Dagny Taggart
The woman who runs the railroad
Competence as a moral virtue.
Reformist ObjectivistOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Objectivist hall →- Role
- Railroad executive (fiction)
- From
- Atlas Shrugged
- Region
- United States
- Social band
- Reformist
- Placement
- +56 · −88 · +40
§ Where Dagny Taggart stands
3 axesDagny is a committed capitalist who judges everything by productive achievement. In Part One she despises the Anti-dog-eat-dog Rule that destroys a rival railroad to Taggart's benefit, preferring to win by competition, and she builds the John Galt Line through a company of her own when her firm's leaders flinch. For most of the novel, though, she keeps trains running inside a controlled economy rather than abandoning it.
Dagny wants the state out of her way entirely. She resigns in protest when Directive 10-289 freezes jobs, prices and patents in Part Two, and in Part Three she shoots a guard to free John Galt from government custody, an act the novel presents as justified against a lawless state. Her long refusal to join the strike comes from devotion to her railroad, not from any faith in government.
Socially Dagny is the most modern figure in the novel. A woman running a transcontinental railroad in a male world, she pursues relationships with Francisco d'Anconia, Hank Rearden and John Galt on her own terms, outside marriage, and rejects the ethic of self-sacrifice and unearned guilt. Rand's own view that femininity means hero-worship, written into Dagny's love for Galt, complicates her standing as a feminist icon.
How close are you to Dagny Taggart?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
FictionDagny Taggart is the heroine of Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged, published in 1957. As vice-president in charge of operation of Taggart Transcontinental, the railroad founded by her ancestor Nathaniel Taggart, she does the real work of running the line while her brother James, its president, curries favour with politicians. As the country decays under controls, she rebuilds the Rio Norte Line with Hank Rearden's new metal and searches for the inventor of a revolutionary motor she finds abandoned in a ruined factory.
Dagny represents Rand's ideal of the productive, rational individual and, unusually for fiction of the 1950s, puts a woman in charge of a great industrial enterprise. Her central conflict is not only with the bureaucrats but with the strikers led by John Galt: she holds out longer than any other hero, believing she can save her railroad from within. The character has become an emblem for libertarian and pro-business readers, and the 2011–2014 film trilogy cast a different actress as Dagny in each instalment.
Notable for
- 01Heroine of 'Atlas Shrugged'
- 02Runs Taggart Transcontinental
- 03The competent producer ideal
Key works & moments
- 1957Ayn Rand publishes Atlas Shrugged, with Dagny Taggart as its central heroine.
- Part OneBuilds the John Galt Line with Rearden Metal; its first run is a triumph.
- Part OneFinds the remains of a revolutionary motor in an abandoned Wisconsin factory with Hank Rearden.
- Part TwoResigns over Directive 10-289, later crash-landing in the hidden valley of the strikers.
- Part ThreeShoots a guard to rescue John Galt from government torture and joins the strike.
- 2011Taylor Schilling plays Dagny in Atlas Shrugged: Part I, the first film adaptation.
§ Minds closest to Dagny Taggart
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§ Also in the Objectivist hall
Enter the hall →§ Common questions
4 answersWhat is Dagny Taggart's political ideology?
Dagny Taggart is Ayn Rand's model of the rational, productive capitalist: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Reformist Objectivist. Economically she is firmly pro-market (+56), judging everything by productive achievement and despising favours won through politics. On governance she is strongly anti-statist (−88), defying Directive 10-289 and finally breaking Galt out of government custody, and socially she is moderately progressive (+40), a woman running a great railroad and living by her own judgement rather than convention.
Is Dagny Taggart left-wing or right-wing?
Right-wing on economics, but not a conservative. Dagny stands for laissez-faire capitalism and against regulation, subsidies and redistribution, which places her on the free-market right. Yet she is secular, sexually independent and impatient with tradition for its own sake, and she defies the state rather than defending order. She is best described as a pro-capitalist individualist; Rand herself rejected both the conservative and the libertarian labels.
Is Dagny Taggart a feminist icon?
In some respects. Dagny runs a transcontinental railroad by sheer competence in a male-dominated industry, outranks most of the men around her and conducts her romantic life outside marriage, all unusual in fiction of 1957. But Rand was hostile to the women's liberation movement and wrote in 1968 that femininity means hero-worship, and Dagny's arc ends in devotion to John Galt. The character is therefore better described as an individualist heroine than as a feminist one.
Which minds are closest to Dagny Taggart?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to Dagny Taggart are Howard Roark (97% alike), Julian Assange (96% alike) and Eric Hughes (96% alike). The furthest is Gregor Strasser (1% alike).