Who is John Galt?

Just finished my second Ayn Rand book in a little while and I have mixed feelings. As someone with a Lit background, I hate to admit that I can't bring myself to savor, much less just plain read, every single word she writes in her 1000+pg novels (I'm beginning to think Ayn Rant would be a suitable moniker). However, the woman has things to say that make me think.

A couple months ago I read "The Fountainhead" (1943). Besides the fact that the novel begins with a man in his birthday suit plummeting off a ledge and diving into a freezing cold lake, there were several other factors (besides a repeat) that kept me turning pages. Rand, as doubly evidenced in "Atlas Shrugged" (1957), knows how to develop characters (perhaps a bit exhaustively). They are all extreme representations of her philosophy, Objectivism--and although what her protagonists do or say becomes almost painfully predictable by around page 150--you can't help but keep reading because these characters, even in their hopeless inevitability, are a compelling and uncomfortable reminder of too many people in one's own life.

I loved the "Fountain Head" and have recommended it since to several people. Roark is inspiring in his rebellion against mindless and comfortable conformity, yet his self-defeating nature is foiled by Rand's need to redeem him by ultimately making him a hero in the public's eye (which pretty much undermines what Raynd tries to establish in the first 800 pages). I guess I expected Roark to fail simply because I though the whole premise of the novel was to prove just how impossible it is for someone like Roark to exist in the world's current state. Either I was wrong, or Rand just didn't have it in her to make her (anti-)hero suffer the same kind of martyrdom that any one like Roark would experience in real life.

Hidden within the verbose paragraphs are some great quotes and if I hadn't made a personal pact with myself to never hold a pen in my hand when I'm reading for leisure, I'm sure I"d be able to reference a few. Regardless, I think Rand is most convincing (and enjoyable) when she doesn't try so hard at making her characters simply regurgitate her philosophy for her readers through long-winded monologues. I thought her use of architecture in "The Fountainhead" was ironically reminiscent of Milton (though his usage was of course much more subtle), yet effectively original and appropriate, precisely because architecture, in it's practicality, is easily disassociated from art and history and its implications of conformity.

Now, I've said I liked "the Fountainhead" but I must admit, I've begrudged Rand's disappointing anti-feminism (at least aspects of it-- I would agree in large part with P. Shwart'z article, "Feminism's attack on Objectivism-- if I could figure out links, I'd put one here...). For a woman who is herself in many ways an anachronism (she was after all writing in the 30s, just a decade after women;s suffrage was granted in America), she is surprisingly incapable of creating a woman character who does not need a man to put her into submission (psychologically or sexually) in order to recognize in herself the kind of value any other male protagonist in "the Fountainhead" or "Atlas Shrugged" seems to be just born with. It would have been interesting to be able to talk to Ayn Rand about her thoughts on being a woman and Her role in Rand's philosophy -- although I'd love to celebrate her utopic vision and embrace the kind of person she believes it takes to create that kind of existence, I have a hard time believing she thought a woman could be that person. I hoped that because it was written later, that "Atlas Shrugged" would have redeemed what I interpreted as Rand's (unconscious?) anti-feminism, and if there was a character who would have done it, it should have been Dagny Taggart-- but alas, I was disappointed again by Dagny's pathetic behavior towards the end of the novel when she finally meets The John Galt. I don't want to give it away for those of you who haven't read it, but, man! What a disappointment when she is reduced to willingly ironing and cooking and cleaning for a man, who not only has made it his sole purpose to destroy her precisely because she is the most successful capitalist the world has ever known (and a woman to boot), but who leaves her only wanting the title of wife when she could have perhaps saved the world from its own lack of self-respect.

Am I being too harsh?

I will say, reading "Atlas Shrugged" was the perfect book to read at this time in my life when my family consistently finds itself asking, "Where are those people who want to make their lives better and understand that working hard is the answer? Where are the people who aren't looking for ways to take advantage of someone who has found success and would rather get something for nothing, rather than do more to get everything?"

Too many people here in Guatemala are complacent. Too many people think it's enough to show up to work and get a pay check that helps them barely get by, when instead they could be striving for something more. My dad's company has through the years fostered several different employees who have wanted more for themselves than the kind of life someone who simply cuts threads all day long can look forward to. My dad's plant manager was one of those people: she began as a "despitador"-- she had a 3rd grade education and cut threads that the sewing operators failed to do themselves. She worked up the ladder and after 10 years was making $60,000 a year, learned English, traveled back and forth to the States with her family (because she qualified to get a Visa), bought a home, several properties and her kids went to excellent schools. Now, this story doesn't have a happy ending since when my parent's closed down their big plant, she took the company car and ran away with it, BUT the point is, at least she had at one point that vision for herself and her family that pushed her to be more than what was perhaps expected of her.

This county has so much potential but it is unfortunately a perfect example of the kind of "looters" Rand talks about in "Atlas". Too many people clocking in, just waiting for the clock to hit 5 o'clock so they can go home and get a paycheck at the end of the week. It is so hard to motivate people here! We are now paying all benefits in every paycheck to our factory workers so as not to have to pay in June and December, 2 full month's worth of paychecks that were not earned through production (it's a national benefit system). Usually what happens is that companies can't afford to cut checks for $100,000 two times a year so the payments get spread across a couple months, or in worst case scenarios, it doesn't ever get paid. So we decide as an extra incentive to get the best operators, we will put this into every paycheck, so whenever an operator gets paid, they actually get an additional 43% (yes 43%!) on their paycheck to cover these benefits. So what happens? Yes, we get great operators. Yes, they are happy. But where is the production?? The majority could care less about exerting themselves and hitting efficiency goals because they are getting the biggest paycheck they've ever gotten and it's guaranteed. It is so frustrating-- especially since this is money they would be getting any ways! So essentially, it's better to pay minimum wage with production goals and then not pay them their benefits come June and December, then follow the law, guarantee them their benefits, and pay them the money up front. It's ridiculous. I tried once to explain that if they could hit their goals, they could put aside an extra couple hundred dollars a month and get a substantial savings to buy some property, get their kids to a good school, etc, but it falls on deaf ears. And those who do want something better are stonewalled by the rest of their production team. It's frustrating, really frustrating.

I have learned so much in the past couple years and not just about running a business. Dave and I always find ourselves saying that life here is REAL LIFE. That the lives we lived in the States was void of the kind of experiences that 99% of the world experiences every day. We have seen just about every thing you can think of here and have witnessed the entire spectrum from the best to the worst of humanity. We have learned so much and have probably been, unfortunately, hardened because of it. Nonetheless, I'm grateful for the experience. I know Dave and I have learned HOW TO WORK and the frightening and onerous responsibility one has as an EMPLOYER. I think Ayn Rand understood this too and I am grateful that she had the vision and talent to put it into words that are for the most part, a great read.