Characters in Atlas Shrugged Characters in Atlas Shrugged Characters in Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged.
Spoiler warning Plot and or ending details follow.
Balph Eubank
Called the literary leader of the age despite the fact that he is incapable of writing anything that people actually want to read What people want to read he says is irrelevant He complains that it is disgraceful that artists are treated as peddlers and that there should be a law limiting the sales of books to ten thousand copies He is a member of the Looters Balph Eubank appears in section.Ben Nealy
A railroad contractor whom Dagny Taggart hires to replace the track on the Rio Norte Line with Rearden Metal Nealy is incompetent but Dagny can find no one better in all the country Nealy believes that anything can get done with enough muscle power He sees no role for intelligence in human achievement and this is manifest in his inability to organize the project and to make decisions He relies on Dagny and Ellis Wyatt to run things and resents them for doing it because it appears to him like they are just bossing people around Ben Nealy appears in section.
Bertram Scudder
Editorial writer for the magazine The Future He typically bashes business and businessmen but he never says anything specific in his articles relying on innuendo sneers and denunciation He wrote a hatchet job on Hank Rearden called The Octopus He is also vocal in support of the Equalization of Opportunity Bill Bertram Scudder appears in section.
Betty Pope
A wealthy socialite who is having a meaningless sexual affair with James Taggart that coincides with the overall meaninglessness of her life She regrets having to wake up every morning because she has to face another empty day She is deliberately crude in a way that casts ridicule on her high social position Betty Pope appears in sections and.Brakeman
An unnamed employee working on the Taggart Comet train Dagny Taggart hears Brakeman whistling the theme of a concerto When she asks him what piece it is from he says it is Halley's Fifth Concerto When Dagny points out that Richard Halley only wrote four concertos Brakeman claims he made a mistake and he doesn't recall where he heard the piece.
Later after Dagny instructs the train crew how to proceed he asks a co worker who she is and learns she is the one who runs Taggart Transcontinental.
It is later discovered that the unknown brakeman is one of the strikers when Dagny meets him in the valley Brakeman appears in sections and.
Cherryl Brooks
Dime store shopgirl who marries James Taggart after a chance encounter in her store the night the John Galt Line was deemed his greatest success She marries him thinking he is the heroic person behind Taggart Transcontinental She is horrible to Dagny until the night before she commits suicide when she confesses to Dagny that she married Jim thinking she was marrying Dagny Like Eddie Willers Cherryl is one representation of a good person who lacks the extraordinary capacities of the primary heroes of the novel.
Claude Slagenhop
The president of political organization Friends of Global Progress which is supported by Philip Rearden and one of Lillian Rearden's friends He believes that ideas are just air that this is no time for talk but for action He is not bothered by the fact that action unguided by ideas is random and pointless Global Progress is a sponsor of the Equalization of Opportunity Bill Claude Slagenhop appears in section.Cuffy Meigs
A Looter who's assigned by Wesley Mouch to keep watch over the workings of Taggart Transcontinental and later assumes control over the company after Dagny Taggart leaves He carries a pistol and wears a military uniform The intellectual heir of Dr Robert Stadler Meigs comes to a fitting end at the hands of Project X.Dagny Taggart
The main character in Atlas Shrugged also the name of her namesake Mrs Nathaniel Taggart Dagny is Vice President in Charge of Operation at Taggart Transcontinental.