Chapter Summaries and Commentaries

Part One: Chapter 2—The Chain

Hank Rearden pours the first heat for his first order of Rearden Metal. As he walks home from
his office late that night, Rearden thinks about the ten years of excruciating effort that went
into inventing his new metal. We learn that he has been working since he was 14 years old,
starting in the ore mines of Minnesota. With exhausting labor over a period of decades, he
rose to own the ore mines. Now he owns steel mills as well.

The first thing that Rearden made from the first heat of Rearden Metal was a bracelet for his
wife, Lillian. When he arrives home, he gives Lillian the bracelet. Lillian, his mother, and his
unemployed brother—who all reside with Rearden and live off his income—insult him. The trio
tries to make Rearden feel guilty for the hours that he works and his love of the company, and
they accuse him of neglecting them. Lillian looks at the bracelet, which is shaped like a chain,
and remarks, “A chain. Appropriate, isn’t it? It’s the chain by which he holds us all in
bondage.”

Paul Larkin, an unsuccessful businessman who claims to look up to Rearden, warns him
regarding the state of his public relations. Larkin says that the newspapers depict Rearden as
an antisocial enemy of the people, interested only in running steel mills and earning a profit.
Rearden says that the newspapers are right about his love for his business. Larkin hints at
possible political dangers and warns Rearden to make sure that his “Washington man,” the
political lobbyist he pays to protect him from the legislation of the socialist rulers, is loyal.

This chapter establishes several important points regarding Rearden and his family. Rearden is
an innovative metallurgist who, by means of herculean labor over a ten-year period, created a
new metal that will revolutionize industrial production. Like all great creative minds, Rearden
is motivated by his love of the work (constructive action in the field of his choice). His work—
both as a manufacturer of steel and as the inventor of Rearden Metal—is enormously
beneficial to his fellow man every day. This fact pleases Rearden, but it’s not his driving
motive. His motivation is the creative effort itself, his love of doing the work. The positive
results that his fellow man accrues are a felicitous secondary consequence.

With the character of Hank Rearden, Ayn Rand makes a point regarding the nature of creative
individuals. Rearden is similar to the great inventors, industrialists, writers, and artists of
history. The Edisons and Wright Brothers, the Carnegies and Rockefellers, the Shakespeares
and Michelangelos all created works that significantly benefitted mankind. Whether through
the electric light or the airplane, the production of steel or oil, or the creation of brilliant
poetry or sculpture, these great minds have been the benefactors of human society. But, like
Rearden, these creative geniuses are driven primarily by their love of their work—by their
passionate fascination with a specific field of endeavor. Rearden, and all original thinkers like
him, are self-driven, self-motivated, and self-actualized. They aren’t slaves to others, nor do
they think of themselves as such. Rearden is selfish, not in the conventional sense of his
family’s accusations (meaning uncaring toward others) but in Ayn Rand’s sense of being
motivated by his own values and happiness.

However, Rearden isn’t fully consistent in his commitment to himself. In his work, he has
created an unremitting source of joy, but in his marriage and family life, he acts selflessly. His
wife and family members are unemployed parasites who live on his generosity and criticize
him relentlessly for his indifference toward them. Their accusations have only one purpose: to
make Rearden feel guilty. They want him to feel guilty for his ability, initiative, success,
money, pride, and happiness. Rearden’s family wants him to feel responsible for their feelings
 Chapter Summaries and Commentaries
Part One: Chapter 2—The Chain

of helplessness, misery, and despair. If they can convince him, at some unspoken level, that
he is the reason their lives are empty, Rearden will be malleable clay in their hands; they’ll be
able to control him. Unfortunately, Rearden feels an obligation to them. Although they
contribute nothing to his life but more burdens to carry, he believes that he must take care of
them. Rearden has accepted the code of altruism, the moral theory that claims that the able
have the responsibility of caring for the unable. Consequently, he gives to them endlessly
without receiving anything positive in return, without asking for or expecting any
reciprocation. Because of his self-sacrificial code of ethics regarding his personal relationships,
Rearden tolerates the injustice that his family perpetrates on him.

Paul Larkin’s warning indicates that the press holds the same moral code as Rearden’s family.
The press writes that Rearden is selfish and antisocial because he’s proud of his mills and runs
them himself. The press resents the same things about Rearden—his creative drive, his
success, and his pride—that his family does. But Rearden feels strong and laughs off the press
attacks. His abundance of productive energy allows him to feel that he can afford to be
tolerant of the media.

Larkin urges him to make sure that his protective man in Washington is loyal, but Rearden
doesn’t take the warning seriously. Because he accepts the premise that a productive man is
obligated to carry the needy on his back, Rearden doesn’t yet recognize the evil of those who
attack him for his success. Consequently, he makes no effort to answer the vicious accusations
of his family or the false smears of the press. At this point in the story, Rearden is a great
man willing to bear guilt for his virtues and to accept the responsibility of supporting parasites
who seek to control him. Rearden needs to be liberated from his acceptance of the self-
sacrifice ethics.

Rearden’s “Washington man” The “Washington man” is a lobbyist Rearden must employ to
protect his business from proposed anticapitalist legislation. In a mixed economy such as
contemporary America, there is a combination of freedom and government controls
(capitalism and socialism). Rearden owns his mills, but the government has the right to
control, regulate, and even expropriate his business. To protect himself, Rearden must hire a
man with political connections to plead with the politicians on his behalf. As Rearden points
out, the men available for such a job are an unprincipled lot.

The chain The chain is actually the bracelet in the shape of a chain that Rearden gives to
Lillian. She claims that it’s symbolic of the bondage in which Rearden keeps his family. Lillian
has properly identified the nature of the relationship, but this chapter raises the question of
who is in bondage to whom.