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When I read Atlas, it appeared to me that the main protagonists are god-like. They deal with conflict, but it's only with other people. None of them seem to have any inner conflict. To me, the most interesting characters are those who must cope with some struggle internally. It is in this form that Atlas tends to be a bit bland. I'm not saying it's bad. It's bland. Now, when I say inner conflict, I don't mean conflicts of integrity or morality, but struggles of mental disorders such as depression and autism--disorders which largely determine a person's independence and thinking. I never saw this in Atlas Shrugged. In my opinion, the best characters are the ones who aren't perfect, as Ayn Rand largely avoided with her protagonists. Reading about such "perfect" people in her book made me question my own accomplishments, I'll give her that. The only character I can think of who probably had some mental disorder is Cheryl, James's wife. By my guess, she may have had depression. My question is: Do you think characters are more interesting when they aren't perfect, but try to accomplish whatever they want in an Objectivist way, in a conclusion that inevitably ends in their success or failure? Dagny Taggart is an interesting person, with a detailed backstory and an impressive résumé. But there isn't really much of a personality to her. There aren't any faults. I can guarantee you that there is no such thing as a faultless human being. That's why I'm saying that Rand's characters are god-like. |
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Rand was a romantic, meaning she wants her art to portray the world as it should be, not as it currently is today. Your mission in life is to strive toward your goal of becoming a perfect human being, not become to depress because you aren't there yet. |
When I read Atlas, I found that the characters were more "ideas" than people. This seems to follow the line of several Russian novels where the characters represent ideas/ideals. John Galt is not shown as a dude you'd have a beer with but rather as the embodiment of the perfect man. There is some inner conflict that you see (check out Hank's battle with himself) but you don't seem them stumble in a "human" way as much as you see this happen in the Fountainhead.