Pidge

Hiroshi Nakamura's Ribbon Chapel I find it aesthetically appealing, and there's the symbolism of two different paths at the base meeting each other at the top as one path. Also, the interior is full of light, which is a wonderful way to start a marriage.

Ah, so I answered the first one above, saw that one before this one. I read Atlas Shrugged for the first time in high school after the Fountainhead as I was a bit of an avid reader. That wasn't too long ago, mid-2010s. It changed for me in that the first time around, I was afraid for Dagny and seeing things from her perspective, similar to dream_weaver. The second time was more omniscent; I was especially caught in the details and understood more of the ideas. I didn't really follow one character, but more the relationships and locations I'd missed the first time around. By the third time, I had favorite sections I'd skip forward and backward to and reread from that point on. The third time more than the first, I really felt for Francisco, but appreciated the way he was willing to step back for the good of his friends and himself. It was unlike any other fictional relationship I'd seen, and it felt right that while it was difficult, their respect for one another would remain. Basically, I read The Fountainhead several times sophomore/junior year, and Atlas Shrugged for the first time junior or senior year after I grew to like her writings. It wasn't something that came naturally for me, as I didn't understand what was going on at first and the writing style was different than what I was used to. But I came to enjoy that difference and follow and appreciate her ideas, leading me to search for other works by Rand.

Yes, I also was introduced by reading The Fountainhead in high school, for the scholarship. I've often wondered how many people were introduced to her by the scholarships? It's definitely a great way to encourage young people to read her books.

I'm pretty sure the truck driver also showed up elsewhere in Atlas Shrugged, as a character of merit. I'm not sure where though. I vaguely remember a conversation at a diner?

This is why I love novels as compared to television. Your imagination fills in the details and you can see the type of world they want you to imagine with your own subtext.

Yes. I was thinking about what made Eddie different from the others, and basically Eddie's role is to help others achieve. He sees their goals and doesn't understand why others wouldn't want to have a better world. He excels at being an upstanding background character. While he may not have an invention of his own he's pursuing, he wants a world in which those inventions are celebrated. Rather (especially at the beginning) he sees this as a world where this is already the case.

Also, I agree with this sentiment. In some ways, that quote from Fransisco makes sense: a women who knows her true value won't choose to be with a man who she doesn't think is worth it. But that's an ideal. No one's perfect, not me and not any guy I meet. If I set my standards so high that I never love anyone, where does that leave me? What good can I do for others if I never reach out, even if people are flawed?

I agree with this. Also, are you thinking about the bracelet that Rearden gives to her? That's more symbolic, as it was the first piece of Rearden metal to be forged. His wife purposely treats it with disdain, although it was his life's work, because she wants to show that he's not in control, that society could care less about this new invention. Dagny, on the other hand, acknowledges its worth and by taking the bracelet from his wife, no less, shows that she could care less what society thinks. She says without words that his invention is incredible and the sentiment behind the forging of the bracelet is touching, the firstfruits of his life's work, given away to someone he cares deeply about (or feels he should). Perhaps the chain, if symbolic, shows 1) the strength of the metal and Rearden/Dagny's character and 2) a willingness to tie yourself to a person regardless of whether they're the socially acceptable match. The diamond bracelet was Dagny's which she offers to exchange with Rearden's wife, as his wife just said she'd prefer a diamond bracelet. Diamonds are socially recognized to be valuable, but have no personal sentiment, whereas Rearden metal is revolutionary and, as I said before, being offered as an act of love. For someone who cares about Rearden, the choice of his bracelet is obvious, but Lily values society over Rearden. I never really understood why Lily married Rearden: if it was because he was going to become great, why not let him be great instead of hindering him constantly? In the end, it appeared it was because she wanted to control him and by doing so gain political power. But it was always confusing to me - she had no political power if he never became great, and she was constantly trying to make him normal, or at least shaming him for not being so.

Three times, certain parts multiple times. The Fountainhead, at least seven times. It took a couple read-throughs for some of the ideas to resolve for me.

I agree with you that if "self-trust" is seen as "believe in your ideas" Rand would disagree with transcendentalists. However, when reading Emerson's Essay on Self-Reliance, I found he used it differently, as not discounting your own ideas while elevating the thoughts of others, to search and identify what thoughts come from you and to hone them. I could see Rand agreeing with this, although I do agree with you that she'd disagree with the spiritual aspects of transcendentalism. I've read Anthem, Atlas Shrugged, and The Fountainhead, but not any of her nonfiction works, so you know where I'm coming from. A lot of her stories center on the main character having the strength to stand separate from society, so that part of Emerson rings similarly. I'll include it below (partly because it's a fun quote). "Familiar as the voice of the mind is to each, the highest merit we ascribe to Moses, Plato, and Milton is, that they set at naught books and traditions, and spoke not what men but what they thought. A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his . . . There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till."