AtlasShrugged/SectioN121

Atlas Shrugged, Part 1, Chapter 2, section 1:

• Plot summary

/HankRearden watches triumphantly as the first order of /ReardenMetal is poured. He reflects n the ten years of struggle to produce Rearden Metal, and as he walks home he reviews his life. To celebrate his triumph, Rearden makes a bracelet out of the first Rearden Metal that is poured and gives it to his wife, Lillian. Lillian cannot appreciate the triumph this gift symbolizes and uses the occassion to ridicule her husband's sentimentalism. She makes a big deal about Rearden attending a party she is throwing in three months time. Also at the Rearden home are his brother Philip, his mother, and a friend, /PaulLarkin, who has come to warn Rearden of possible trouble in /Washington. His family insults and criticizes Rearden for the crime of being able to support them. He tries to understand their behavior but cannot come to acknowledge the depths of their depravity. He believes they are expressing the same concerns that he feels, but only in a different way, and the he is morally required to tolerate them because they are weaker than he is. This is the first glimpse of the /SanctionOfTheVictim, which is a central concept of AtlasShrugged. The abuse Rearden receives from his family in the second part of this scene creates a stark contrast to the triumphant achievement at the mill in the firs part of the scene.

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• Setting

/ReardenSteel mills in /Philadelphia and Rearden's home.

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• Characters

 /GwenIves: Mentioned.
 /HankRearden
 /LillianRearden
 /MrsBeacham: First and only mention.
 /PassengerNumber3: First and only appearance.
 /PassengerNumber4: First and only appearance.
 /PaulLarkin
 /PhilipRearden
 /ReardensMother
 /WorkerNumber1: First and only appearance.