Many of the
characters changed in personality throughout the novel. Dagny is definitely my
favorite character, and changed the most in my opinion. She began as a woman
who was the exact opposite of the traditional woman. She was an industrialist,
was dedicated to her work and loved what she did. Nothing could get in her way.
Many people believe that she would never be with a man. While with Francisco,
it was evident he loved her until the very end when he proclaimed it in
“Atlantis”. She lost interest in trying to keep up with him and never expressed
true love for him. I thought what people were saying in the novel could be
true. She was much to into her work to be able to manage a relationship. We
then found out about the attraction she had for Hank and vice versa. It turned
out that Hank fell head over heels in love with Dagny, but she only found
pleasure in him and she wanted him. He made her happy and they shared he same
political ideals, but again she never really loved him. This was a step up in
her love life from Francisco, but it proved people to still be correct. She did
always have the image of the perfect person and all her dreams were answered
when she met the one and only, John Galt. I did not expect this. Other parts in
the novel were predictable, but this part caught me by surprise. I did not
think she would ever find John or the he was even alive. He does show to be
somewhat of a creepy person, but it finally shows the true side of her
emotions. Everyone who said she resembled a man was wrong. She slowly came
about this process though. Hank helped her with this because she could work,
but she was able to cry from pain like a woman with him. She also realizes some
qualities of a traditional woman with John because she expresses that she likes
to cook for him because it gives him a sensual pleasure that she provided. She
also feels jealousy with him, which I thought was a huge step in her love life.
Other than changing in this aspect, she changed as an industrialist. She began
as a woman who loved her work and making a profit. Although her passion stayed
with her, the looters changed her opinion. I never thought she would quit the
first time, and then when she returned and everything would change she was a
different type of person. She was trying to fight the system, but Washington
was already in charge of the lines and transportation means. This helped her
make her decision to return to “Atlantis” much faster than I thought she would.
Dagny is
not the only character to change. Hank Rearden changed drastically. He and
Dagny were very similar at the beginning due to his passion for his work and
creating his own metal. He was convinced it would work and with the help of
Dagny, they proved that to the population. His moral code changed at one point,
when they told him to sign the Gift Certificate and he did. He would have never
done that if his morals had not changed. He also had Dagny at risk because
their relationship could be exposed and his family needed financial support.
With so much going on, he did what I never expected him to do. He later
realized what he had done and wanted to improve himself. The first step in this
process was to profess his love to Dagny, as if Dagny did not know already. I
must say that Hank was somewhat of a predictable character until he changed his
moral code due to the Washington.
Overall, I
really enjoyed the novel. I think the criticism that Rand has on the government is
true and I loved how she expresses her thoughts through the ideas of John Galt,
as well as in the characters. It was brilliant. There were a lot of repetitive
ideas, which looking at now were important to the novel as a whole. I did think
it was interesting that it went from something that really could happen to
something more unrealistic with a hidden city of industrialists. I understand
that Rand did this to make a point on the government and their attack on the industrialists,
but I thought this and the inventions that were created in the novel were not
as realistic as the beginning of the novel.
No comments:
Post a Comment