Atlas Shrugged, Part 2 Chapter 4: The Sanction of the Victim

Posted by nsnelson 8 years, 9 months ago to Books
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Summary: The Reardens celebrate Thanksgiving, and Hank ponders his relationships. He finds the Wet Nurse at his office. He goes to find Dagny, and visits with Willers on the way. At his trial, Rearden masterfully dissects the inverted morality of his judges, revealing its flaw: it ultimately appeals to coercion, but relies on the sanction of the victim to mask this. The Wet Nurse was converted to Rearden’s side. Then he met with d’Anconia to discuss sex, being a playboy, and tragedy of investing in d’Anconia Copper.

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Atlas Shrugged was written by Ayn Rand in 1957.

My idea for this post is discussed here:

http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts...

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  • Posted by nsnelson 8 years, 9 months ago
    Rearden to his Prosecutor/Judge: “I am complying with the law – to the letter. Your law holds that my life, my work and my property may be disposed of without my consent. Very well, you may now dispose of me without my participation in the matter…. The law, by which you are trying me, holds that there are no principles, that I have no rights and that you may do with me whatever you please. Very well. Do it.”
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  • Posted by nsnelson 8 years, 9 months ago
    Rearden to his Prosecutor/Judge: “I do not recognize your right to control the sale of my Metal.”
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  • Posted by nsnelson 8 years, 9 months ago
    Rearden: “You know, Dagny, Thanksgiving was a holiday established by productive people to celebrate the success of their work.”
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  • Posted by nsnelson 8 years, 9 months ago
    Rearden thinking: “To count upon his virtue and use it as an instrument of torture, to practice blackmail with the victim’s generosity as sole means of extortion, to accept the gift of a man’s good will and turn it into a tool for the giver’s destruction…he sat very still, contemplating the formula of so monstrous an evil that he was able to name it, but not to believe it possible.”
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  • Posted by nsnelson 8 years, 9 months ago
    Rearden remembering d’Anconia’s words: “Do you think that what you’re facing is merely a conspiracy to seize your wealth? You, who know the source of wealth, should know it’s much more and much worse than that.”
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  • Posted by nsnelson 8 years, 9 months ago
    Lillian Rearden to Hank: “You ought to give in with good grace, simply because it’s the practical thing to do. You ought to keep silent, precisely because they’re wrong. They’ll appreciate it. Make concessions for others and they’ll make concessions for you. Live and let live. Give and take. Give in and take it. That’s the policy of our age.”
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  • Posted by nsnelson 8 years, 9 months ago
    Lillian Rearden to Hank: “The day of the hero is past. This is the day of humanity, in a much deeper sense than you imagine. Human beings are no longer expected to be saints nor to be punished for their sins. Nobody is right or wrong, we’re all in it together, we’re all human – and the human is the imperfect.”
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