This is John Galt Speaking - Essay Example

The analysis of “This is John Galt Speaking” by Ayn Rand Introduction Discussing the novel “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand, many readers would say that all the author’s main thoughts and beliefs are gathered in the Chapter 7 “This is John Galt Speaking”. This chapter can be deservingly called “a heart” of the novel. Everybody would agree that the book by Rand possesses many unique characteristics, but it is essential to consider “Atlas Shrugged” to be not only a fiction, but philosophic message that may seem not very understandable at first.

It is not right to consider the novel as contrasting the “good” socialism and “bad” capitalism. This approach represents not only the simplification, but the aversion of the author’s message. The given paper will prove that the novel represents contrasting active, goal-seeking people and inactive individuals, contrasting those who values the reason and apply it properly and those who prefer to believe in what they are told to believe. The analysis of the Chapter “This is John Galt Speaking” shows that there are people, who want to set up the goals and reach them and the individuals, who do not want to have any goals, but they always have logical explanations to any failures.

The author’s statement that active people make civilization develop is absolutely correct (Branden, 1962, p. 25). The author also presents the exact description of the mechanisms, due to which inactive individuals manage to survive on account of active ones. According to Rand, it is such situation that influences the society negatively and prevents it from the successful development. “You think the workers are the victims of capitalism? Seriously?  If working conditions suck that much, then just.

stop working. If you really are contributing more than you're getting, then your demands for more will be answered; otherwise, stop fucking whining. There is no such thing as class conflict, not when everyone is rational - hell, workers benefit more than anyone else” (Rand, Ch.7). All the heroes are like caricatures, but any business man or civil servant met the analogues of any of them in his life. And if an individual is bold enough to make the analysis of his own personality, he will be able to reveal several such qualities.

Socialism and capitalism are related to the main theme of the book only partly and it is obvious that socialists are related to the second group of people [inactive]. The novel criticizes socialism, but it also criticizes democracy (Mayhew, 2009, p 45). The author understands democracy as a system that allows the masses to impose disadvantageous rules under the pretext of social advantage. This is her critics of blind faith that people are guided by. The talent of Rand is in her ability to forecast the future.

Her description of artists, who lack the taste and whose creations are far from ideal, can be easily applied to the modern art. The scientists, who investigate rubbish to receive grants, because they are just not able to create something valuable can be also met today. The interesting fact is that the author also knew the mechanisms, which will lead to such situation. The speech of John Galt shows that we are guilty in what we have today as we are never satisfied with the changes we made ourselves: “If you don't think the entire world is completely fucked, you're not paying attention.

Yeah, it's pretty bad out there. But until you realize why things are so out of hand, it's only going to get worse” (Rand, Ch.7). Contra argument Some people will state that the author is too cynical and may not approve her attempts However, notwithstanding that the book is devoted to the discussion of economics and philosophy, the novel, as a real fiction, is focused on the expression of emotions (Younkins, 2007, p. 15). These are the emotions of people, who are engaged in production, business men, who are doing business in the society, where business is not respected.

Here we can also see the critics of faith that makes us blindly believe that the socialism is good and the capitalism is bad. We can see the bright characters of heroes-industrialists, who are far from dogmatism, and the entirely featureless world of people, who live on the account of “abstract” economy (Wilt, 1999, p.2). However, even taking the plants and factories away from industrialists, this featureless world can’t make them work as it is a Man, not a device that is the foundation of the whole production process.

Conclusion Thus, despite all the drawbacks, the book is recommended to be read by the wide audience. The approach of the author is unique, but it is worth-considering. Rand criticizes everything connected to blind faith and intuition and states that only reason and proper activity can develop the civilization. The more people understand the simple message of the author, the more chances to save our civilization we get. The book should be read by everyone who think about the value of human efforts, the capital and governmental control in the sphere of economics and business functioning.

Works Cited Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged (35th anniversary ed.). New York: Dutton, 1992.  Branden, Nathaniel "The Moral Revolution in Atlas Shrugged". Who is Ayn Rand?. Book co-authored with Barbara Branden. New York: Random House, 1962.  Mayhew, Robert, ed. Essays on Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2009. Wilt, Judith. "On Atlas Shrugged". Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand. Re-reading the Canon. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999.

  Younkins, Edward W., ed. Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged: A Philosophical and Literary Companion (paperback ed.). Burlington, Vermont: Ashgate Publishing, 2007.