Objectivism In Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged

Imagine a world where reaching pure happiness is everyone’s highest aim and that individuality is the essence of selfishness. This is the mindset of the Objectivist Movement, which was founded by Russian-American novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand. As an attempt to exemplify this philosophy, Rand wrote one of her best selling novels, Atlas Shrugged. Decades after it was published in 1957, a special book cover was created for its 50th anniversary edition. The public interest was such a success that a three-part movie series was also constructed in the years 2011-2014. Along with the movies came the posters associated with the three parts, which all express the overall storyline in some way. Having prior knowledge of the philosophy and being
Found at Rockefeller Center in New York City, the statue has become an unanimous symbol of Ayn Rand’s Objectivism. The simple inclusion of this photograph supports the title and the meaning behind it. Atlas, a Titan in Greek mythology, was part a war against the Olympian gods and lost the battle. Zeus then punished Atlas by forcing him to hold the world on his shoulders, which is where Rand uses this myth to create an extended metaphor for her novel. In her society, she calls the intelligent ‘do-ers’ of the world Atlas, since they are the individuals responsible for supporting civilization. These ‘do-ers’ are forced to work for those higher in authority and are treated poorly. Rand’s philosophy states that one should focus on individual happiness, so she then wrote about a rebellion against the forceful authority figures. The word shrug in the title refers to the strike that the protagonists start, which gives away the entire conflict of the plot (“Analysis”). The apparent choice to use Atlas in the book’s cover successfully relates the statue to the metaphor of society’s hard working