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Twentieth Century Motor Company (view source)
Revision as of 21:50, July 4, 2009
, 21:50, July 4, 2009→Final dispositions
John Galt, of course, made good on his threat to "stop the motor of the world."
John Galt, of course, made good on his threat to "stop the motor of the world."
Shop foreman [[Jeff Allen]] left Starnesville after the initial [[bankruptcy]] and drifted across the country, looking for work where he could find it. Usually his jobs would not survive the next round of layoffs, which always proceeded according to [[seniority]], a thing he could not hope to gain. Allen worked the longest for Lawrence Hammond's automobile factory in [[Colorado]], where all hiring decisions were taken according to a man's work record—but then Lawrence Hammond quit, and the citizens' committee that took the Hammond Car Company over, laid him off at once, again on account of his lack of seniority. He met [[Dagny Taggart]] while stowing away on the Taggart Comet, and told her the full particulars of the disastrous administration of the Twentieth Century by the Starnes heirs, and the origin of the [[John Galt]] Question. The novel last mentions him taking command of the Comet as "deputy conductor and proxy-vice-president for operations" when the Comet became a "frozen train."
The six-thousand-strong workforce of the Twentieth Century Motor Company noticed that not only was their own firm declining, but the entire country was declining. They didn't know exactly how this was happening, but they all felt that they knew why. None of them had known anything more about John Galt than his name, but all knew that the decline at their factory and in the nation's economy began when he abruptly left and made that cryptic threat. And so they all began to ask themselves, "Who is John Galt?" in an effort to explain something that was as inexplicable as it was inexorable. Eventually, all of the American public followed their example.
The six-thousand-strong workforce of the Twentieth Century Motor Company noticed that not only was their own firm declining, but the entire country was declining. They didn't know exactly how this was happening, but they all felt that they knew why. None of them had known anything more about John Galt than his name, but all knew that the decline at their factory and in the nation's economy began when he abruptly left and made that cryptic threat. And so they all began to ask themselves, "Who is John Galt?" in an effort to explain something that was as inexplicable as it was inexorable. Eventually, all of the American public followed their example.
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== Typology ==
== Typology ==
The Twentieth Century Motor Company was a microcosm of any society that tried to organize itself under the principles set forth in [[The Communist Manifesto]] by [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]]. [[Ayn Rand]] used this firm for two purposes: to demonstrate the utter unworkability and monumental injustice of life under [[Communism]] or any other form of collectivism, and to serve as a plot device to explain the origin of her chief [[Literary type#Anti-villain|anti-villain]], [[John Galt]].
The Twentieth Century Motor Company was a microcosm of any society that tried to organize itself under the principles set forth in [[The Communist Manifesto]] by [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]]. [[Ayn Rand]] used this firm for two purposes: to demonstrate the utter unworkability and monumental injustice of life under [[Communism]] or any other form of collectivism, and to serve as a plot device to explain the origin of her chief [[Literary type#Anti-villain|anti-villain]], [[John Galt]].