Sunday, October 6, 2013
Francisco is the Key
While John Galt poses as the once shadowy, mysterious man who we are slowly, but surely, getting to know as the novel progresses, Francisco d'Anconia is the blatantly obvious "mystery" man who is hiding in plain sight. Throughout the entire beginning of the novel, Francisco plays a pretty large role, and we get a playboye-esque image of him. His charming, smug, and witty character is lovable, even when perceived as a complete sleaze-ball, but Francisco is a puzzle. We have a bunch of little pieces about him, but we do not know how to put those pieces together just yet. Francisco sort of acts like a double-agent, to some extent. In my opinion, he represents the public image of John Galt's strike; he is in plan sight, out in the open, recruiting people to join Galt's cause. His role in the strike is interesting, because most of the people involved either live in Atlantis or stick to themselves, while he is the only one who is quite famous and putting on this huge fake persona. If you think about it, Francisco was our first introduction to John Galt's philosophy and values, and he sets us up for Galt's arrival later in the book. A part of me feels like Francisco is the key to decoding this entire novel. The Atlas Shrugged mystery is mysterious, maybe too mysterious, but with Francisco's help I think we can finally get what's going on in the big picture. All in all, this post was basically me expressing how much I love Francisco.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I enjoyed reading this post because I have to agree with everything you say. Francisco has become such a fascinating character to me, even though he has annoyed me in the past. I'm glad to be able to see him from a new perspective (and feel fortunate to have seen him in both a negative and positive light). I think Francisico is the best about explaining things because he does not expect you to already know, as John Galt does.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Francisco talks to much, John Galt makes him look like the most concise person in the world. It is deffinitely much easier to understand the story through Francisco. He has also become more human with his weaknesses, which takes away the perfection that John Galt now embodies.