Original artwork, not a still
Atlas Shrugged · 1957
The catchphrase of Atlas Shrugged (1957)
Who is John Galt?
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Within the novel it is a shrug of defeat, the thing people say when they have given up on answers. Readers turned it into a flag, and the novel's Part Three answers it in its title. As a slogan it now means both the heroic producer and, ironically, 'who knows?', a phrase that sits happily on a T-shirt.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Atlas ShruggedShow the scene
'Who is John Galt?' is the first sentence of Atlas Shrugged, asked by a beggar who stops Eddie Willers, Dagny Taggart's assistant, in a New York street. The phrase then spreads through Ayn Rand's collapsing America as a catch-all reply to questions nobody can answer, and its meaning in the book is exactly that: 'Don't ask questions nobody can answer.' The man himself turns up in Part Three. Random House published the 1,168-page novel on 10 October 1957.
Sources (1)
- Atlas Shrugged (Wikipedia)whole pageReference checked
Context reviewed
