Atlas Shrugged

striking similarities and parallels can be drawn between Gregor Samsa and Franz Kafka, whose names are very similar in letter count and sound. This use of name parallel is common for autobiographical fiction, as seen in Bioshock’s parallel to Atlas Shrugged, employing the use of Andrew Ryan in stead of Ayn Rand. The family and situation depicted in The Metamorphosis mirrors that of Kafka’s real life. Like Gregor, Kafka disliked his authoritarian father, and felt compelled to work a job he…

Ayn Rand is also noted for her contributions to libertarian philosophy. She is seen as the most influential figure to those who have adopted libertarian styled thinking. Her famous work The Fountainhead is an allegory of one of the larges libertarian ideas. As libertarians, the belief that you are under complete ownership of yourself is a hallmark. There should not be any reason in the world that you are compelled to sacrifice your time unless you are compelled to do so. Consequent to this…

She believed in individualism. She was a “radical for capitalism” and came up with “objectivism,” a philosophy that stated there is no greater moral goal than achieving happiness. But one cannot achieve happiness by wish or whim. She could have been a math teacher or gotten into Broadway, but her thoughts and philosophies drove her to share her ideas and write about them. “Ayn Rand was considered a writer of unpleasant, anticommunist potboilers” (Buchanan). She continues to be a controversial…

It even encourages students to read books only because they give a large amount of points, such as War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy or Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand which are both worth over 100 points, even if they don’t catch their interest. “Students also reported that the pressure to earn points changed the way they approached independent reading. Many students reported reading high point…

One of the stereotypes that may exist about a person that spends a significant amount of their free time reading is that they have introverted personalities and isolate themselves from society. However, in my experience, avid readers are superior conversationalists and use their time reading to better connect to the outside world. When I began building a library of books and spending an increased time reading during middle school, I wanted to absorb as much knowledge as I could. I certainly…

Ayn Rand’s (1905 – 1982) personal philosophy, Objectivism, was directly impacted by the political influences she was exposed to throughout her upbringing, namely Russian socialism and, as an adult, American capitalism. Objectivism holds that: reality exists as an objective absolute, man is an end to himself and his purpose in life lies within satisfying rational self-interests, and laissez-faire capitalism reigns supreme over any other form of economy. She preaches that one must live a “selfish”…

Stalin, too, used children as targets for indoctrination, although he preferred the classroom education approach to the youth group movements of Nazi Germany. In Stalin’s Russia, children were taught from a young age that Stalin was their supreme leader, and that he knew what was best for their country. They would recite oaths of loyalty in classrooms, and pledge their allegiance to Russia and Stalin (Cote). This continuous repetition enforced their belief that they had to follow Stalin, and…

In science fiction, there is a special type of genre that primarily seeks to manipulate and mislead the person experiencing the story. These tales, whatever their medium, subtly influence their target to begin thinking about the world depicted in a way that may not be entirely accurate. Of course, stories like these can never be advertised as such; few things take away from a story more than knowing a plot twist is coming and trying to identify it. Books and movies have been working on…

The story of Robin Hood could be used as a metaphor for the message of Atlas Shrugged. Its original form is the story of a man, who fights from those who would seek to steal the rightful property of the people, but human perception corrupted its meaning, and it became the story of a man who steals from the wealthy and gives to the needy. To some, this may seem like a minor difference, but it changes the meaning. It shifts the purpose of robin from a defender of property, to a provider for the…

The article “Capitalism vs. the Climate” was written by Naomi Klein about climate change and its solutions in relation to the economy as well as the political reactions to such solutions. Her article mainly revolves around the premise that climate change deniers are right about one thing, that in order to fix climate change, drastic changes in the modern economic models are needed. To this end, she makes a good, albeit flawed argument, as although she does provide a plethora of sources for her…