The oak tree and blood vessel system of the railroad on Taggart's desk are some good notable points. My mind was drawn to those as I rescanned chapter one yesterday and then read these comments. The hollowed out tree of what it once was and the faded map of routes on the desk definitely show a death spiral for not only the railroad, but for humanity as well according to Rand. Good imagery indeed!

The portrait of James Taggart is truly something. He truly comes across as a menial, whining collectivist with no originality or "guts." I don't believe there exists, a comparable character in liberal works such as The Grapes of Wrath. The closest to such a character is in a minor work by Marie Sandoz titled Capital City which highlighted extreme reactions to progressive movements during the Great Depression. One notable section features wood and baseball bat wielding VFW members attacking marching union members during a parade. That is only the only example I can think of so in this light, Rand does a great job of setting up the perfect straw man, the ideal character of what objectivists and others detest as a person who is a parasite, excusing making for self, reliance on the government blood sucker extraordinaire.

The opening of the book also reminds me of what larger cities would have appeared like during the depression, perhaps that is what she was aiming for when she wrote the book? Some are, interestingly enough, drawing parallels between the world of Dagny Taggart and the present day Obama years.