You can call this the vision of a blind or of some person who no longer wonders to watch. Either she is scared, baffled or downright unfortunate.
Some 10 years ago I read the book Atlas Shrugged after being thoroughly intrigued by the philosophy of Ayn Rand in Fountain Head. Today it haunts me, I rate it as one of the worst novels that I have read. Although it beautifully explains the standing of the intelligent and the workings of this world, it ruthlessly kills the illogical in us. It is a slow and bitter poison for the James Taggarts who have yet to announce their titles. For a reader he is a perfect antagonist and it is befitting for those who read a book as a book. I do not want to talk about Ayn Rand, she invariably makes me feel like a burden.
I am going to step on a new road (a brand new one this time) in a few days and am scared of evaluation. I have fared poorly in life so far, in the blinded eyes of mine and in those of the very wise. Life, though a beauty is too long and with vague reasons seems much longer. Although not the most intellectual myself, I rate average people as average, very average and artists of any caliber as gems. These random statements have been clubbed together for no worthy reason.
I am no more a teenager, nor have I grown up enough. My past has been a consequence of consecutive bad decisions and what a fool I have been. I am not comfortable.
I want to ask Ayn, what happens to the useless and undeserving - of course they die and I know what you and she think of them. But I want to know more and in elaborate details. I have to make a plan. Thank you Ayn for a piece of literature that has reached greatest heights making you one amongst the characters you sketched. Thank you for telling me that I am but a reader of yours and yet another one of the many who desperately wanted to know "Who is John Galt?", pushing me into my grave a decade ago when I had more dreams.
Shringi
March 27, 2011
Thankfully not many read my blog. There are too many fans of you, Ayn Rand and I am too ‘unintelligent’ to counter their thoughts. When the world of literature had just seen Lord of The Rings, why Atlas Shrugged. I wish you could write something like that but unfortunately you had to tell us about the importance of the rare. I strongly feel I would have been a much more confident woman if your intellect never enslaved you.
I believe most of us are more of James than Daggini, isn't that the whole point? - Aren't Dagginis supposed to be handful? I fail to understand how could the book do so well, why would James (you and me ) like such a book when he has been ripped off in it. A theory could be that all the readers find themselves elite and feel to be Dagginis or Johns in their own rights which collides head on with Ayn's theory of rarity. It is a truth that Atlas Shrugged is one of the biggest hits ever easily pointing to the fact that a majority agrees to it. Either they agree to be hollow or they find themselves capable of shrugging the Atlas. If they do the later I must say Ayn has successfully made a fool of millions by giving them a false idea about their personalities. It is a beautiful book and has a philosophy which cannot be completely denied, but how many of us are capable of raising our hands when someone calls out for idiots. Do we have the maturity to accept our standards and be happy to be thrashed for being substandard? Can idiots applaud other's intelligence? If not then I congratulate this world and Ayn to have built a million who can raise the world from ashes.
P.S. Please excuse me for repeatedly using the same characters as examples, it has been quite a while that I read this book. I touch on it today as I feel trapped in misinterpretation. If we cannot shrug the Atlas ourselves, which I believe most of us have the humility to accept, then we expect someone around us to. I talk often about Atlas Shrugged for I feel cheated, I feel abused by the very intelligent, who now are in abundance.
March 29, 2011
