Atlas Shrugged Study Guide

Eddie remembers childhood summers on the Taggart estate with the Taggart children, for whom he now works. During Eddie's childhood, a hundred-year-old oak tree stands on a hill over the Hudson River. At age seven, Eddie feels safe in the tree's strength. Then it is struck by lightning, breaking it in half, revealing an empty shell. At age ten, Eddie and Dagny Taggart discuss their futures. Eddie, who goes to church, plans to do what is right. Dagny does not answer. Twenty-two years later, Eddie still believes that people should do what is right even though he knows they often do not. He sees the Taggart Transcontinental skyscraper, with long bands of unbroken windows and rising lines. It has no crumbling corners or worn edges, and he is secure in it, a place of competence and power. He can feel the trains starting and stopping on cross-country trips in the underground Terminal. (read more)