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It's Twenty Minutes Into The Future. The government is evil and stupid, intent on draining the decent, productive, people dry. The average Joe is clamped hard on the government teat, and happy about it. The people are Les Collaborateurs, busy gaming the system for every drop before it crashes, or self-deluded fools certain they can fix everything with just a LITTLE more control. There is no resistance.

Worse, the few people who are still productive are disappearing, one by one.

Welcome to the world of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged.

In case you don't get the title, in Greek mythology Atlas carried the celestial sphere on his back; as Hank and Francisco discuss during the book, if he ever tired of carrying that weight on his shoulders, all he needed to do was shrug, and it would fall off. Of course, the myth actually describes Atlas as holding the sky on his back, and Zeus would probably stick a bolt of lightning up his ass for dropping either, but whatever.

It's controversial. It's hated universally by Socialists and the rest of the left wing. Even most of the right wing hate this book for its unrepentant atheism and refusal to be reverent towards tradition and authority. It's written as a fast-paced (insofar as much as this kind of novel can be fast-paced) action story so don't expect particularly complex characterization (characters are basically just avatars of ideas and little else). There's a good chance that you'll hate it purely for the Aesops it presents. If you don't end up hating it, it is quite possible the book will significantly alter your worldview in at least some areas. Many of Rand's readers have claimed the book 'changed their life.'

It's also a fertile source of both inspiration and mockery, and a prime target of literary "Take That" ever since its publication:

• The video game Bioshock riffs on the themes of Objectivism (although whether or not Bioshock is in fact a Take That is debated).
• The famous Dorothy Parker quote, "This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force," is in reference to Atlas Shrugged. (Or to Benito Mussolini's The Cardinal's Mistress, nobody seems sure of that.)
• South Park "Yes, at first I was happy to be learning how to read. It seemed exciting and magical, but then I read this: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I read every last word of this garbage, and because of this piece of shit, I am never reading again." However, this line is stated by a very stereotypical, ignorant redneck police officer, so whether or not this is good or bad publicity is debateable.
• Terry Goodkind incorporated many themes from it in his later work.
• Anton LaVey cribbed snippets of it wholesale (whilst significantly altering the moral message of the book, as well as adding a whole bunch of Enochian mysticism) to write the Satanic Bible.
• A number of prominent Republicans (many of whom are also claim to be Evangelical Christians), have begun to publicly embrace the values in this and other Ayn Rand books.
  • As have a number of prominent Democrats, such as Camille Paglia. In the cases of both Democrats and Republicans that have voiced support for some ideas promoted in Atlas Shrugged, their agreement on these points should not be construed as agreement with the whole package of Objectivism.
• The list goes on.

The book is most widely known for its condemnation of altruism and support of free-market capitalism; however, there are less shocking but equally prominent, and often much more inspiring, messages that are often ignored. For example, Rand discards the idea that the natural state of mankind is suffering, and encourages a more optimistic view: Joy should not be a rare, ephemeral state, but the normal and constant one for every rational human being. Additionally, even the more shocking messages are regularly misrepresented; Rand used Auguste Comte's definition of "altruism," i.e. that man must live for others, which is a much stronger statement than what most people are thinking of when they hear about altruism (the common definition of altruism is more akin to "benevolence," which Objectivist intellectuals such as Dr. David Kelley have defended as virtuous (see Kelley's Unrugged Individualism for more on this)). Additionally, when she says free-market capitalism, she means it in the same way that economists such as Hayek and Mises meant it; the government neither hinders nor helps any participant in the market, and exists only to prevent the initiation of force/violence, fraud/deception or threats thereof by any individual or party. She was by no means defending the Corrupt Corporate Executive that most people think of when they hear the word "capitalism."

For those that are interested in the technical details of Rand's ideas, there is a Useful Notes page on Objectivism.

To be clear, this page is about describing Atlas Shrugged. If you wish to evaluate it, please feel free to contribute to the review section. No complaining about philosophies you disagree with, please.

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Spoiler-font is off for this work. Five year rule.

This book provides examples of:

• Alternate History - A possible explanation that has been proposed for importance of radios, trains, and the lack of post-WWII technology is that the timeline splits around the '30s when FDR is elected, resulting in decades of stagnation, and major events such as World War II never happened in this universe.
• Anvilicious - Whether or not you agree with the anvils, it's clear that the book would be nowhere near as successful without them.
• Applied Phlebotinum - John Galt is a Gadgeteer Genius with cast-iron lungs; Galt's Motor, Galt's Gulch's Invisibility Cloak, Galt's Cool Plane... There's also Rearden "Miracle" Metal, and Project Xylophone(which also contains Explodium).
• Arc Words - "Who is John Galt?"; "How am I to know?", "Who are you to judge/think?", "He'll do something!"
• Atlantis - John Galt's preferred nickname for Galt's Gulch Mulligan's Valley.
• Author Filibuster - If not the Trope Namer, the Trope Codifier.
• Author Tract - Ditto.
• Balance Between Good And Evil - Actively subverted: Rand's view was that evil is a parasite on the good of the world, which cannot survive without willing virtues to loot.
• Beauty Equals Goodness - All of the protagonists and members of Galt's Gulch are described as being exceptionally attractive, while the villains are generally described as pudgy and watery eyed. To be fair, however, Rand might have been trying to say that being talented, hard working, and passionate makes you attractive, and not the other way around.
• Betty And Veronica - Hank Rearden and Francisco D'Anconia, with John Galt as Cheryl Blossom.
  • Rand also deconstructs the trope with the actress who joined the strike because she was typecast as the Veronica — she was tired of having to play characters who were more interesting than the Betties in formula films while always losing to them in the end.
• Broken Pedestal - Dr. Robert Stadler, brilliant and idealistic scientist who becomes just another part of the looters' machine.
• Cain And Abel - James and Dagny Taggart; Phillip and Hank Rearden.
• Character Filibuster - A three hour long speech appears verbatim, right before the climax. After that, the rest look like zingers.
• Complaining About Philosophies You Don't Like - What this page often ends up enduring.
• The Dark Side Will Make You Forget - Dr. Stadler
• Deconstruction - The chapter detailing the fate of the Twentieth Century Motor Company is a deconstruction of the Marxist slogan "From Each According to Ability, To Each According to Need." Ultimately, the plot of the novel is intended to be a deconstruction of traditional (i.e. altruistic) moral principles.
• Despair Event Horizon - Cheryl
• Do Not Adjust Your Set - Your radio set, anyway.
• Door Stopper - It's nearly as long as the Bible, and is one of the longest fiction novels in English.
  • Add the various essays by associates and it beats the motel-room deskwarmer soundly.
• Driving Question - The Arc Words.
• Edit War - What this page often ends up enduring.
• Electric Torture - Project F. Subverted in that once the machine breaks, none of the torturers know how to fix it. Galt calmly explains how to repair it, and a Eureka Moment ensues; They can't even hurt Galt without his assistance, and the Ubermensch does not want to play anymore! Cue the Villainous Breakdown!
• Fallen Mentor - Dr. Stadler was one of Galt, Danneskjold, and d'Anconia's mentors in college.
• Family Unfriendly Aesop - Moral Guardians from all over the political spectrum flew into utter outrage at the content of this book (note: this does not imply anything at all about whether or not the aesops presented in this book are true or false). Gore Vidal (leftist) said Rand's philosophy was "perfect in its immorality," and the National Review's Whittaker Chambers (former Communist who became a Christian conservative) said that from every page in this book he could hear a voice calling "to a gas chamber, go!" Thus, regardless of whether or not one agrees or disagrees with the aesops presented in Atlas Shrugged, they clearly fall under the category of "family unfriendly." Ayn Rand was no ally of traditional moral beliefs, after all.
• Fake Ultimate Hero - James plays this to Cherryl after they meet.
• False Flag Operation - The siege of the Rearden Steel plant, which was planned to be passed off as a workers' riot to encourage Hank to accept the Steel Unification Plan.
• Good People Have Good Sex - Dagny's affair with married man Hank Rearden is portrayed as an exalted, beautiful and fulfilling relationship, wheras Hank's wife (a villain) believes Sex Is Evil and uses Hank's guilt over his fondness for sex to control and manipulate him.
• Gotterdammerung - Rand saw the "men of the mind" as Gods...
• Hannibal Lecture - John Galt, when he's held captive by the looters.
• Heel Realization - Taggart has one, then goes nuts, after realizing that he wants to break Galt's spirit even if it kills both Galt and himself.
• Hero With Bad Publicity - Intentionally.
• Holding Out For A Hero - One of the central themes of the book, the looters can't get anything done on their own. At one point, the government asks John Galt for help. He says no.
• Honor Before Reason - Eddie Willers' last-ditch expedition to re-establish transcontinental rail service. Dagny tries but fails to talk him out of it. See above under Family Unfriendly Aesop for the results.
• Hidden Elf Village - Galt's Gulch
• Ho Yay\Bromance — Hank Rearden and Francisco d'Anconia. "Greatest conquest" indeed.
• Inferred Holocaust - Actually stated. When the lights of New York go out, Galt's Gulch is the last industrial power on Earth.
• Insult Backfire - Midas Mulligan, banker and striker; he legally changed his name from "Michael" when his enemies gave him the nickname.
• Its All Junk - Hank Rearden, when he realizes and accepts that his company, Rearden Steel, is a lost cause.
• I Want My Beloved To Be Happy - Deconstructed, but still played straight; Rand defined Romantic love as a capitalist exchange of values like any other; affection for affection, gratification for gratification. Under this definition, a Yandere would be just another Looter, gratifying themselves with their "beloved's" pain — better to break it off cleanly. And one vertex of a love triangle breaking away before things are settled will only leave everyone bitter about what could have been.
• I Was Just Passing Through - This trope is virtually a way of life for the strikers.
• Just Before The End - The entire book is the fall of industrial society.
• Just Like Robin Hood - inverted with Ragnar Danneskjold.
• Karma Houdini - A lot of minimally bad people die horribly, but quickly. Worse people take longer to die, but even more horribly.
• Kick The Dog - Dr. Stadler admitting to Dagny that the State Science Institute is launching a smear campaign against Rearden Metal because it makes them look incompetent.
• King Incognito - John Galt spent his time out of the Gulch as an unskilled laborer at Taggart Transcontinental — the same one Eddie Willers exposited to regularly.
• Lost World - Galt's Gulch, where industry produces miracles like it used to.
• Love Dodecahedron - Revolving around Dagny.
• Love It Or Hate It - In a questionably representative 1991 survey, it was rated the second most influential book in America, closely following the Bible but with more or less the opposite message. Naturally, reactions tend to be... mixed.
• Love Redeems - Subverted by James Taggart's courtship of Cherryl Brooks from the dime store.
• Mary Sue - Dagny Taggart. Or more specifically:
  • Purity Sue - Dagny Taggart, who pretty much exists as the embodiment of everything Ayn Rand wants to be and has practically the whole world eating from her hands. It's actually rather scary how much more of a Mary Sue she is than a ton of characters from hastily typed up fanfiction.
  • Relationship Sue - John Galt, who, along with being the perfect man for Ayn Rand Dagny Taggart, also holds the dual purpose of being a plot enabler for her (since even Rand herself seemed to think that men were inherently more capable within society).
  • Suetiful All Along - Dagny, again.
• Misaimed Fandom
• Meaningful Name - In addition to the character last names being a sign of their personality, companies with the names of people strapped to them are usually good, while companies with names like National, United or Amalgamated are Obviously Evil™.
• Memetic Mutation - "Who is John Galt?"
• Nice Job Breaking It Hero - Dagny accidentally leads the Looters to Galt.
• Nuclear Weapons Taboo - Nukes may have not yet even been around when the idea behind Project Xylophone came together.
• Pirate - Ragnar Danneskjold, who is also an Alternate Character Interpretation of Robin Hood that walks like a man.
• Propaganda Machine - The press, as seen starting with the campaign to slander Rearden Metal.
• Protection From Editors - The reason for its length.
• Railroad Baron - Dagny and James Taggart.
• Redemption Equals Death - Tony the "Wet Nurse"
• The Red Sonja - Dagny Taggart
• Rich Idiot With No Day Job - This is Francisco d'Anconia's Obfuscating Stupidity.
• Sadistic Choice - The Tunnel Disaster is a series of these for everyone involved who was paying attention.
• Science Marches On - Trains and radios being impressively important, a copper-iron alloy is set to replace steel, palm-activated locks are popular...
  • Her idea of the copper-iron alloy is also a case of You Fail Physics Forever.
• Screw The Rules I Have Connections - The bonds of "friendship" among the looters, a.k.a. the "Aristocracy of Pull".
• Screw The Rules I Have Money - Hank Rearden resorts to this when he finally decides to divorce his wife Lillian.
• Screw The Rules I Make Them - The looters frequently resort to "public-spirited" laws with huge loopholes meant to hurt their enemies, like the "Anti Dog-Eat-Dog Rule" or Directive 10-289.
• Self Made Man - Hank Rearden, John Galt.
  • Francisco d'Anconia abandons his wealth and secretly works at a copper mine for ten years, rising to run it, just so he can prove he could be one.
• Serious Business - A whole philosophy and cult of personality sprang up around Ayn Rand and her literature.
• Smug Snake - If you're not a Striker or a Muggle, you're a Looter and smug about it. But especially Dr. Floyd "Why Do You Think You Think" Ferris.
• Strawman Political - Pretty much all of them, including the good guys.
• Take That - Earns more than a few, and throws more than a few at Franklin D Roosevelt and similar politicians.
• Taking You With Me - Oil tycoon Ellis Wyatt sets his fields ablaze as a parting shot before disappearing.
• Talking The Reader To Death
• The Reason You Suck Speech - John Galt's Speech, three whole hours of uninterrupted castigating that no one can escape from.
• Title Drop - Unintentional, with the novel being renamed as publication neared.
• Too Kinky Confident To Torture; He is John Galt.
• Ubermensch - John Galt.
• The Unfettered - Galt
• Unlucky Childhood Friend - Eddie Willers; Francisco d'Anconia.
• Utopia Justifies The Means - The government, the public, arguably the heroes. Pretty much everybody. Done intentionally.
• The Vamp - Lillian Rearden, who we discover married Hank just to drive him to have an affair and break his spirit.
• Villain With Good Publicity - The looters in general.
• Wall Banger - If you can get through the Tunnel Disaster and the 60-page, three-hour speech without knocking a hole in the wall, more power to you.
• We Can Rule Together - The looters try to make this offer to Galt at gunpoint after the speech. By the end, they're torturing him to force him to become their leader.
• Ye Goode Olde Days - The Looters look at the collapse of industrial civilization with a degree of satisfaction as a return to these; Dagny is present as they comment on the stability of newformed Indian feudalism, and is horrified when none care about how many are suffering and dying for lack of modern necessities luxuries such as drinkable water.

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