Atlas Shrugged Motif & Commentary on Greek (Theatrical) Tragedy

As I've continued reading Ayn Rand's novel 'Atlas Shrugged', her motif has become increasingly apparent, that being that capitalism is the best way to structure an economy and that socialism comes absolutely nowhere near. It is represented blatantly, almost agressively through the continued socialist style laws being passed by the 'looters' and by all the successful businessmen and entrepreneurs leaving the country mysteriously save for a few. She makes good arguments through her representations of the decline of businesses and the economy at the hands of the socialist laws being passed rapidly.

After beginning to study Greek Tragedy I find it interesting how far our perfomering arts stories of tragedy are in purpose and design from that of which they used to be in ancient Greece. By this I mean that stories of tragedy used to be designed so as to teach the audience something through the folley of the main character, this way, they learned about life and morality without having to actually make the error (experienced by the protagonist) themselves. In the modern day, stories of tragedy and suffering often teach nothing to the viewer, rather they are in place to take the viewer on an emotional rollercoaster. Often times it is a rollercoaster the average viewer would never normally experience, or one that the average viewer can relate to.

Entry 1: Thoughts on the tone and characters of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged"

So far in the novel there's been this strange stone of inescapable apathy. It seems to be directed towards the society and the lives the characters read, but as of yet I am without a clear understanding as to why. Also, whenever the mindset of the characters seems to accelerate, the thought proccess is played out, and it usually ends in confusion and asking "Who is John Galt?" Then the tone fades back to apathy.  I found this interesting and am excited to see how the tone and characters continue to develop.