Atlas Shrugged

Atlas Shrugged

Atlas Shrugged

Atlas Shrugged's presentation of money departs from the traditional dichotomy of the “haves and have-nots.” In fact such a characterization of money succinctly captures the ultimate evil, in conflict with the ultimate good. The separation it insists on instead may be called “the makers and the maker-nots.” The latter comprises both the haves and the have-nots, while the makers are the golden examples of the good, whose every cent was earned through their own effort.  These, the makers, the builders, the achievers, hold the belief that “the words 'to make money' hold the essence of human morality” (384).

Any point of discussion on the difference between the heroes and villains is a variation on a theme: to the heroes money has important and specific meaning, while to the villains money has no particular meaning that they can or are willing to imagine. For the heroes it is simple: the process of working, as a manifestation of one's spirit, is sacred; and accordingly one's money, as the eventual product of such, is sacred. There is no inherent corrupting quality to money, as Francisco d'Anconia says in his speech to Jim Taggart's wedding crowd, “Money is made—before it can be looted or mooched—made by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability…” (381). If each person shared this divine appreciation of work, each person could obtain money proportional to the expression of his or her own spirit.

Meanwhile the villains achieve a state of insensitivity to money through indoctrinated short-term memory loss. The men in Washington will not hear of “absolute standards,” but only “the reality of the day” (337). The present second becomes the only frame of reference; as John Galt explains over the radio, the villains thus attempt to divorce money from its origins (950). This implies the rejection of a rational universe, in which one event causes a later event to occur. The concept of “making” profit, which describes movement through time, becomes virtually indiscernible from that of “having” profit, which describes a static state without cause or purpose—“as if wealth, the effect, could give you ability, the cause” (950).

For villainous wealth is obtained within these premises not by ability, but by cheating. The cheating methodology in Atlas Shrugged has villains living a sort of double-life, exemplified by using euphemisms like “public equality” in defense of laziness and incompetence. Describing the infamous Twentieth Century Motors experiment, the vagabond Jeff Allen admits that every person in the room, in his or her heart, understood the true implications of the plan; yet they went along as if they bought into its philosophy because they figured it would be easier to take advantage of the system than to actually earn their money (614).

Further a doctrine of “essential need” allows people to believe that some need is not readily satisfied by ability. Thus wanting to make money—a desire attainable through action—is replaced by needing to have money, a more pressing desire justifying any ...