The Soft Side Of Dagny
At 15512 on Kindle:
"A young woman lay stretched on the sun-flooded planks, watching a battery of fishing rods. She glanced up at the sound of the car, then leaped to her feet in a single swift movement, a shade too swift, and ran to the road. She wore slacks, rolled above the knees of her bare leg, she had dark, disheveled hair and large eyes.
"Hello, John! When did you get in?" she called.
"This morning," he answered, smiling and driving on.
Dagny jerked her head to look back and saw the glance with which the young woman stood looking after Galt. And even though hopelessness, serenely accepted, was part of the worship in that glance, she experienced a feeling she had never known before: a stab of jealousy.
"Who is that?" she asked.
"Our best fishwife. she provides the fish for Hammond's grocery market."
"What else is she?"
"You've noticed that there's a 'what else' for every one of us here? she's a writer. The kind of writer who wouldn't be published outside. She believes that when one deals with words, one deals with the mind."
I credit rockymountainpirate for reminding me of this scene in AS. This is a rare glimpse of Dagny examining her emotions and empathizing with another. A poignant, human understanding and connection with romantic love. For the young girl, it goes unrequited-but Dagny feels a stab of jealousy regardless. I thought it would be fun to explore that scene a little and Dagny's first experience with jealousy. Is the scene used to foreshadow that her feelings for Hank will not be what she will experience falling in love with Galt? Is the scene actually to demonstrate the softer side of Dagny? Dagny the woman-not Dagny the railroad industrialist. Any thoughts?
As an aside: I read that this scene was in part a Hitchcock-esque cameo for Rand. If so, how interesting that the young writer is almost portrayed as Galt keeping her "innocent and pure" in the Gulch. As we know, that writer would be published "out there" and achieve the prominence of one the most important thinkers of the 20th century.
"A young woman lay stretched on the sun-flooded planks, watching a battery of fishing rods. She glanced up at the sound of the car, then leaped to her feet in a single swift movement, a shade too swift, and ran to the road. She wore slacks, rolled above the knees of her bare leg, she had dark, disheveled hair and large eyes.
"Hello, John! When did you get in?" she called.
"This morning," he answered, smiling and driving on.
Dagny jerked her head to look back and saw the glance with which the young woman stood looking after Galt. And even though hopelessness, serenely accepted, was part of the worship in that glance, she experienced a feeling she had never known before: a stab of jealousy.
"Who is that?" she asked.
"Our best fishwife. she provides the fish for Hammond's grocery market."
"What else is she?"
"You've noticed that there's a 'what else' for every one of us here? she's a writer. The kind of writer who wouldn't be published outside. She believes that when one deals with words, one deals with the mind."
I credit rockymountainpirate for reminding me of this scene in AS. This is a rare glimpse of Dagny examining her emotions and empathizing with another. A poignant, human understanding and connection with romantic love. For the young girl, it goes unrequited-but Dagny feels a stab of jealousy regardless. I thought it would be fun to explore that scene a little and Dagny's first experience with jealousy. Is the scene used to foreshadow that her feelings for Hank will not be what she will experience falling in love with Galt? Is the scene actually to demonstrate the softer side of Dagny? Dagny the woman-not Dagny the railroad industrialist. Any thoughts?
As an aside: I read that this scene was in part a Hitchcock-esque cameo for Rand. If so, how interesting that the young writer is almost portrayed as Galt keeping her "innocent and pure" in the Gulch. As we know, that writer would be published "out there" and achieve the prominence of one the most important thinkers of the 20th century.
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Another subject. We wrote, a while ago, about "humaneness" of these characters. More recently, here, we wrote about love and about falling in love. Is there a way we could have a deeper conversation about these concepts and about how Rand would define them, without vulgarities and without straying away off the mian subject? As you can tell, I am a novice in the Gultch. Am I too naive to have these expectations? It seems to me very clear that only the deeper discussions from which all of us learn something and improve ourselvves are worth the time. Otherwise, I have better things to do. Your thoghts? Would you be kind enough to help educate a Gultch novice?
Best of luck!
Absolutely. That's Rand writing herself into Galt's Gulch.
me too on the characters
Another example: heard the term "misandry" before? It's basically the male equivalent to misogyny.
There's this book called "Spreading Misandry: Teaching Contempt for Men in Popular Culture" that I want to check out soon (if I manage to make it through this literary-crackhead stack of books I already have piled up in my study). Let you know if it's any good. Amazon link here:
http://www.amazon.com/Spreading-Misandry...
Dagny never learned respect for men, not real respect for real men... just like Rand.
Patiently my ass. He spied on her and sabotaged her every effort to save her family business.
Yeah, I figured it out. In Rand's universe, there's no such thing as loyalty beyond a crotch-itch.
"guilt wrapped up with his love"? What "guilt"? Didn't she not-know about why he gave in to Ferris until *after* she got back from the gulch? No, he lost status in her eyes when he gave in.
Exactly what did Galt have to offer that she didn't already have with Rearden?
Hank lost her because of the guilt wrapped up with his love
Galt waited patiently for her to discover him. Although he undermined her, he did not mislead or lose her trust. Trust was only built between the two of them from the point of meeting. He would have invited her to the Gulch had he thought she would come. I've often thought about the irony of Wyatt, Reardon and Taggart all together -three birds with one stone! But Galt knew only Wyatt would be persuaded
Since when is romance about fighting? Since Rand stuck her own perversities into her fiction.
In her personal life, as I've already argued, I hold Dagny in utter contempt. I can see her switching to Rearden, after her disappointment in D'Anconia, but she's just a freaking mattressback giving herself to the most powerful male when she takes up with Galt.
If she was a woman of character and deep emotion (oh, wait, we've already established that she's emotionally crippled), she'd be with Rearden at the end of the story, not Mr. "Who is John Stalker?"
Apparently Galt can do everything except walk o water (and he's working on an app for that). He managed to hold down a physically demanding full-time job, but he can also flit across the country picking up converts, depriving Dagny of resources, spying on everyone, building and utilizing not only his home in Atlantis, the power plant, but also his lab in his hovel in the real world... and still taking a month off in June, with his job that requires no mental application waiting for him upon his return.
I'd be shocked if Galt couldn't do anything better than everyone.
And when did Dagny dump Hank? Why, wasn't it right after he caved-in to Ferris to protect her? Tsk tsk... weakness is unmanly, step to the rear of the line, beta-male. NEXT!
She certainly does not understand the philosophy as deeply as Galt, but he does not know how to run an industry the way she can either.
Reading her has taught me to expect nothing but the best from whoever I bring in my life, because to be with someone who doesn't embody your values is to be *hypocritical* to your values just as much as any collectivist action might be.
I just went through this: I tried to bond with someone because they had the "outer" but not the philosophy (reach through the computer and b**tch-slap me, I know) - not saying they have to be an Objectivist per se, but they should embody what you consider to be the highest, so you can be like your own "Galt & Dagny" or O'Conner & Rand herself)
Shakespeare once said, "Reason & love keep little company together," meaning that if your rational you'll never feel love...that one must FOREGO reason in order to feel it, but Rand, especially with Atlas, definitely DISPROVED that...at least as much as you can in fiction, anyway.
This might sound cheesy, but when I read "The Romantic Manifesto" I originally thought it would go into her concepts about romance and love ;), not artistry or esthetic principles. Silly moi.
To be defeated and overcome by the most alpha male possible?
"That's correct. Not everyone deserves to be loved."
OUCH! Gotta love it...
The second time reader gets the poignancy when knowing who it was outside the window.
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