Atlas Shrugged I

In Ayn Rand's (447) novel, Atlas Shrugged, steel magnate Hank Rearden says when he is on trial that "The public good be damned. I will have no part of it!" In this single statement, much of what constitutes Rand's philosophy of Objectivism is revealed. At its core, Objectivism - and the novel as a fictionalized polemic - holds that individuals are not "entitled" to social welfare, to preferential treatment, to pity, or to any special favors. Rather, each man is "entitled" to use his intellect, his capacity for work and creativity, and his ability to develop wealth to suit his own ends and meet his own needs without concern for the putative well-being of others. As Rearden (446) says, astonishing the judge and jurors and others in the

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Category: Literature - A