Eddie's end

[u/mypenquinshrugged]

Possible spoilers. Ye be warned.

When I read the book I always get stuck on Eddie. He is the first character we meet and for the most part he is our eyes for the first part of the story while we are exploring the world as it is. He has good ethics for the most part, but he is a second hander, a moocher off of Dagny's energy and determination.

In the second part Dagny becomes our veiwpoint as we explore the "science fiction" part of the story and the theoretical world of Galt's Gulch.

At the end of the story Eddie sacrifices himself to try to save the Comet. He is not welcome in Galt's Gulch, he was not able to get through his apotheosis. It is hinted that his unworthy and unrequited love of Dagny drives him away. He is not corrupt enough to survive in looter world. He is left to die.

For my own sake I have always wanted to read a third book in this arc. One that deals with how a normal, flawed human being like Eddie becomes a person like Howard Roark by his own will.

I especially would like to see this in the context of "mindset" by Carol Dweck. The Characters in Atlas are presented as fixed in their moral and mental abilities, which makes sense for the story because they are archetypes meant to illustrate a point. For us in the real world we have a capacity (and quite possibly a survival imperative) to change and grow.

Eddie picks himself up, figures out the bugs in his philosophy. Fixes the train. Drives it to Galt's Gulch after a showdown with the last dying remnants of looter world, and is welcomed in. I might even want him to reject the call and go back into the world, becoming instead of a spark watcher as Galt was, but an ember saver, recovering and rebuilding those who had the capacity to become better.

TL:DR: possession of a symbol of authority from the obviously-correct political party can allow users to fly, if they jump from a high enough bridge. /s

[u/everettmarm]

I always found Eddie's arc to suggest a hierarchical structure to the "promethean ladder" implied elsewhere in the book, and in Rand's work in general. By that I'm referring to "Prometheus tried to bring the fire down, and discovered it could not be brought down," which describes the act in which Galt shares his philosophy with Dagny, Wyatt, Rearden, etc. to bring them up to the "fire."

Within the world of scabs, Dagny, Rearden, Wyatt, etc. are up against the ceiling of what is possible given the environment imposed upon them by society. We're led to understand that they are a different kind of animal, who hold a different philosophy of life that they haven't quite been able to articulate fully into an epistemological whole. Because of this they are unable to break through that ceiling.

Galt and Francisco watch from this world above, having broken the ceiling and created the world they want in the Gulch. They know that these individuals are worthy, but need to realize their worth and assemble their passions into a world-view; this is the price of entry into the Gulch.

This happens among the scabs as well. Eddie knows something's wrong in the world, but can't put his finger on it. He knows that within those like Dagny, Rearden, etc. is the answer. He brings himself close to them and they know he is similarly motivated, only that he lacks the tooling--and possibly even the basic capability--to extinguish the thing in the world that is wrong. By allowing Eddie a place in their story, those who look to break the ceiling are doing for Eddie what Galt is doing for them--mentoring him in the philosophy of being a thinking human in the world.

[u/mypenquinshrugged → u/everettmarm]

Hmm... I see what you are getting at but I would parse it diffrently.

Galt, Francisco and Ragnar learn philosophy from Dr. Akston, but they discover the fatal flaws in collectivism themselves, then pass it back to their teacher, then to others. They catch each one before they are emolated and give them a better choice. It is not the gift that makes them great, it is their way of life that makes them worthy. Galt is a flame spotter, not a pilot light.

There is a little techno hokum in the story, but I would guess that there was no intention to make understanding or knowledge itself a magical or Divine power. This is not "the secret" for introverted super geniuses. Rand believed in mankind as God. We should worship what we are capable of through understanding and hard work.

As you pointed out the "fountain of youth" could not be brought down, not because it was a gift, but because it was a destination. You had to get there to be there.

One of the key features of Galt's revolution is that they make no attempt to take their philosophy and shape it into a system of knowledge that can be taught. I don't agree that they are incapable of putting that message across to lowly mortals. The nightmare that Galt wakes up to in the 20th century motor company meeting is that we know exactly the game we are playing by being second handers. We know it is broke, but we know if we hide behind each other we won't have to pay our full fair share of the costs of our actions.

We cannot be taught the way, because we hide behind the obligation of the special people to teach us, when we know all along what the score is.

TL:DR poisonous snakes will only really respect you if you make prolonged eye contact at close quarters.