The End of Atlas Shrugged

The End of Atlas Shrugged- My Thoughts
By Madison Nef

The end of the book was actually my favorite part- and not because it was THE END OF THE BOOK. Basically, Dagny crashes into a “paradise” of sorts while tailing John Galt- and awakens to meet Galt helping her up. She is told that the place she has found is Galt’s Gulch- a place where hardworking people can stay. Galt is essentially building his own colony- he visits people, often heads of major factories that are needed by the US and tells them about his paradise. He tells them that they are free to take up any job they like in the Gulch, except they must not share ANYTHING they do or find out with the outside world- such as cures for diseases, new musical pieces, etc.

The currency isn’t paper money- it is gold, minted by Midas Mulligan, who founded Galt’s Gulch. The people living in the Gulch live protected by heat reflectors that keep the Gulch hidden from the naked eye, and everything is camouflaged. Everyone living there has their own house, own job that contributes to the community, and pretty much can live freely- no encroachment from the government forcing them to give up their new inventions or discoveries at a lower price than they are worth and no weak public demanding and leeching off of their profits.

Even though the country was pretty much driving away and being unappreciative of these companies, as the owners started disappearing, there came great worry- who would produce oil? Who would run the trains? What about copper? Galt finally took over a broadcast and pretty much told everyone listening that they had messed up- big time. They were already driving out the resources they needed, and now saw that they DID need them. Galt reminded them that they were depending on money and the thoughts of other men to do all their work for them while at the same time, not treating them right. He said that he had shown them another way to live and offered them a chance to live like that- and they had chosen his way of life.

“I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.” - John Galt

After the speech, Galt is arrested- but refuses to bargain with the country, and riots soon commence when more and more company head leave. The country falls into shambles- as Galt had said. He is begged to help lead the country, but even after torture he refuses. He is soon rescued by the people of his Gulch, led by Dagny in a final armed confrontation with his guards. After Galt is rescued, everyone returns to Galt’s Gulch where Dagny finally agrees to join Galt and his followers on “strike”. As the last trains leave for Galt’s Gulch, Eddie Willers is left behind- refusing to give up on the train lines and of the socialistic country, insisting that Taggart Transcontinental can be saved. Back in the Gulch, plans are being put together about how to rebuild the country, and the book ends with Galt looking out over the shut down country and saying: “The road is cleared. We are going back to the world.”

The book was awesome. The reason the ending was my favorite was mainly because of the speech Galt gave. Had I been a business owner in the time period Rand describes in her book, I too would have gone with Galt. Naturally, now there is too much technology for a place like Galt’s Gulch to exist- but it would be great if it did. Had someone in the past actually taken Rand’s book as a warning and commenced her idea, the country could well have been something quite different from the way it is now- and by “different” I mean better.