Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged

As Ayn Rand herself expressed, the theme of Atlas Shrugged is “the role of the mind in man's existence—and, as corollary, the demonstration of a new moral philosophy: the morality of rational self-interest”. This theme is expressed in the novel through the development of the story and the evolution of the characters. As the mother of objectivism, she upholds the right of man over other accepted ideals, such as political structures or even religion. And as man has the right to his own self his way of attaining such state is through the exercise of his own intellect.

Rand explained why it is moral and rational for man to pursue his own self interest and happiness. Moreover, Rand did this by creating heroes and heroines who defy what is conventional. Over the years literature has portrayed heroes as the champions of moral codes of their time. In Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, the heroes became heroes by defying the conventional.

Nevertheless, despite such contradiction Rand was able to show that indeed it is not only moral for man to pursue his own happiness and self interest but it is also quite rational or logical. In Part Three, Chapter VII, for instance, in the lines, “In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit.  In that transfusion of blood which drains the good to feed the evil, the compromiser is the transmitting rubber tube,” Ayn Rand emphasized the importance of why man should make no compromises with evil.

It is so easy for man to do nothing or not to stand up against the evils of the society or the evils around him. It is so easy to be the willing victim and much harder to fight. And yet as the line emphasized, in such compromise or in such willingness or acceptance of being the victim, it is only the evil which wins in the end. Thus, there is no such thing as a true compromise between good and evil. The man on the other hand allows himself to be the host of evil.

Under such eventuality or circumstance, evil is like a parasite but it only becomes as such when man allows himself to be the host. Again this is emphasized in Galt’s own speech wherein he speaks of evil being impotent and powerless unless we allow it to have such power and allow ourselves to be abused and used.

Thus, Rand claims that morality is when we do not allow ourselves to become the victims of evil. This is part of the essence of rational selfishness and moral selfishness. At the same time, such moral selfishness does not mean that we do whatever we intend with total disregard for others. What it ultimately means is that we must be aware of our own self interest and avoid all sorts of being the propagators of evil. In a way, we must always practice self interest and do not allow ourselves to be human sacrifices, whether for our own self sacrifice or as sacrifice for others.

In our world where man is accustomed to the evil and abuses around himself, Rand pointed out through several characters how such evil can exist in the world wherein man is totally unaware that he is being a host to it. For instance, we see Rearden thinking and feeling that it is his obligation to support his family despite their treatment of him. And again we see this in Conway wherein he thinks that the world calls for sacrifice and if one is called upon such sacrifice, then he must accept this as nothing more than out of the ordinary.

In the line, “We never had to take any of it seriously, did we?” and Galt answered, “No, we never had to,” we see the same theme of self interest. In these lines, Rand reflects upon suffering as it nothing more than a simple nuisance in life, like a fly, that man must not take too seriously.  In a sense, Rand emphasized that what is really important in life are the greatest pleasures, such as glory and happiness.

Here, Rand reminds the reader to live his life to the fullest, to live for the glorious moments of achievement and pursuit of happiness. As for the pain, man must not dwell on them and simply move on to what he thinks will give him happiness or to what he thinks he can achieve for his own good. Moreover, the line is a reminder that man must not live his life trying to run away from the pain because pain is part of human life. Nevertheless as one must not run away from the pain, man must run to his own happiness.

Thus, in life and in love, man must not run away from the pain, but rather, live the finest moment, the glorious happiness which life and love can offer. Despite the fact that life may have its own pain, it has also its own happiness. And despite the fact that love may be painful, it has its own moments of perfect ecstasy where in man cannot find anywhere else and which definitely makes up for all the pain one has to endure for the its sake.

The decision lies within man himself. Again this is part of the main theme of morality of rational self-interest. What would be the purpose of living in pain? Nothing would be gained by man to dwell on such self destructive thoughts, therefore they are irrational acts. And since they will do nothing good, they are then immoral. As for man’s own capabilities, he has his mind to reflect on such things and he has his own body or physical capability to make himself act for his own self interest, his own happiness.

The moment man makes a conscious decision and conscious decision to make himself happy, all the pain, the hate, the sufferings would be gone for what are those emotions but evil thoughts which once again corrupts man into thinking that he is powerless against it. Such negative emotions should be fought against with until man makes himself happy. Similarly, as man is asked not to let himself be the object of self sacrifice, man is taught that self sacrifice is not only present in his surroundings but also within himself.

In these lines, Rand points out that as evil corrupts the society into thinking that he is powerless against the society, the norm and the perceived morality, evil can also corrupt his own thoughts and fools him into thinking that sufferings and all its negative emotions are things which happened and cannot be changed. He then again becomes the host of evil as he is made into thinking that he is powerless. Logically man must only reflect on what would be his own self interest to break free from the shackles of sufferings.

As in her characters, Rand sees man an evolving creature that will learn eventually that it is only but logical to pursue his own self interest because it is what is moral. Rand reminds man that there is nothing that he cannot do, that he is self sufficient in terms of his own happiness.

This brings us to the lines, “You have a great deal of courage, Dagny. Some day, you’ll have enough of it”, Rand speaks to man, about man, as a capable being with enough intellect to fight for what he believes is his right and for the things that can make him happy. Rand emphasized that what is needed to turn things around is his courage. This is because it takes a great deal of courage to fight evil or not to allow oneself to be sacrificed for the wrongfully perceived good deeds for the sake of others or even for his own self.

As in any struggle, particularly in the struggle for individuality and self interest, Rand acknowledge the fact that it is not an easy road to take and it takes courage. This is because compromising oneself or sacrificing oneself is definitely easier than fighting for individuality. And yet, Rand also acknowledge the fact that man is capable of summoning enough courage and sees hope in humankind.