socialistic society hits the nail right on the head. She is brought into this position by Jim Taggart and becomes a product of which everything that Rand labels is wrong. She doesn’t have to work, yet basks in the glory of other work. When she discovers this she is so distraught and conflicted that she eventually goes and commits suicide. I believe that Rand touches upon a point of clarity with Cheryl, showing the pureness and goodness in people. Cheryl then becomes this martyr for what Ayn Rand believes is all of the terribleness that has resulted in society.
ReplyDeleteJosh hits upon some other great points in his commentary on the correlations and differences between the three major men of the novel. It is not like any of these men are opposites. These men show some similarities and some differences and how there are no clear distinctions between the men. That is what I have enjoyed about this week’s reading most. Even when the separations get greater, the lines begin to blur between all of the major characters of the novel.