History Literature / AtlasShrugged

* PeaceAndLoveIncorporated:
** All of the villainous businessmen claim to be working only for "the public good", while in fact they are [[CorruptCorporateExecutive anything]] [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections but]]. The heroic businessmen make no secret of the fact they are only out to make money: or so it seems. Most seem to actually be motivated more by [[DoingItForTheArt the love of running a business well]] than anything.
** Twentieth Century Motors under the leadership of the Starnes children is a notable example. The two brothers were pretty much hypocrites, but Ivy Starnes was quite sincere and had no interest in money. The workers found her to be the most loathsome of the three siblings.

* PyrrhicVictory: A facet of its CentralTheme; though the looters always get whatever physical wealth they lay claim to, they never get the true source of that wealth. Whenever the looters are going to seize one of the properties of the actual or future strikers, they end up with either a worthless property, or one with no one competent to operate it. D'Anconia blows up his ore mines and docks, Dannager abandons his coal mines, Wyatt blows up his oil fields, Rearden walks away from his steel mill, etc.

* OppressiveStatesOfAmerica: About halfway through the book, the United States has become a Communist dictatorship in all but name. Private ownership remains on paper, but business is so heavily regulated that is has become a legal fiction. The planners in Washington make all the decisions: who a company should (not "may") hire, what they should pay him, what orders they should accept and what raw materials they will be allocated... the regime is also a tyranny for the worker, of course, who must work where and as assigned or starve (and increasingly, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption he will starve anyway]]). Blatantly obvious corruption, police state methods and [[PropagandaMachine "Fake News" media]] ruthlessly crush anyone who dissents.

* PresidentEvil: Mr. Thompson, though the book uses the title "Head of State" rather than "President" (possibly reflecting constitutional changes in its dystopian future USA). He is a bit of a subversion, however: the book builds him up as a sinister ShadowDictator, but [[spoiler:when he finally appears in person, he's just another bewildered Looter who is completely out of his depth when confronted with Jon Galt]].

* BigGood: John Galt.

* BrokenPedestal: Dr. Robert Stadler, brilliant and idealistic scientist who becomes just another part of the looters' machine.

* AuthorTract: Arguably the TropeCodifier.

"[[DrivingQuestion Who is John Galt?]]"

It's TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture. The USA is a mixed-market, but heavily regulated and increasingly crypto-communist dystopia wherein the federal government is [[FascistButInefficient as oppressive as it is incompetent]]. The average Joe is being pushed further into poverty by each measure nominally intended to relieve it, and can see no way out. The upper classes are LesCollaborateurs [[CorruptCorporateExecutive gaming]] the system for every drop before it crashes, or [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans self-deluded]] fools certain they can fix the socio-economic problems [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer created by failed government initiatives]] with ''more'' [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer government initiatives]]. With the press under [[PropagandaMachine rigid control]], there is little [[LaResistance public dissent with the status quo]].

It's TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture. The USA is a mixed-market, but heavily regulated and increasingly crypto-communist dystopia wherein the federal government is [[FascistButInefficient as oppressive as it is incompetent]]. The average Joe is being pushed further into poverty by each measure intended to relieve it, and can see no way out. The upper classes are LesCollaborateurs [[CorruptCorporateExecutive gaming]] the system for every drop before it crashes, or [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans self-deluded]] fools certain they can fix the socio-economic problems [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer created by failed government initiatives]] with ''more'' [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer government initiatives]]. With the press under [[PropagandaMachine rigid control]], there is little [[LaResistance public dissent with the status quo]].

* HonorBeforeReason: Eddie Willers' last-ditch expedition to re-establish transcontinental rail service. Dagny tries but fails to talk him out of it. This results in what is almost certainly a [[DownerEnding downer ending]] for Eddie on the penultimate page of the novel, which can be considered a [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop Family Unfriendly Aesop]].

* InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves: Averted. John Galt claims that humanity has been acting to destroy itself for most of its history: however, this is not insinuated to be part of basic human nature, but a choice made based on the attempt to follow [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop bad philosophies such as altruism]] and mysticism. He also claims that those whose nature is to destroy themselves, such as James Taggart, would have long ago if the productive hadn't kept enabling them.

** As in the FamilyUnfriendlyAesop example above, [[GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex sex between Dagny and Hank as a moral triumph]] is a trope of adventure novels. TheHero gets the girl. [[InvertedTrope Or a heroine gets a great guy.]] Or both [[TheHero heroes]] [[RunningGag get together]], like [[HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys Hercules]] and [[XenaWarriorPrincess Xena]].

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Deliberately invoked, in-universe, as the book sought to argue against traditional definitions of morality. Specifically, it promotes selfishness as a virtue. It also argues for atheism and justifies sex as a moral triumph. MoralGuardians from all over the political spectrum flew into utter outrage these messages. Creator/GoreVidal (Socialist) said Rand's philosophy was "perfect in its immorality," and the National Review's Whittaker Chambers (ex-Communist who became a Christian conservative) said that from every page in this book he could hear a voice calling "to a [[GodwinsLaw gas chamber]], go!" Thus, regardless of whether or not one agrees or disagrees with the aesops presented in Atlas Shrugged, they clearly fall under the category of "family unfriendly." Ayn Rand was no ally of traditional moral beliefs, after all. Furthermore the book clearly promotes the position that if you are a 'productive' member of society and your spouse and children are not, then regardless of how much they love and support you in non-financial ways you should be disgusted by their fiscal parasitism. Finally the book asserts that if you are digusted by their looting of value from you and do dismiss their love for you, then allowing them to suffer (and likely die) is a morally good decision because your actions (hurtful/murderous) would match your inner feelings (hatred/indifference).

* [[ImNotHereToMakeFriends I'm Not Here To Make Friends]]: "I don't give a damn about 'the public good'. I'm running a business."

* [[FallenHero Fallen Mentor]]: Dr. Stadler was one of Galt, Danneskjöld, and d'Anconia's mentors in college, and a confidant for Dagny.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: The looters in general.

* AmbitionIsEvil: The book's villains think this, and the protagonists believe that a ''lack'' of ambition is evil.

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Deliberately invoked, in-universe, as the book sought to argue against traditional definitions of morality. Specifically, it promotes selfishness as a virtue. It also argues for atheism and justifies sex as a moral triumph. MoralGuardians from all over the political spectrum flew into utter outrage these messages. Creator/GoreVidal (Socialist) said Rand's philosophy was "perfect in its immorality," and the National Review's Whittaker Chambers (ex-Communist who became a Christian conservative) said that from every page in this book he could hear a voice calling "to a [[GodwinsLaw gas chamber]], go!" Thus, regardless of whether or not one agrees or disagrees with the aesops presented in Atlas Shrugged, they clearly fall under the category of "family unfriendly." Ayn Rand was no ally of traditional moral beliefs, after all. Furthermore the book clearly promotes the position that if you are a 'productive' member of society and your spouse and children are not, then regardless of how much they love and support you in non-financial ways you should be disgusted by their fiscal parasitism. Finally the book asserts that if you are digusted by their looting of value from you and do dismiss their love for you, then allowing them to sufffer (and likely die) is a morally good decision because your actions (hurtful/murderous) would match your inner feelings (hatred/indifference).

* LowerClassLout: Socialism is depicted as having turned the working class into this, as they became more interested in collecting paychecks to spend on ConspicuousConsumption while the quality of their work went into freefall, secure in the knowledge that they'd never be fired because the union had their backs. John Galt's origin story is that he got fed up with his co-workers and their employers, the Starnes family, enabling them through their embrace of socialism, and told them to TakeThisJobAndShoveIt once they socialized the 20th Century Motor Company (which they proceeded to run into the ground).

* AlternateHistory: A fandom explanation for the importance of radios, trains, and the lack of post-WWII technology is that the timeline splits around the '30s when FDR is elected, resulting in decades of stagnation, and major events such as World War II never happened in this universe. Critics of the book, on the other hand, point out that setting the story in an alternative universe would not be in Rand's character, and would undermine her intended message of "realistic" conflict in contemporary society. Rand spent many years working on the book, and it's telling that television and nuclear power ("atom-smashing machines") are actually mentioned but not until the later chapters. It has the effect, [[YMMV for some readers]], of an Unintentional Period Piece.

* AlternateHistory: A fandom explanation for the importance of radios, trains, and the lack of post-WWII technology is that the timeline splits around the '30s when FDR is elected, resulting in decades of stagnation, and major events such as World War II never happened in this universe.

* LowerClassLout: Socialism is depicted as having turned the working class into this, as they became more interested in collecting paychecks to spend on ConspicuousConsumption while the quality of their work went into freefall, secure in the knowledge that they'd never be fired because the union had their backs. John Galt's origin story is that he got fed up with his co-workers and told them to TakeThisJobAndShoveIt once they socialized the 20th Century Motor Company (which they proceeded to run into the ground).

* LovingAShadow: Cherryl towards James

* BoringInvincibleHero: The villains never stand the ''slightest'' chance against Galt & Co. Every confrontation in the book between the two, whether it's physical, economic or intellectual, is handily and easily won by the heroes. Dagny and Hank do suffer several defeats in their overall goals for most of the novel, but this is only because they try to fight the looters on their terms - terms which the looters and their predecessors have refined for generations to be in their favor. Once they cross over to the strikers, their foes are utterly helpless.