Changes

This was only the beginning, of course, for now Rand turned her full attention to the thing that she would later describe as the novel's primary theme: ''the role of the mind in man's existence.'' She asked herself what would happen to any society if "the creative minds of the world went on [[strike]]," which is to say, withdrew their talents from the world.<ref name=history/> She then asked herself what would ''drive'' them to call such a strike. This process carried through to the development of all the various [[Literary type#Hero|heroes]], [[Literary type#Villain|villains]], and [[Literary type#Anti-villain|anti-villains]] in the story.

This was only the beginning, of course, for now Rand turned her full attention to the thing that she would later describe as the novel's primary theme: ''the role of the mind in man's existence.'' She asked herself what would happen to any society if "the creative minds of the world went on [[strike]]," which is to say, withdrew their talents from the world.<ref name=history/> She then asked herself what would ''drive'' them to call such a strike. This process carried through to the development of all the various [[Literary type#Hero|heroes]], [[Literary type#Villain|villains]], and [[Literary type#Anti-villain|anti-villains]] in the story.

In addition to these themes, Rand expounded on a theme that one might describe as "the fallacy of the mind-body dichotomy." Rand attacked this apparent split between mind and body in two contexts: the notion that [[sex]]ual feelings were inherently dishonorable and distasteful and therefore could not proceed from a man's thoughts and beliefs, and the notion that the best exercise of the mind was in "pure" or abstract [[science|scientific]] research and not in the practical application of science to real human needs and desires.

In addition to these themes, Rand expounded on a theme that one might describe as "the fallacy of the mind-body dichotomy." Rand attacked this apparent split between mind and body in two contexts, each based on a fallacious notion:

 

# That [[sex]]ual feelings were inherently dishonorable and distasteful and therefore not only immoral, but amoral&mdash;and thus a man's choice of a sexual partner could never be a moral one.

# That the best exercise of the mind was in "pure" or abstract [[science|scientific]] research and not in the practical application of science to real human needs and desires.

=== Character Development ===

=== Character Development ===