The Outlaw Hero: Atlas Shrugged By Ayn Rand

Ethan Gates

28 September 2014

ENGWR 300

Final Draft 1

Professor O’Brien

The Outlaw Hero: John Galt of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand "Who is John Galt?" has become a question that has been engraved into the conservative's mind. But who exactly is he? John Galt is the main protagonist of the book (made movie) “Atlas Shrugged”. He is "the man who loves his life (923).” John Galt is a character that defies the moral code that has been established by the oppressive government regime that has sought to make the world a better, more equal place for all. In this quest, the government has caused several members of the creators of the world, from musicians to engineers, to disappear and go on strike. John Galt was the man who originally started

Ray’s definition, an outlaw hero. In “The Thematic Paradigm”, Ray points out, “the exceptional extent of American outlaw legends suggests an ideological anxiety about civilized life. Often, that anxiety took shape as a romanticizing of the dispossessed (380).” John Galt is an outsider by definition. Everything he does is against the societal norms that have been established in the world, and his only motivation in life is to serve himself. He would have not saved Dagny Taggart in a plane crash if it weren’t for the fact that he had selfishly fallen in love with her. He would not have returned to the world to try to get her back after she leaves Galt’s Gulch in order to try to save the world that cannot be saved. Ray also states “that distaste took shape as a traditional distrust of politics as a collective activity, and of ideology as that activity’s rationale. Such a disavowal of ideology was, of course, itself ideological, a tactic for discouraging systematic political intervention (381).” John Galt despises the current political system in which the country currently lives. He believes that the current trend in his society of altruism, state run programs, and placing the blame on the “selfish” is morally reprehensible. He also displays himself as an outlaw hero by secluding himself from the rest of society, declaring that he will not abide by the government’s rules, and begin his own society. When Galt finally emerges from being hidden, he

He is not a gun slinging John Dillinger, or a Huckleberry Finn who defies the social norm to save a black man from slavery. He is there to make sure that his life’s work is noticed, and that he is credited with it. Instead, in the society in which he lives, he is not. His work is not appreciated, and he is berated for being proud of his innovations and wanting to profit off of them. He is, in a way, able to display the stereotypical aspects of an outlaw hero however. The woman he falls in love with is a social outcast herself, sharing the same attitude as Galt. She has only fallen in love three times in her life, with her final love being Galt. She defies all the social norms a woman at her time would need to follow in order to fit in. The premise by Ray that an outlaw hero can never impact any significant change is challenged, however, by the very design of this story. John Galt was able to start a revolution among his followers. Galt is proud of the individualistic nature he vogues for himself. Because of that individualism he possess, he is able to affect change that the world has never seen. He is certainly unique and an exception to the rule that an outlaw hero cannot change a society. He is selfish. Selfishness is a quality that is to be admired, not berated. That is the theme of this story - that man’s mind is the greatest tool we have. The human mind is the most resilient thing that we as