Things in Atlas Shrugged Things in Atlas Shrugged This is a list of general items in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged.
Spoiler warning Plot and or ending details follow.
Anti dog eat dog Rule
The Anti dog eat dog Rule is passed by the National Alliance of Railroads in section allegedly to prevent destructive competition between railroads The rule gives the Alliance the authority to forbid competition between railroads in certain parts of the country It was crafted by Orren Boyle as a favor for James Taggart with the purpose of driving the Phoenix Durango out of Colorado.
Bracelet
The very first thing made from Rearden Metal is a bracelet The bracelet is used to illustrate Rand's Theory of Sex.
The bracelet symbolizes the value created by Hank Rearden's long struggle to invent Rearden Metal When he gives it to Lillian Rearden as a present in section she says It's fully as valuable as a piece of railroad rails However Lillian fully grasps the significance of the gift her snide remark is her way of denigrating her husband's ethos.
In section Lillian wears this bracelet at a party thrown on her anniversary She makes fun of it all night long and when Dagny Taggart hears Lillian say she would gladly trade it for a common diamond bracelet Dagny takes her up on it.
Lillian later asks for it back upon realizing her power over her husband was slowly diminishing Dagny denies the offer.
The bracelet appears in sections and.
Cub Club
A night club in New York When Francisco d'Anconia returns to New York in section he explains he came because of a hat check girl at the Cub Club and the liverwurst at Moe's Delicatessen on Third Avenue.
Equalization of Opportunity Bill
A bill designed by the Looters that proposes to limit the number of businesses any one person can own to one It is aimed primarily at Hank Rearden who uses Rearden Ore to guarantee Rearden Steel with a supply of iron ore By passing this Bill the Looters can seize Rearden's other businesses for themselves and then deny him the iron he needs to run his steel mills.
The Looters claim the Bill is meant to give a chance to the little guy.
The Equalization of Opportunity Bill is appears in section.
Galt's Gulch
A secluded refuge in a valley of Colorado where the men of ability have retreated after relinquishing participation in American society Nicknamed Galt's Gulch by its inhabitants it is in fact the property of Midas Mulligan one of the early strikers to follow John Galt's call This call was to the great men of mind and action to abandon the increasingly slave state inclinations of a decaying United States to go on strike thereby withdrawing the only thing supporting the parasites and looters.
Sarcastically nicknamed Midas in the press because everything he seemed to touch turned to gold Mulligan adopted the nickname during his explosive investment career before dropping out of sight He had purchased this land among his far ranging speculative endeavors and subsequently retreated to it upon his disappearance Other strikers soon followed him there including John Galt renting or buying land for summer retreats as a respite from continuing their search for fellow strikers among the increasingly collapsing American society Eventually a society develops in Galt's Gulch as more people live there year round as the outside world becomes virtually unsafe to visit.
We are introduced to Galt's Gulch in the final section of the Novel in the first chapter entitled Atlantis The people live with each other in completely free society and embody everything which is the thesis of the Novel the appropriate values for a society of Mankind philosophical moral economic legal aesthetic and sexual among others too numerous to mention.
We find industrious ambitious happy people continuing their chosen fields of endeavor without the yokes of any taxation or regulation Conversely there is a reverence for private property everything transacted is paid for with the re invented currency of solid gold coin struck