Atlas Shrugged

This chapter's title refers to the biblical story of Cain and Abel. Ayn Rand shows what the religious injunction to be your brother's keeper looks like in practice. Three instances in this chapter embody this injunction. The first instance occurs when the seed grain and the future existence of the Nebraska farmers is seized to feed the starving populace of Sand Creek, Illinois. In this age of enlightenment, says Eugene Lawson, men realize that they are all their brothers' keepers. The second instance occurs when James Taggart, desperate to hold on to the looters' policies that grant him power, begs Dagny to somehow find a way to make the policies work. "Dagny, I'm your brother," he pleads. Despite his role in Cherryl's death, the endless roadblocks he has placed in Dagny's path, and the literal impossibility of making the policies work, he appeals to sibling obligation, hoping to force Dagny into action. The third instance occurs when Philip Rearden, an irresponsible moocher concerned that his gravy train will end if Rearden retires and vanishes, pleads for a job that he can't successfully perform. His brazen request is possible only because he feels justified in arguing that an obligation to one's brother should supersede all other considerations. In all cases, Ayn Rand shows that the unproductive try to argue that an individual is obligated to help either his literal brother or his figurative brothers — humanity. She insists that the motive behind this injunction is to enslave the productive to the moochers, who feel that they have biblical license to take what they want.