Heroism In Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged

“My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the temporal purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.”
—Ayn Rand, “About the Author” in Atlas Shrugged

As a construct of Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, Hank Reardon holds the production of his Metal as his noblest activity: the method by which he chooses to shape reality by the product of his rational mind. Under the directives of the Bureau of Economic Planning, when Rearden illegally sells his Metal to Ken Danagger, he willingly goes against the restrictions on the production of his Metal that were put in place to give others unrestricted access to his creation. During his trial in Atlas Shrugged, Hank Rearden removes himself as an actor in the court’s proceedings in order to
By removing the victims of the Public good — capable producers of metal, oil, coal, and other economically-driving commodities — that were presented as “the [men] who [were] the greedy [enemies] of society” in Rearden’s trial, Galt’s strike left the society based on the Public Good with only the illusion it used to remove itself from reality: human need (475). As the sacrificial producers of this society were swept out from under it, the only rational thing holding society up in its lofty illusion of defying reality was removed. As the society came crashing back to reality, “the shrinking, the shortages, the hunger riots, the stampeding violence in the midst of the growing stillness” became the embodiment of the system that Public Good had created: a world that destroyed its means of production and survival (806). This too is what Rearden calls on in his trial; he removes the only aspects that maintain the illusion of justice in his trial: his defense and