Francisco’s discussion of Atlas is the title scene of the book. The discussion occurs in a context in which Rearden is blackmailed and indicted for his “crime” of carrying the country on his back. Rearden and Dagny are the last productive giants left in the world. The rest have been stifled and/or have disappeared. Without Rearden, the economy will collapse. He is the Atlas holding up the country’s economic system. In return for his prodigious effort and life-giving achievements, he is morally condemned, robbed, harassed, threatened, blackmailed, and accused of criminal wrongdoing.
Francisco points out the terrible injustice that Rearden accepts—the injustice of the superbly virtuous man who carries a horde of vicious looters and permits them to set the moral terms. What if Atlas should throw the world off his shoulders and refuse to sacrifice his life for a world that victimizes him? What does this analogy mean for Rearden? Before Francisco can ask a more pointed question, the men are interrupted by the emergency of a furnace breakout. When the two have successfully combated it, Francisco backs away from their previous discussion. He knows that Rearden’s ability to take joyous action in service of what he loves enables him to bear the heavy injustices. Nevertheless, Francisco’s unasked question still hangs in the air. What will Rearden do when he’s so shackled by the looters’ controls that he can no longer serve his own values?
The other major event of this chapter is Dagny’s realization that the retirement and disappearance of the world’s great producers is not a series of unconnected occurrences. A conscious purpose ties the disappearances together—some diabolical plan to remove from the country its greatest minds. Dagny names the person or thing responsible the “destroyer.” When she speaks to Ken Danagger, who announces his retirement based on his meeting with a mysterious visitor, Dagny’s suspicions are confirmed. The questions raised here are of monumental importance. Who is the destroyer and what is his/her intent? Who is the nameless worker to whom Eddie Willers confides the railroad’s secrets, and is he related to the destroyer’s activities? What is Francisco’s purpose in seeking the moral liberation of Hank Rearden? Dagny’s search for answers will determine the future of industrial civilization.
