Mr. Joshua
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In the novel, Galt is the son of an Ohio garage mechanic, who leaves home at age twelve and begins college at Patrick Henry University at age sixteen. There he befriends Francisco d'Anconia and Ragnar Danneskjöld as all three of them double-major in physics and philosophy. After graduating, Galt becomes an engineer at the Twentieth Century Motor Company, where he designs a revolutionary new motor powered by ambient static electricity. When the company owners decide to run the factory by the collectivist maxim, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need," Galt refuses to work there any longer and abandons his motor. These events all occur before the novel begins, but are described by the characters.
During the main storyline of the book, Galt has secretly organized a strike by the world's creative leaders, including inventors, artists and businessmen, in an effort to "stop the motor of the world," thereby bringing about the collapse of the collectivist society. While working incognito as a laborer for Taggart Transcontinental railroad, he travels to visit the key figures that he has not yet recruited, systematically convincing them to join the strike. This strike is not revealed immediately within the story, but forms the backdrop of the novel as a mystery which protagonist Dagny Taggart seeks to uncover, with Galt as her antagonist. The strikers have created their own secret enclave known as "Galt's Gulch," a town secluded in a Colorado mountain valley. While in the valley, Taggart develops a romantic relationship with Galt, although she refuses to join the strike. After Taggart returns home, Galt takes over the airwaves to deliver a lengthy speech explaining the irrationality of collectivism and offering his own philosophy (actually a summary of Rand's Objectivist philosophy) as an alternative. Galt spoke against what he saw as the "evil" of collectivism and Christian ideas of collective sin and guilt, and said they should be replaced by enlightened selfishness and individualism. Seeking Galt after the speech, Taggart accidentally leads the authorities to him, and he is arrested. At this point Galt gets into a single minor fracas, which terrifies his mother who insists that he move in with his aunt and uncle in Bel Air. Galt whistles for a taxi, but upon closer inspection notes that it's license plate says "fresh" and a pair of dice are displayed prominently on the mirror. If anything, this cab could be weird, but he thought nothing of it and uttered "yo holmes, to Bel Air".  3/2/2011 10:32:33 PM
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