Atlas Shrugged – Day 085 – pp. 909-921
Somehow destroying a company like d’Anconia Copper or Rearden Steel is one thing. But destroying an innocent like Cherryl sinks the whole bunch to a new level of moral depravity. (Not that I’m sentimental, but that bit pissed me off.)
That said, the drama is starting to pick up. I mean it was all well and good living in Atlantis for a month. But the real drama is here where the scumbags live. Hey, call me a jerk. I read the Bible and TMZ.com.
I stopped a couple pages early yesterday. Felt it was the fitting thing to do as the chapter ended with Cherryl. Time to get back on pace.
Chapter V – Their Brothers Keepers
“On the morning of September 2, a copper wire broke in California, between two telephone poles by the track of the Pacific branch like of Taggart Transcontinental.”
Good thing Jimmy’s coming into a copper mine today. But in the meantime, things are getting pretty thin. The guys at HQ didn’t want to acknowledge it directly.
“They knew that copper wire was a vanishing commodity, more precious than gold or honor. . .”
Rand is really coming up with ’em now.
One of the men on site called to Dagny. She’s now apparently, the only person in the world who can get anything done.
She was in a conference with her brother Jim when the call came.
“Copper wire? In a very short while, we won’t have any trouble about copper.”
He said knowingly.
Rand goes on a bit describing the dire situation in parts of the country. Having gone from bad to worse to desperate. People were being put on relief by the government — but there was no food. With people starving, the G is taking from Peter (a trainload of seed grain for farmers in Nebraska) to feed Paul (the starving masses in Illinois.)
Dagny notes the plan ain’t working as planned.
The bankers aren’t making loans anymore. At least not without collateral. And they won’t take the mortgaged and essentially bankrupt Taggart Trans as collateral. (Does this sound familiar?) Now Taggart is having trouble making payroll.
Of course it’s not their fault. It’s the banks.
She presses Jim to get to the point of the meeting. She has a railroad to duct tape back together.
And now we get a little more nuts from Jim.
“…she felt certain that he was holding her here for some specific purpose and, simultaneously, that he was holding her for the mere sake of her presence. . . . It was some new trait in him, which she had begun to notice ever since Cherryl’s death.”
Behaving oddly? Clinging to Dagny? Like this is one of those “afraid to be alone” manias.
“He had come running to her, rushing, unannounced, into her apartment on the evening of the day when Cherryl’s body ad been found. . . ‘It wasn’t my fault! . . . I’m not to blame for it! I’m not to blame!'”
No mercy from Dagny.
Jim says he wants to hear Dagny’s views on the situation.
Dagny’s thoughts wander to the world of shit that’s piled high around them. All the deals. All the looting. All the men of “pull” as Rand calls them. Feeding like maggots on the corpse of a once great country. (Man! If I didn’t know better…) Suddenly Jim cries out:
“You must do something!”
She whirled to face him “I?”
“it’s your job, it’s your province, it’s your duty!”
“What is?”
“To act. To do.”
“To do — what?”
A little panic on Jim’s part. She want’s to leave but he want’s a “discussion.”
Dagny’s a bit smug – well, not smug. But fully understanding the futility of any kind of discussion 1) with Jim or 2) about fixing the situation.
She won’t help them. Well what can they do?
“Give up. . . . Give up — all of you, you and your Washington friends and your looting planners and the whole of your cannibal philosophy.”
“No! That’s impossible. That’s out of the question.”
Dagny sees there’s no point in continuing but Jimmy’s insistent on her doing something for the cause. Then he turns sullen.
“Dagny, I”m your brother. . . Dagny — I want to be president of a railroad. I want it. Why can’t I have my wish as you always have yours? . . . Why should you be happy while I suffer? . . . It’s your sin if I suffer! It’s your moral failure! I’m your brother, therefore I’m your responsibility, but you’ve failed to supply my wants, therefore you’re guilty! . . . I want this kind of world, today’s world it gives me my share of authority, it allows me to to feel important — make it work for me! . . . You have the privilege of strength, but I – I have the right of weakness!”
That’s a plea from a crazy man if I’ve ever heard one.
As she’s about to leave for the third time, he stops her to listen to a radio broadcast.
“Ladies and gentlemen! . . . News of a shocking development has just reached us from Santiago, Chile!”
Good news finally?
“She saw the jerk of Taggart’s head, and a sudden anxiety in his bewildered frown, as if something about the words and voice were not what he had expected.”
Not good news?
Well to make a long story short… The People’s State of Chile was about to nationalize d’Anconia Copper. At the exact moment they opened the legislative session a blast was heard from the d’Anconia mines. The ore docks had been blown to bits. (Of course! How’d I miss that?)
More bad news. At the very same time, all the other d’Anconia properties in the hemisphere were blown up too.
“…by an infernal marvel of synchronization, every property of d’Anconia Copper on the face of the globe, from Chile to Siam to Spain to Pottsville, Montana, had been blown up and swept away.”
You go Ragnar!
But come on! A little Guy Fawkes-y don’t you think. Well, Rand hasn’t stopped at believable extremes before. Why start now?
Francisco and his fortune are gone. Nowhere to be found.
Jim is on the phone screaming for Washington. Panic is spreading up the tree.
“If Francisco had wanted a worthy funeral pyre for d’Anconia Copper, she thought, he had succeeded.”
Not Ragnar?
Anyway, she meets Hank for dinner later. They’re still hanging out, giving each other moral support, just not with “benefits” anymore.
Hank’s pleased.
“He did keep his oath, didn’t he?”
“His oath?”
“He said to me, ‘I swear — by the woman I love — that I am your friend.’ He was.”
“He is.”