Social System In Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged

“Who is John Galt?” is the key question in Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged. This recurring question is in reference to the identity of a mysterious character. Its significance, however, has a far deeper meaning.

The novel follows Dagny Taggart, vice president of Taggart Transcontinental Railroad. She runs the company, along with her brother James, an inept president. She later leaves the company, and teams up with Henry Rearden, creator of Rearden Metal, to build her own railroad: the John Galt Line. At the novel’s start, some of the United States’ most gifted business leaders and entrepreneurs are going missing. Dagny’s friend, Ellis Wyatt, later disappears as well, setting fire to his oil wells. Dagny and Rearden later discover a powerful,

revolutionary motor. Dagny becomes motivated to find this destroyer and her search leads her to a valley where the missing people are. There she finally meets John Galt.
Over the course of the book, Dagny and the audience learn of John Galt’s past. She meets a man named Jeff Allen, who along with his coworkers, first coined the question “Who is John Galt?” Galt worked with Allen and the other men at the Twentieth Century Motor Company, but when the factory’s policy changed, he quit, vowing he would “stop the motor of the world”. Galt moved onto work for Taggart Transcontinental. We realize, he watched Dagny closely and his identity is revealed to be the man in the Taggart cafeteria in chapter/ Eddie’s description of him matches.
John Galt is the creator of the motor and hero of Atlas Shrugged. He leads the group of missing industrialists in strike against the oppressive government. Galt’s Gulch, also called Atlantis, is a haven, and provides them protection from the corrupt outside world and from enforced servitude. The question “Who is John Galt?” is not only regarding who he is physically but what he represents. John Galt is the embodiment of what the human mind can accomplish. He refuses to be enslaved by the unskilled and lazy and persuades other minds to abandon their jobs and profits for freedom. Not only is he economically and politically wise, but he has a good character and moral. Dagny is at first, torn between helping him or saving her railroad. (He eventually leads a -book main event.
Antagonists in Atlas Shrugged act on their emotions and feelings rather than what they know. Dagny’s brother James, who is the foil to Galt, is the novel’s main antagonist. He, like the novel’s mass of government drones, is against individualism. They are ignorant to how dependent they are on the creativity and productivity of the wealthy. The absence of mind and creativity, is self-destructive. Without the country’s brilliant and rich, the economy deteriorates and the country breaks out into crime and violence.
Rand focuses on the power and importance of the human mind. The novel’s best characters like Galt, are exceptional innovators and businessmen. Their creativity leads them, against terrible difficulties, to build enormously productive enterprises. They are responsible for progress by creating jobs, and providing transportation, superb goods and services. They make our standard of living possible, but are condemned for being greedy and heartless, and then overtaxed. The Equalization of Opportunity places the ownership into the hands of someone else.) " From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."
The title, Atlas Shrugged, is an allusion to the Greek titan Atlas. In chapter 3 of part 2, Francisco asks Rearden what he would say if he saw Atlas drained of strength, supporting the world with the last of his energy. Francisco says he would tell Atlas, who represents the prosperous inventors and industrialists, to shrug. He believes, just as Galt does, that they shouldn't have to put up with it. That instead of bearing the insults and sneers, they should shrug off the responsibility to show everyone just what life without them is like.
The industrial production of Galt, and characters like him, is also fueled by love.

They excel at what they do and value their accomplishments, as much as an artist would take pride in a masterpiece. Ayn Rand emphasizes that their work is just as creative and that they fully devote themselves to their industries, technologies, and sciences.

Rand also shows the importance and freedom of a capitalist system through Galt and his followers. In Atlas Shrugged, the economy is rapidly becoming more and more socialist. In chapter 7, the Equalization of Opportunity Bill is passed, which strips many characters, including Rearden, of the ownership of their companies they worked hard for. It steals from the rich and redistributes the wealth; the manufacturers are powerless to keep the fortunes they've earned and are forced to carry the incompetent. They are penalized for hard work and lesser men are rewarded for their lack of accomplishment.

The novel explores the role of man's mind in existence. In addition, it shows that the future of America will only be destroyed by collectivism. John Galt and the supporters of his beliefs, stand by the words "I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for

mine."