Chapter 5, Atlas Shrugged, Summary and Analysis

Atlas Shrugged was published in 1957 and concerns the theme of the mind in man's existence; Rand uses the novel to defend a new moral philosophy of rational self-interest. The story tries to show what the world would be like if the mind went on strike, when the produces of the world disappear.

In "The Meaning of Money" Francisco d'Anconia, a copper industrialist and John Galt's closest friend, gives a speech about his decision to be the first to join Galt in going on strike.

Francisco proclaims that money is not the root of all evil. However, the root of money is exchange which cannot exist without goods produced and men able to produce them. Why is it evil? Money simply represents value. If you look to the root of the production of value, you will, again, find...