PLOT
When Rearden’s assets are frozen, Tinky Holloway invites Rearden to a hearing in NYC on November 4th. Lillian shows up when Rearden visits his mother and Philip at their home on the morning of the 4th. They beg Rearden for money. Hank denies them. Lillian tells Hank about her affair with Jim. Rearden attends the hearing in NYC and learns about the Steel Unification Plan. Rearden gets back in time to learn from the Wet Nurse (Tony) about the attempt to take over his mills. Tony dies in Rearden’s arms. Francisco defended Rearden’s mills against the attack. Rearden deserts with Francisco.
SUBPLOT (loose ends)
Philip helped the government with their plan to make it look like Rearden’s workers were starving so the government would have to take over the mills.
The asset freeze was intended to prevent Rearden from deserting.
The Steel Unification Plan is intended to help Boyle recover his losses on his South American investment.
Francisco had been working at Rearden’s mills under the name Frank Adams ever since Francisco left the message on the calendar.
Francisco admits Hank was the "greatest conquest" he spoke of at the party.
COMMENTS
Rearden – The model is nearly finished as this chapter completes almost all of the big themes in the novel by addressing the purpose of life. Rearden has completed his journey. This entire chapter retraces Hank's journey from the beginning of this novel. In previous notes I asked how metal was purified. The answer is "by fire". Metal is made more pure by heating and driving off the impurities. Hank has gone through several trials by fire, each one resulting in a purer (more sound) moral code. During these last trials, he lets go of the last impurities of this world, that is, his family and his mills. Looking back to the beginning of the novel, his only admirable quality was fearlessly pursuing the truth. "To the fearless mind, to the inviolate truth." His personal and professional lives were a mess. However, his goal was growth. He was always willing to seek the truth and adjust his life (moral code) accordingly. We all have the ability to do this; it is in our control.
The Set Up - Ayn believed that superiors were people who thought for themselves, preferred growth, and were moral. On the other hand, the world believes superiors are the people who have money, a good physical appearance, and boss people around. Ayn spends the first 600-700 pages “setting up” the reader by following the weed killer analogy: she writes in a fashion that allows the reader to go the direction the READER wants to go. She does this by introducing a main character (Hank) that is rich, good looking, and bosses people around. Even though Hank fits the world’s definition, Hank is NOT a superior. In fact, he’s NOT happy. The reader that has let the world’s values affect their perspective looks at this “superior” and wonders why he is whining so much. It isn’t until this chapter that the reader realizes while Hank may prefer growth and thinking for himself, he wasn't yet a superior because he isn't moral in his professional and/or personal life, hence the root cause of his unhappiness. Can the same be said for Dagny?
Concerto - The word concerto comes from Italian; its etymology is uncertain, but it seems to originate from the conjunction of two Latin words: conserere (meaning to tie, to join, to weave) and certamen (competition, fight). The idea is that the two parts in a concerto—the soloist (Hank) and the orchestra or concert band—alternate between episodes of opposition, cooperation, and independence to create a sense of flow. A concerto has three movements, which like this chapter, vary in tempo: fast, slow, fast. The first movement of this chapter is Hank's frantic struggle with the moochers. The second movement is Hank's complete cooperation with the looter's meeting meant to slow down Hank, during which Hank solves the mystery of "The guiltiest man in the room". The final movement is a fast moving resolution involving Hank's interaction with the various people present at his mills.
Family - In the first movement, Hank goes back to his house (like Chapter 2) which he hasn't visited in six months: "...and the sight brought back to him the sum of all he had felt in the years of daily home-coming: the strain, the bewilderment, the gray weight of unconfessed unhappiness, the stern endurance that forbade him to confess it, the desperate innocence of the effort to understand his family...the effort to be just."
Lillian – Hank figures out why Lillian married him. "It was for the best of his virtues that Lillian had chosen him, but the destruction of that power had been her goal…as if the vandal who smashed a statue were greater than the artist who made it." (Notice as the characters get put under more and more stress, they will be reduced to the #1 principle of their moral code, because that's all they have left.) Lillian did recognize Hank’s greatness, but she could not equal it. The only way she could feel as great was to tear him down. She believed this made her equal to the greatness of Hank. There are two ways to have the tallest building: build yours up or tear everyone else’s down. Lillian is like a lot of people who feel better about themselves when they find an error in a greater person. In fact, they actively look for an error so they can feel better. Therefore, they treat the greater person poorly BECAUSE that person is greater. If they weren’t greater, there would be no reason to tear them down. Dagny struggled with this in the beginning of the novel. This chapter completes the theme by giving the reason why some people treat people of achievement poorly: BECAUSE the achievers are good.
Forgiveness – In the beginning of the novel, his family mistreats Hank but he lets it go because he does not believe it is intentional. Now he finds out it is intentional. (Remember, the reason is everything.) In fact, the family admits they have mistreated him. They ask Hank for forgiveness. Hank essentially has forgiven them because he gives them no thought. However, the family wants more than forgiveness, they want their conscience eased; they want their guilt removed. They want to pretend it never happened and can only do it if Hank pretends also. The family's definition of forgiveness: "Will you cancel the past, Henry? Will you forgive us?" Hank tells them what is wrong with their concept of forgiveness: "You regret that you've hurt me and, as your atonement for it, you ask that I offer myself to total immolation." Hank does them a favor in the long term by not "forgiving" them. If he had, he would just enable them to stay out of touch with reality longer.
Philip – Once again, value for value is proven. Philip: "They’ve always said I belonged, they’ve always said they needed me…" Claude: "Of what use are you to us without him?" Ultimately, the negative side of the scale always ends up living by the beliefs of the positive side of the scale. Evil can’t exist by itself and will eventually fail.
Unification – Likewise, the Unification Plan proposed during the second movement is a professional way to mistreat Hank because he is good. Again, Hank doesn’t give in to them. Hank then meets with this group that is similar to the group that met in Chapter 3 in the bar. During this meeting that takes place in Francisco's former room, Hank has a flashback to the moment Francisco demonstrated his greatest accomplishment according to Dagny (when Francisco emulated Jesus in the Garden): "Rearden felt as if he were seeing the convulsed figure of a man bent over that telephone, a man who had then known what he, Rearden, was now beginning to learn, a man fighting to refuse him the same request which he was now refusing to the present tenants of this room - he saw the finish of that fight, a man's tortured face lifted to confront him and a desperate voice saying steadily: "Mr. Rearden, I swear to you...by the woman I love...that I am your friend". "
Guilt - Hank then reaches the end of the mystery represented through three tumblers (covered in Practical Applications). The conclusion is Rearden has a flashback to his first meeting with Francisco and Francisco asking: Who is the guiltiest man in this room? "From the first extortion he had accepted, from the first directive he had obeyed, he had given them cause to believe that reality was a thing to be cheated, that one could demand the irrational and someone somehow would provide it." The conclusion Hank reaches is spiritual! "...he could now afford to rest with no further activity of soul." Hank was the guiltiest person because he had enabled evil.
Living – "I’d like to live Mr. Rearden. God, how I’d like to! Not because I’m dying…but because I’ve just discovered it tonight, what it means, really to be alive…" Tony learns what the goal of living is. It's not confined to the physical realm. It means to be profitable in the long term, to create something of lasting value (that benefits/repairs others) with the life you’ve been given. When did the Wet Nurse realize what living is? "...when I stuck my neck out". Thinking back to Francisco and Hank, Francisco tells him he’d give the rest of his life to work with Hank for one year. Talk about "sticking your neck out". Working with Hank is living. At the time, Francisco wondered if he’d ever get the chance to live. What’s the point of being physically alive if you know you’re not going to be profitable; that you’re not going to live? "There’s so many things I wish I’d known earlier." Again, people in the middle of the scale that accelerate themselves towards the positive end too quickly end up dead. "You have learned a great deal in the two years you’ve been here." (Hank AS 3:5) Tony doesn't have the skills to live. We find out the skills to live were taken from him when he was a kid.
Raising kids – "He thought of all the living species that train their young in the art of survival, yet man, whose tool of survival is the mind, does not merely fail to teach a child to think, but devotes the child’s education to the purpose of destroying his brain, of convincing him thought is futile and evil, before he has started to think. From the first catch-phrases flung at a child to the last, it is like a series of shocks to freeze his motor, to undercut the power of his consciousness, ‘Don’t ask too many questions, children should be seen and not heard!’ – ‘Who are you to think? It’s so, because I say so!’ – ‘Don’t argue, obey!’ – ‘Don’t understand, believe!’ – ‘Don’t rebel, adjust!’ – ‘Don’t stand out, belong!’ " Raising kids is a full time job if it’s done right. I’m not one to convince people to have kids who don’t want to. I have always believed "because I said so" isn't a good answer. Parents need to strive to raise kids with value for value. Because kids don’t respond to “value for value” immediately, a parent begins by being a looter and a moocher. The trap is it’s easier and more expedient to stay a looter and a moocher when the kids are able to reason. The example of raising kids is the best place for this model to end, because it is where the rubber meets the road. Ayn writes: "...they sent him to be turned into a tortured neurotic by the men who taught him that he had no mind and must never attempt to think." I’m always amazed by the effect on people’s philosophy when they have kids. Some are stubborn and end up with kids that are uncontrollable. Then they try to explain it away. Most people end up realizing they need to face the truth, especially when the kids imitate the parents perfectly. There's no way to evade the knowledge at that point.
First names – "But first, will you repeat a word you once offered me and I…I had to reject, because I knew that I was not free to accept it?" Rearden smiled. "What word, Francisco?" (Hank was asking if the word was "Francisco".) Francisco inclined his head in acceptance, and answered, "Thank you, Hank." (Hank also calls the Wet Nurse "Tony" before he dies.) Notice, Hank and Frank had their falling out at Dagny's apartment. In this chapter, Hank experiences (references) the only four places he had met with Francisco: Hank's house (anniversary party), Francisco's suite at the Wayne-Falkland (and the ballroom), and Hank's mills.
PRACTICAL APPLICATION (worth rereading)
Hank’s Unification Plan hearing is worth rereading. Hank unlocks the secret behind the negative side of the scale as if it was a combination lock with three tumblers. (Trivia note: In the original printing of this novel, Ayn used the word tumbrils, which is "an open cart that tilted backward to empty out its load, in particular one used to convey condemned prisoners to the guillotine during the French Revolution." It was later changed to tumblers in mass market editions of the novel.)
First tumbler: "You don’t go bankrupt. You’ll always produce. You can’t help it. It’s in your blood. Or, to be more scientific: you’re conditioned that way."
The negative side of the scale doesn’t want to understand the cause; they focus on the result. There is a reason why Hank produces. The negative side of the scale wants to believe it isn’t within their ability; otherwise they would have to be proactive and responsible. Another way to look at this is "Sharing"...as in you will always produce enough to share.
Second tumbler: "Well, after all, you businessmen have kept predicting disasters for years, you’ve cried catastrophe at every progressive measure and told us that we’ll perish – but we haven’t."
I hear some version of this logic in a lot of applications. My response is usually something like, "I haven’t changed the oil in my car for 40,000 miles and it still runs." Or "You haven’t eaten in 3 days and you haven’t died yet." The logic in the second tumbler essentially says, "Abuse it until it’s broken." The problem with that is when it breaks, it’s too late to fix it. That's when reality creeps in. Another way to look at this is "Abuse"...as in we are going to abuse each other (bad things are going to happen) and there is nothing that can be done about it (don't worry about it).
Third tumbler: Rearden says, "There is no way to make the irrational work. What can save you now?" "Oh, you’ll do something!" cried James Taggart.
I can’t tell you the number of people who count on the faceless producers to do something OR reference the past producers without knowing their cause. Their objective is to escape reality. "Those who could not think were to command." What is left for those who don’t use their mind to become profitable in the long term? Either they are pure consumers and make no effort to produce or they are consumers who put on the appearance of producing. Telling others what to do is the most effective way to appear productive without producing. Another way to look at this is "Repair"...as in someone will repair what is broken.
I can model every relationship with: Sharing, Abuse, and Repair. Look at the three types of relationships in this novel. Producer-Producer: both share everything, both recognize there will be hurt feelings, and both work hard to repair by staying logical. Producer-Consumer: Producer shares everything, recognizes there will be hurt feelings, and works hard to repair by staying logical. Consumer minimizes sharing, actively looks to have their feelings hurt, and refuses to repair so they can remain the victim. Consumer-Consumer: Both minimize personal sharing and instead focus on sharing about others. Both recognize others are going to be hurt and say nothing can be done about it so they don't have to repair. However, both want people to repair when they are the one who gets hurt.
Hank wraps it all up: "He was seeing the reason of his love: the mills were an achievement of his mind, devoted to his enjoyment of existence, erected in a rational world to deal with rational men." Too many entrepreneurs think their objective is to build their company up big enough to sell it. It’s only when they sell it off and experience a tremendous emptiness they realize the source of their happiness was closer to Hank’s. Hank's conclusion before he is raptured? "It was the final certainty that his life was his, to be lived with no bondage to evil, and that that bondage had never been necessary. It was the radiant serenity of knowing that he was free of fear, of pain, of guilt." Sounds spiritual to me...
SUPPLEMENT
"And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they will call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they will say, The Lord is my God." (Bible)
"I’m trying to free your mind, but I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it. You have to let it all go: fear, doubt and disbelief. Free…your…mind." (Morpheus, The Matrix)
"Whomever's sins you forgive, they are forgiven to them; and whomever's sins you retain, they are retained." (Bible)
"It is moreover a common trait of innovators that they are rude, noisy, rambunctious: Lilburne, Servetus, Roger Bacon, George Fox, William Lloyd Garrison – the list is endless, and it includes saints, artists, and scientists. Tact and reasonableness, loyalty and fair play are foreign to their genius, and it is no wonder that persecutors feel offended twice over, by the heresy and by the heretic." (From Dawn To Decadence)
"Teaching children how to keep promises and living up to their responsibilities is a life-long commitment, according to Child magazine. Ava L. Siegler, director of the Institute for Child, Adolescent & Family Studies in New York City gives these guidelines through the ages:
“Eighteen months to 3 years: Beginning to concentrate – an important aspect of commitment. Encourage pretend play; it offers him a chance to build his concentration skills and, along with it, his sense of commitment.
“Three to 6 years: If a child backs out of a play date, find out why and work from there. This teaches them problem solving and helps them achieve a higher standard of conduct at the same time.
“Six to 9 years: choices. Success here starts before the choice with you helping your child choose something that matches talents and abilities and isn’t too hard to stick with.
“Nine to 12 years: Becoming responsible. The key here is balance. Focusing on fun over responsibility can produce a selfish child. But focusing too much on responsibility without necessity can produce a joyless child." (Gannett News Service)
(You may want to read the notes for the next chapter beforehand. There is an enormously long speech and it can seem tedious if you don't understand the structure.)
Next Chapter: This is John Galt Speaking
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