27Sep/056
Random question that means nothing
I am curious. What would feminist think of the women in Ayn Rand’s books? Especially the way Dagny Taggart is portrayed
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Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan is a copywriter, photographer and goofball from Chennai. He is also an archaeologist, historian and a city lover. He is currently a documentary film-maker and desk-monkey for a film production house.
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September 27th, 2005 - 19:12
I think Ayn Rand’s women are strong creatures but are not the idealistic this-is-the-only-way-to-be kind of characters that the men are. Roark and John Galt cannot be wrong in anything they say or do. But Dagny, Kira or Dominique are more real. They falter, debate but ultimately do what they think is right.
September 27th, 2005 - 20:04
When you compare Dagny Taggart (one of Rand’s heroines) to, say, the Rearden women (the villains) you see that Dagny embodies the feminist ideal whereas Hank’s mother and wife reject it. They would be completely content to contribute nothing to society and just live off of Hank’s money.
Dagny, however, earns her own and stands on her own two feet.
September 28th, 2005 - 14:27
Roark and others (even the women) are definitely attractive characters, but are like frogs who sit in their own small well and say that their well is the biggest ocean!
Since they are potrayed against even smaller frogs, they appear like heroes. Their objectivism is fine, but are men with a closed-mind (dont think big). Now please don’t ask me “why think big…” out of your infatuation with Roark.
September 28th, 2005 - 15:58
Well, what ideals do the so called feminists’ hold? It depends on that largely. If Rands’ view of man as a heroic being is to be upheld, Dagny is perfectly feminine. The contrast gets etched out beautifully along the length of the novel.
October 1st, 2005 - 20:43
well what these dumb feminist of today talk of…. they jus beg for their rights…. Look at Dagny, She demands it
December 10th, 2005 - 03:22
CG,the question does mean something inspite of its meaningless outlook. As for my answer,I take it for granted that the question pertains to this day’s world,the feminist would not classify Dagny as feminine and hence never think of her; if by any chance someone makes the feminist read AS and says its mandatory to answer questions,she’ll call Dagny a whore.