History Literature / AtlasShrugged

* [[ArtisticLicenseEconomics Artistic License -]] [[ArtisticLicenseMilitary Strategy]]: How do the Looters actually keep control? They had proved themselves incapable enough they can't stop [[OneManArmy the single ship of]] Ragnar Danneskjöld from raiding outside their very ports. Their roads crumble, factories collapse, large swathes of the country are dropping back into wilderness. Wyatt has a revolutionary method to produce oil which they don't have, Rearden has a magical alloy impervious to [=HEAT=] shells, Galt has a limitless source of power and so on. If they wanted to actually [[TakeOverTheWorld take over the country]] in a few weeks, they could do it, [[WarIsHell the hard, painful way]]. Yet up to that point each and every of the heroes obeys meekly even the most stupid decisions of Mouch and Thompson. They don't even attempt to negotiate or blackmail. Only the apathy of honest people left the bastards in control of the economy for so long.

** As in the HardTruthAesop 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 [[Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys Hercules]] and [[Series/XenaWarriorPrincess Xena]].

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex / GoodAdulteryBadAdultery: Dagny's affair with married man Hank Rearden is portrayed as an exalted, beautiful and fulfilling relationship, whereas Hank's wife Lillian (a villain) believes SexIsEvil and uses Hank's guilt over his fondness for sex to control and manipulate him. In contrast, James Taggart's one-night stand with Lillian is treated as disgusting, as those involved are doing so not out of their enjoyment of the act itself, but out of their (mistaken) belief that the act will somehow harm Hank Rearden. James actually calls Lillian "Mrs. Rearden" as he gets off.

* 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. YMMV, but for some readers the first half of the book has the effect of an UnintentionalPeriodPiece.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Regardless of politics, we can all agree that ''Ragnar Danneskjöld''[[note]]"Dane-Shield", a pun on the RealLife [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Tordenskjold Admiral Tordenskjold]] ("Thunder-Shield")[[/note]] is a pretty awesome name to have.

** Many bits of the novel read a lot like an adventure from a pulp magazine of the era. Hidden valley utopias, unlikely scientific inventions, doomsday machines, villainous villains, heroic heroes, airplane chases, secret conspiracies... and Galt ends up looking a lot like Franchise/DocSavage.

-->"... He needed love, was his line. He was being kept by older women, when he could find them.\\ Then he started running after a girl of sixteen, a nice girl who wouldn't have anything to do with him. She married a boy she was engaged to. Eric Starnes got into their house on the wedding day, and when they came back from church after the ceremony, they found him in their bedroom, dead, messy dead, his wrists slashed.... Now I say there might be forgiveness for a man who kills himself quietly. Who can pass judgment on another man's suffering and on the limit of what he can bear? But the man who kills himself, making a show of his death in order to hurt somebody, the man who gives his life for malice--there's no forgiveness for him, no excuse, he's rotten clear through, and what he deserves is that people spit at his memory, instead of feeling sorry for him and hurt, as he wanted them to be.... Well, that was Eric Starnes. ..."

* TheElitesJumpShip: This is the core plot of novel and is played sympathetically, as elite businessmen and industrialists "go Galt" and disappear from the world stage in protest of growing socialist policies, forming their own community called Galt's Gulch, while the rest of the country collapses.

* DaddysGirl: There are interesting shades of this in Dagny's relationship with her father. Although he mainly gave to company to James, he knew from watching her childhood that she was the Taggart to run the railroads. In turn, Dagny admires her father for being a self-made, hardworking man, but also regrets that being born into his family made her success a little easier.

* AuthorFilibuster: As quote on the AuthorFilibuster page says, "Eventually the question you ask stops being 'Who is John Galt?' and becomes 'When will John Galt shut up?'" ''Atlas Shrugged'' has one of the longest examples in print, with 60 to 70 pages (depending on printing) and four hours of in-universe time of John Galt lecturing the entire world. There are other, shorter filibusters as well scattered through the book. It must be noted that Ayn Rand was inspired by Creator/VictorHugo, whose novels did include numerous examples.

%%* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

* AuthorFilibuster: As quote on the [[Quotes/AuthorFilibuster Author Filibuster Quotes page]] says, "Eventually the question you ask stops being 'Who is John Galt?' and becomes 'When will John Galt shut up?'" ''Atlas Shrugged'' has one of the longest examples in print, with 60 to 70 pages (depending on printing) and four hours of in-universe time of John Galt lecturing the entire world. There are other, shorter filibusters as well scattered through the book. It must be noted that Ayn Rand was inspired by Creator/VictorHugo, whose novels did include numerous examples.

* IHaveManyNames: Francisco's full name is "Francisco Domingo Carlos Andres Sebastian d'Anconia."
** EasterEgg: His first two Christian names comprise the name of a pirate [[InJoke and former slave]] from UsefulNotes/{{the Golden Age of Piracy}}.

*** The locomotive is quoted to have 4 engines and 16 axles. It didn't look like a centipede; Diesel locomotives of [[TheFifties the 1950s]] were [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALCO_PA#/media/File:Santa_Fe_ALCO_PA-1_1946.JPG made-up from multiple units with a single driver's cab and controls]].

The title is based on a popular misconception that in Greek mythology Atlas carried the world on his back (he actually carried the sky); as Hank and Francisco [[TitleDrop discuss during the book]], if he ever tired of carrying that weight on his shoulders, all he needed to do was shrug, and it would fall off. The working title for the novel, before its publication, was ''The Strike''--but Rand changed it because she feared it would be a SpoilerTitle.

* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: This features very prominently in its final chapters, ultimately culminating in Dagny and her allies murdering security guards in cold blood on the way to rescue John Galt, despite - or perhaps even ''because'' - the narrative saying they're too paralyzed with indecision to step aside. There's a bizarre undertone of, "Help us, fight us, or get the hell out of our way, just do ''something'' besides just ''sit there''" during the rampage. One can argue that the questionable behavior up until that point was just washing one's hands clean of a broken system, but at that point the Strikers are just flat-out executing people for what they consider the ultimate sin - [[ApatheticCitizens apathy]]. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment Some believe that's the point.]]

* CompletelyMissingThePoint:
** After listening to Galt's four-hour long tirade about the evils of government interference in industry, the looters proceed to capture him and offer him the role of economic director, a job in which he will be free to run industry as he sees fit. And then when he replies that his first order is to abolish all income taxes, [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Thompson balks and refuses.]]

* HardTruthAesop: Ayn Rand was no ally of traditional moral beliefs, and the book's central argument is that they are all wrong and have it backwards. Specifically, it promotes selfishness as a virtue, argues for atheism, rejects TheGoldenRule as rewarding parasitic behavior, justifies sex as a moral triumph, promotes the position that 'productive' members of society should be disgusted by their own spouses and children if they are not 'productive' regardless of their non-financial love and support, and finally, asserts that, if you are disgusted by how others loot their value from 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). 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", and MoralGuardians from all over the political spectrum flew into utter outrage at these messages. The socialist Creator/GoreVidal said Rand's philosophy was "perfect in its immorality," and the ''National Review''[='=]s Whittaker Chambers, an ex-Communist who became a Christian conservative, said that Rand's philosophy was NotSoDifferent from Marxism and that, from every page in the book, he could hear a voice calling "to a [[GodwinsLaw gas chamber]], go!"

* HardTruthAesop: 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).

** The term gay is used frequently in Atlas Shrugged, including Hank Rearden proclaiming that "he liked to see people being gay, even if he didn't understand this kind of enjoyment." This kind of enjoyment referred to the party his wife was throwing.

* HeelRealization: Taggart has one, then [[GoMadFromTheRevelation goes nuts]], after realizing that he wants to break Galt's spirit even if it kills both Galt and himself.

* HeroicSacrifice: Intentionally {{Averted}}. None of the major characters die for the sake of others. Though the others are still willing to ''risk'' their own lives to save Galt when he is captured, so they are not completely selfish in spite of their Objectivist philosophy.

* HiddenElfVillage: Galt's Gulch - Unbuilt. Although the valley is shielded from the outside world by Galt's hologram device, the strikers spend only one month out of each year there solely as a "vacation" from the corrosive mediocrity of the outside world, so that they can express themselves freely.

* IgnoredEpiphany: Right before [[MoralEventHorizon directive 10-289]] is approved of, it is evident that James Taggart is getting very uncomfortable with the way the conversation is going when one of the looters denounces a quote of UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington's as being [[OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions "Outdated"]], and he keeps staring out at the Washington Monument throughout the entire meeting. Just as he seems to be getting the point through his head that what they are about to do is wrong, [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope he closes the window shades]].

* InsultBackfire: Midas Mulligan, banker and striker; he legally changed his name from "Michael" when his enemies gave him the nickname.

** The man's name? ''[[ArcWords "Who is John Galt?"]]''

* ItsQuietTooQuiet: A ''society-wide'' example. After they complete the John Galt Line, Hank and Dagny spend several weeks on a vacation in the Midwest... and find themselves disturbed to find that much of the country has reverted to WildWilderness. They wistfully note that though many people despise gas stations and billboards, they're signs of ''civilization'' -- that there are people traveling to, from and through those areas -- and their lack can only be seen as evidence of a creeping ''[[ApocalypseHow/Class2 Class 2 Apocalypse]].''

** Deconstructed, but still played straight; Rand defined Romantic love as a capitalist exchange of values like any other; affection for affection, gratification for gratification. Under this definition, a {{Yandere}} would be just another Looter, gratifying themselves with their "beloved's" pain: - better to break it off cleanly. And one vertex of a love triangle breaking away before things are settled will only leave everyone bitter about what could have been.

* JustEatGilligan: the whole plot point of the static motor, a source of virtually free energy (though to be clear, not exactly a perpetual motion machine, it does require some fuel) being left to decay in a factory abandoned by workers and management after an experiment in collective ownership... what doesn't make sense (except outside the context of Objectivism, in which anyone opposed to the Objectivist heroes is secretly a power-hungry DirtyCoward who is as stupid and incompetent as they are lazy and conceited) is why a socialist movement would ignore a technological device that would help them achieve most of their aims. The static motor could revolutionize automation, allow more leisure, and significantly reduce the cost of transportation and energy, which are all things that actually could have helped the Looters' maintain control and sustain the peoples' loyalty.

* KickTheDog: Dr. Stadler admitting to Dagny that the State Science Institute is launching a smear campaign against Rearden Metal because it makes them look incompetent, and then deliberately choosing not to tell the truth about it because he believes that life in society means that someone always has to be sacrificed. He doesn't want it to be the Institute.

* LowerClassLout: "Altruistic," New Deal type policies are 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).

* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: Subverted for Galt's Engine. He left all three behind at the Starnes Motor Company (he invented it on the clock, after all, and Galt is nothing if not an Honest Man), and all it did was prove that it ''once'' existed. Looters (both high and common) tear up the prototype for spare parts, and leave the plans and theoretical research notebooks to rot. Even when Dagny realizes what she has, almost all of the "engineers" she calls upon to study the remains refuse to believe it could work (some even say that the Engine, if it worked, would be ''[[ScaleOfScientificSins immoral]]'', because it would [[TallPoppySyndrome make other scientists look stupid]]). Plans, prototypes and backups are only useful to people with enough intelligence to know their value - which for groundbreaking work, can set the bar ''pretty damned high.''

** It's not that ambiguous though, because late in the book there is a reference to nuclear technology in the form of an atom-smashing machine, but in almost 1200 pages, no one refers to World War II, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, or the Soviet Union's nuclear arsenal, which would all have been very recent or contemporary in memory TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture of 1957. Ragnar's warship also uses battleship-grade cannons (long after battleships were technologically obsolete) instead of something like a ballistic missile to destroy Boyle's factor.See YMMV for speculation on this novel's timeline and technology.

* ObviouslyEvil: The evil characters are all physically grotesque with either bulbous nose or a potbelly or watery eyes or bad posture and have ridiculous names like Orren Boyle, Wesley Mouch and Tinky Holloway. The good characters by contrast are always tall, thin and handsome with haughty, angular faces and good posture. {{Subverted}} with Midas Mulligan, a good guy who is short and stocky and again with Dr. Ferris, the book's most evil villain, who is given no description other than being tall, thin, graceful and handsome. And [[ManipulativeBitch Lillian Rearden]] is also good-looking, except for her joyless eyes.
** Justified in-universe as most of [[TheHero the heroes]] ''earned'' their physiques: Francisco d'Anconia had been a keen athlete for most of his life, Hank Rearden and John Galt have decades of hard physical labor in their past, Dagny Taggart had been described from childhood as highly disciplined, with great care for her body, clothing and diet. James Taggart's first appearance starts with his [[YoungerThanTheyLook description as a prematurely-aged man, looking old at 39 years of age]]. Later his backstory shows him as a slob, who didn't like either sports, labor or intellectual activity and took little care to groom himself.

* OpposedMentors: Robert Stadler(physicist) and Hugh Akston(philosopher) for Francisco, Ragnar, and John Galt.

* 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 it's 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 {{Corrupt Politician}}s, police state methods and [[PropagandaMachine the "Fake News" media]] ruthlessly crush anyone who dissents.

** 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.

* PetTheDog: Dr. Stadler shows genuine interest in the motor which Dagny finds, and his speech about how he is so pleased to see a new, brilliant idea which is not his own is very touching. For a while it seems he may have [[HopeSpot some hope of redemption]] as he recommends a scientist who may be able to reconstruct it to Dagny... it didn't last, though.

* PulpMagazine: Many bits of the novel read a lot like an adventure from a pulp magazine of the era. Hidden valley utopias, unlikely scientific inventions, doomsday machines, villainous villains, heroic heroes, airplane chases, secret conspiracies... and Galt ends up looking a lot like Franchise/DocSavage.

* PurpleProse: Oh dear. Enormous psychological dissertations between each and every line of dialogue, street lamps that are "glass globes filled with light", not to mention... THE SPEECH.
* 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.
* RageQuit: When Dagny discovers through the newsapaper that Directive 10-289 has been passed into law, which forbids anyone from quitting, (and realizes James was involved) she walks into James' office, throws the newspaper in his face, and quits, saying she won't be a slave ''or'' a slave driver.

* RaygunGothic: An adamantium like metal, portable X-Ray machines, and a WeaponOfMassDestruction powered by sound are several examples of the "futuristic" tech in Atlas Shrugged.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Tony (a.k.a. the "Wet Nurse") who was attached to Rearden's company as a part of the "rationing" program forced upon Rearden.
* ResignationsNotAccepted: As the U.S. government becomes more tyrannical, John Galt's "strike" idea spreads and more and more people begin quitting their jobs or working under their means, refusing to be exploited. In response, the government institutes Directive 10-289, in which nobody is allowed to quit their job. If they do, they are branded as an outlaw, and their job is given to someboedy else that isn't currently employed, regardless of that person's ability to actually do the job.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The fate of the Comet in the Taggart Tunnel disaster is similar to a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balvano_train_disaster real-life rail disaster in southern Italy in 1944]]; but the second train loaded with explosives didn't happen in reality.

* SadisticChoice: The Tunnel Disaster is a series of these for everyone involved who was paying attention.

* ScienceIsBad: Various characters believe this, especially Balph Eubank who believes that machines have destroyed humanity's connection to the earth, to the point where women are now [[StayInTheKitchen running railroads instead of raising children]]. Averted with Dr. Stadler, however: He has become a villain but this is only because he is using science to serve the looters.

** Promising young scientist Quentin Daniels turned down Dr. Stadler's offer of a presumedly prestigious post at the State Science Institute due to his views on governmental involvement in science. When Dagny first meets him, he is working as [[AlmightyJanitor night watchman at an abandoned technical institute]].

* SmokingIsCool: Rand certainly thinks so. When someone lights up in the book, it's used as a metaphor by Rand for ''thinking''. All the Strikers smoke - and the rare handmade cigarettes from Galt's Gulch, "stamped with the sign of the dollar" in ''gold foil'', are a major plot device. Kinnan is the only Looter who smokes, and is the one smart enough to get his way all the time despite being just a union boss to their [=CEOs=], Senators and Professors.

* StrawLoser: Lee Hunsacker, former wannabe big industrialist who sued banker Midas Mulligan for refusing to give him a loan he couldn't possibly pay back, hates everybody and everything for not "giving him a chance", and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking refuses to do the dishes]].
** Almost every antagonist in the book fits this trope, to one extent or another -- they all whine, blame others for their (''frequent'') failures, and demand that the more competent protagonists keep bailing them out.
* TakeThat: Earns more than a few. The book itself throws the middle finger at Christianity, Marxism and all their intellectual and philosophical descendants (and antecedents, too). There are a handful of specific people targeted: several of the looters say "in the long run we're all dead," which is a verbatim quote from economist John Maynard Keynes. When Head of State Thompson signs the most odious of the economic legislation, he says the government will keep trying different tactics until something works. Franklin Roosevelt said much the same thing when launching The New Deal. The rhetoric "against unfair competition and monopolies" is yet another direct quote of Roosevelt.
** The talk of unfair competition and monopolies refers specifically to the antitrust laws, and especially the first of them, the Sherman Act of 1890.

* TheSimpleLifeIsSimple: Industrialists and businessmen take to farming with no trouble at all and even have enough time left over to write symphonies and work on inventions. On one hand, they're explicitly described as the world's most capable people, but on the other, they have no specific farming knowhow and no labor but themselves. Of course, they also have unrestricted access to their inventions and no "looters" demanding a cut. Galt has his power station, and the doctor has a portable X-Ray machine of his own design(in the film, it's a ''smartphone''). It's also stated that their holdings are the merest fraction of what they had Outside, but it was also 100% ''theirs.''

* TrueArtIsAngsty: In-universe example - Balph Eubank is a major proponent of this idea. It says something that no book of his has ever sold more than three thousand copies. So, he proposes a law which states that [[TallPoppySyndrome ten thousand copies is the maximum legal sale limit for any book]]...
* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: Once again seen in-universe. The preferred philosophy of modern academia in the book. During Lillian Rearden's party, a group of unadmirable pseudo-intellectual types gather and talk about how plot in fiction, and melody in music, are completely unnecessary.

* UnclePennybags: Hank Rearden is this to his mother and brother Phillip as well as to his friend, the unsuccessful businessman Paul Larkin. Unfortunately they all betray his generosity in one way or another - His mother and brother live off Rearden's money while making no effort to support themselves or even ''be nice to him'', and Paul Larkin ends up betraying Rearden by forming a coalition with the looters which would legally force Rearden to sell Larkin his ore mines.

* ViewersAreMorons: In-universe: Dr. Floyd Ferris writes the propaganda piece ''Why Do You Think You Think?'' for the general public, whom he believes have the intellectual ability of "drunken louts", and Dr. Stadler agrees with his premise enough to not publicly protest his methods, even though Ferris has cited Stadler's own research, completely out of context, to prove his points. Stadler's agreement with this trope is also why he had the State Science Institute founded in the first place. Many regular people in this universe seem to play this trope straight, although it is also hinted that acting on it is actually [[SelfFulfillingProphecy causing it to become true]].

* WhoAreYou: The final chapter of Atlas Shrugged does this with Ragnar Danneskjöld, who only has to say his name to inspire fear.

* YeGoodeOldeDays: The Looters look at the collapse of industrial civilization with a degree of satisfaction as a return to these; Dagny is present as they comment on the stability of newformed Indian feudalism, and is horrified when none care about how many are suffering and dying for lack of modern necessities [[strike:luxuries]] such as drinkable water.

-->-- '''John Galt''' beginning a [[Quotes/AtlasShrugged very, very,]] '''[[UpToEleven very]]''' [[AuthorFilibuster long]] [[http://galtse.cx speech.]]

-->-- '''John Galt''' beginning a [[Quotes/AtlasShrugged very, very,]] '''very''' long [[http://galtse.cx speech.]]

The book is most widely known for its philosophical condemnation of religion and altruism, as well as its advocacy of free-market classical liberalism (which Rand termed "Capitalism", though non-Objectivists use the word to describe [[{{UsefulNotes/Capitalism}} the Capitalist system]]). Other themes include its celebration of the individual and the argument that [[MiseryBuildsCharacter suffering]] is ''not'' a necessary part of the human condition.

* AchillesInHisTent: The idea behind John Galt's strike.

** Dagny Taggart and Francisco D'Anconia are somewhere between [[strike:Type III]] PragmaticAntiHero and [[strike:Type IV]] UnscrupulousHero, Hank Rearden is more of a [[strike:Type II]] Disney Anti Hero. John Galt is arguably a PragmaticAntiHero, albeit only to his enemies. By the time you get to pirate Ragnar Danneskjold, who steals ships of goods from governments so he can sell them, and give the money to people he judges as worthy/owed restitution, you're into DesignatedHero territory.

* AppliedPhlebotinum: John Galt is a GadgeteerGenius with cast-iron lungs; Galt's Motor, Galt's Gulch's InvisibilityCloak, Galt's CoolPlane... There's also [[strike:Rearden]] "Miracle" Metal, and Project Xylophone (which also contains [[MadeOfExplodium Explodium]]).

* {{Beauty Equals Goodness}}: All of the protagonists and members of Galt's Gulch are described as being exceptionally attractive, while the villains are generally described as pudgy and watery eyed.

* BenevolentBoss: Dagny and Rearden

* CainAndAbel: James and Dagny Taggart; Phillip and Hank Rearden.

* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Dagny and Frisco

* TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget: Dr. Stadler

* HardTruthAesop: 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).
* FakeUltimateHero: James plays this to Cherryl after they meet.

* GodHelpUsAll: So says Hank Rearden.

* {{Gotterdammerung}}: Rand saw the "[[SelfMadeMan men of the mind]]" as Gods...

* HeroWithBadPublicity: Intentionally.

* [[IDontPayYouToThink I Don't Pay You To Think]]: Directive 10-289, the "moratorium on brains," chains all existing employees to their jobs, with a potential penalty of jail for any that quit. If any do quit, anyway (or lose their job for other reasons), that job is then assigned to someone else by a government committee, regardless of that person's ability to actually do the job. "There had been a time when he had been expected to think. Now, they didn't want him to think. Only to obey."
* IgnoredEpiphany: Right before [[MoralEventHorizon directive 10-289]] is approved of, it is evident that James Taggart is getting very uncomfortable with the way the conversation is going when one of the looters denounces a quote of [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington George Washington's]] as being [[OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions "Outdated"]], and he keeps staring out at the Washington Monument throughout the entire meeting. Just as he seems to be getting the point through his head that what they are about to do is wrong, [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope he closes the window shades]].

** EasterEgg: His first two Christian names comprise the name of a pirate [[InJoke and former slave]] from [[{{UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfPiracy}} the Golden Age of Piracy]].

* IRejectYourReality: A Strawman Political tries to (un)reason a mother who lost her son in an accident that she doesn't really know he's dead -- or that he ever even existed.
* ImNotHereToMakeFriends: "I don't give a damn about 'the public good'. I'm running a business."

* LivingLegend: Who is John Galt?
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

* LoveAtFirstSight: Dagny for John Galt
* LoveDodecahedron: Revolving around Dagny.
* LoveRedeems: Subverted by James Taggart's courtship of Cherryl Brooks from the dime store.
* LovingAShadow: Cherryl towards James.

* MentorOccupationalHazard: A FaceHeelTurn does ''not'' protect you from this trope, as Dr. Robert Stadler learns the hard way.

* ObstructiveBureaucrat: The world is just filled to the brim with these.

* {{Pirate}}: Ragnar Danneskjöld, who is also an AlternateCharacterInterpretation of RobinHood that walks like a man.

* PlatonicLifePartners: Dagny Taggart and Eddie Willers

** As in the HardTruthAesop 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]].

* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob: This is all part of Francisco d'Anconia's ObfuscatingStupidity.

* ShoutOut: Rand read both ''[[{{Literature/NineteenEightyFour}} 1984]]'' and ''[[{{Literature/AnimalFarm}} Animal Farm]]''. Her villains not only must master the art of doublethink to function in their new jobs and environment but (sincerely) espouse words of wisdom such as "slavery is freedom."
* ShutUpHannibal

* TallPoppySyndrome: Could be a subtitle.

* UnluckyChildhoodFriend: Eddie Willers; Francisco d'Anconia.

* WorldOfSnark.
* WorthyOpponent: Dagny's favorite type of people.

* TheTrickster: John Galt, Francisco d'Anconia and Ragnar Danneskjöld.

** Throughout [[WorldWarTwo the 1940s]] and [[TheFifties 1950s]] [[RealLifeWritesThePlot there was the golden age of superalloys]] - made up from dozens of common metals combined in a very complex alloy for high-temperature application in jet planes and early spacecraft.

* 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 {{Corrupt Politician}}s, police state methods and [[PropagandaMachine the "Fake News" media]] ruthlessly crush anyone who dissents.

* TrueArtIsAngsty: In-universe example - Balph Eubank is a major proponent of this idea. It says something that no book of his has ever sold more than three thousand copies. So, he proposes a law which states that [[IfICantHaveYou ten thousand copies is the maximum legal sale limit for any book]]...

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Ayn Rand genuinely believed that economics worked as the [[UsefulNotes/EconomicTheories 'Austrian' school of philosophical 'economics']] assumed that it did through the use of axiomatic logic ('Praxeology') without reference to the study of the real world. In the book this is how economics works, so one of the its Aesops is that industrial society would collapse if those who collected economic rents from the population and corporate welfare from the government ever decided that they didn't want that money: