Thoughts on James Taggart
Posted by SamMikhailBrowning 2 months, 1 week ago to Books
I would like to share a few thoughts, questions, observations and perspectives on Jim Taggart, both upon my first reading and through the years.
I remember when starting Atlas Shrugged for the first time, feeling a bit of sympathy towards James because despite being the eldest son and heir to TT, he was obviously not viewed that way to others, and from the beginning, it seems that it was no secret. It seemed to me that the guy had spent his entire life being punked by his little sister. That has to sting. Even in modern times, any red blooded American male would feel a certain sting at being outshined in a traditionally masculine endeavors by a woman, so imagine a man in the WWII era and how that would stick in his craw. Secondly, when reading about James meeting Cheryl, and during their early courtship, I held out a glimmer of hope for James having a sort of redemption arc, in the sense that his love for Cheryl would inspire him to be who she thought he was.
I remember when starting Atlas Shrugged for the first time, feeling a bit of sympathy towards James because despite being the eldest son and heir to TT, he was obviously not viewed that way to others, and from the beginning, it seems that it was no secret. It seemed to me that the guy had spent his entire life being punked by his little sister. That has to sting. Even in modern times, any red blooded American male would feel a certain sting at being outshined in a traditionally masculine endeavors by a woman, so imagine a man in the WWII era and how that would stick in his craw. Secondly, when reading about James meeting Cheryl, and during their early courtship, I held out a glimmer of hope for James having a sort of redemption arc, in the sense that his love for Cheryl would inspire him to be who she thought he was.
his love for Cheryl
James Taggart did not love Cheryl. He did not 'love' himself, he had the same disdain for himself as he had for everyone, that is what makes him so despicable.
His motivation in life was not even narrow minded self-interest, he was a virtue signaller, moral posturer, all fake attempts in showing off to his circle what a fine noble generous etc person he was. But instead- he was not even working for himself, it was all destruction.
He selected Cheryl as she was far socially inferior and he could pretend to be caring about her. The pretense was all that mattered, recall how Cheryl took speaking/elocution lessons but Jim was disdainful, sneered?
Now I say that Jim T is an uninteresting character, to read about, and follow.
The idea comes to me that the creation of Jim T was a brilliant move by Rand. When Rand was thinking and writing, the 40s, 50s, 60s, things existed as seeds and were not seen by most.
But now, Jim T represent DeepState, the epitome of our political and executive classes. There is good education and intelligence there, not apparent from what they say and what they do. The over-riding themes we see are fake- concerns for the environment, for the planet, for refugees, for the disadvantaged, handicapped, unmotivated, and furthermore the problem is due to 'us'. The 'us' who must pay and suffer. The outcome of those policies, whatever they are named as- collectiveism, socialism, do-good-ism, is destruction.
One fictional character in Atlas Shrugged, James Taggart, represents the entire evil edifice dominating the world today.
There is an optimistic idea, Jim T destroys himself, but none too soon.
Jim's disdain at Cheryl's attempts to improve herself exposed a very dark turn in their relationship. In Jim's view, she was only a worthwhile spouse if she was worthless and dependent on him (and grateful to him) for everything. That's pretty sick, in my opinion.
I agree that in today's terminology, Jim, along with Mouch and a couple others represent 'the elite'.
I had similar thoughts of Jim being "outshined", but by Francisco (especially the motorboat incident). Jim never seemed to be very capable, and maybe that's not his fault (lots of people are not particularly capable, which is no crime). The problem with Jim is that he was the heir to a railroad, and the position he inherited magnified his ineptitude.
I guess the 'honorable' thing for Jim would have been to step down or accept a lower position and let Dagny be CEO. But ... a woman CEO was probably unthinkable in 1957. And I'm not sure Dagny would want the job - she LIKED operations. Hard to envision her schmoosing with the Board.
Jim was a tough character for me from another reason. I think he really believed (at first) he was trying to do 'good' with the Mexican line, help the less fortunate, etc. Maybe he felt empathy with them from his upbringing as you point out.
Jim really went over to 'the dark side' in my mind, when he started using his pull to get favors from his buds in DC.
Another thing that kind of made me feel sympathy for James but at the same time made me look at him as even more of a punk was his wedding. Imagine being on the receiving end of that. Francisco might as well have banged Cheryl doggystyle in front of him and everyone else. I understand that Francisco is supposed to be ultra masculine and intimidating, but James didn't even make an attempt to assert his masculinity. So I understand his hatred. If someone punked me like that in front of my wife, I would have to cause that person harm. Despite the brilliant speech, and despite knowing that James wasn't meant to be portrayed sympathetically in this part of the book, I felt like I was watching Biff bully George in his own home at the beginning of Back to the future.
Also, everyone who really knew him knew HIS SISTER really ran the railroad, which had to gnaw at him. This was further emphasized by Dagny's comment to Cheryl. As a reminder, Cheryl told Dagny that she (Cheryl) was the woman in the family now, and Dagny replied something on the order of "That's fine, I'm the man of the family".
And remember that in 1957, the context is much different than today. The "man of the family" was very much expected to be the head of the family. (Although behind the scenes that was not always true, most families at least 'kept up appearances').
That shit STILL stings 23 years later