Congratulations to Jaidev Deshpande, an Electronics Engineer who is a research associate at VIIT, Pune.
Writing on the theme 'Comparing Basic Motivations and Approaches to life of Hank Rearden and Francisco d'Anconia', Jaidev wrote the following essay:
The contrast between Rearden and Francisco lies in Rearden’s unwillingness to rebel against the looters and Francisco’s intransigence. Rearden’s philosophy stems from a breach between his mind and his body. He thinks that in the domain of one’s personal life self-abnegation is virtue, but in the material realm he works for solely his own profit and pleasure, where any sacrifice is unacceptable. Francisco, on the other hand, believes that there exists a causal link between mind and body, just as between thought and production, between self-esteem and sex, or between values and life.
The contrast is also the quintessential contradiction Rearden struggles to solve. He seeks Francisco’s vision of life, but does not accept his methods. He understands that in a non-absolute world, only Francisco can give him the true appraisal of himself – yet loathes him for resorting to detrimental means. When Francisco explains how Rearden is the one giving up his vision to the looters, he speaks of Atlas carrying the world on his shoulders in pain and suffering (422). Rearden is the Atlas who refuses to shrug.
Francisco tries to convince Rearden that the looters are counting on him to carry their ‘wretched bunch’ (141) along, and
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