Quote - In fact, 85% of Americans think that they are of above average intelligence; and I suppose that applies all the more here in the Gulch. I assure you: some of the most popular contributors here with the best credentials give evidence of statistically normal intelligence.

Quite the stretch. How are you deriving these stats? Without some facts, this is merely using a math label to add gravitas to an opinion...your opinion.

I call it part of the option-locking phenom. It is how one becomes a vigilante. spent a fair amount of time researching this for the Hank Rangar novels

Figured so but wasn't sure. Good Humor Tuesday, a great idea.

I was just being cute - sarcastic-ironic - Oh, you also know what I mean. A little Tuesday humor. Did you ever notice that Tuesday is the least talked about day? Not the miserable first work day, not hump day not pre-TGIF day, not actual TGIF day. I think we should make Tuesday Good Humor Day.

By "you" I mean.... Oh, you know what I mean.

And... You asked. :)

Great analysis. She did have dignity and was far more honorable than James and his ilk.

He set it all in motion.

I have to read that part again. Rand doesn't seem like the type to leave something unfinished.

Eddie Willers was a great character. Dagny should have taken him along but I think Eddie did what he wanted and Dagny didn't want to talk him out of it.

Excellent. How much does it take to overwhelm the minds natural instinct for survival? Shows just how devastated she was at that moment.

"Beast" is a good description. She was seeing James as part of a larger group and must have felt powerless against it. What fear that must have caused.

Editormichael: Count me in too. Eddie Willers left me suffocating. His demise and how Rand left him "abandoned" has always seemed unfinished to me.

Good question. And good suggestion. Dagny could have saved her.
Also, I have never forgiven Rand and Dagny for just abandoning Eddie Williers, with whom I most identify: I can't run a railroad (or much of anything else) but I know right from wrong.
Even if we're just followers, we are followers of the right, of reason and liberty.

Thank you JC! And I will! I hope we all will and not give in to despair as Cheryl did. I was very young when I first read AS and it affected me deeply. I had so many "But of course" moments. I have re-read it 3 more times and will read it again I am sure. It always gives me a sense of hope and I am not alone.

Ycandrea: Stay the course!

In my perception, a suicidal drive is a result of an intense emotional storm. So intense that it overwhelms the rational consciousness, thus preventing it rom finding life saving way out. It has a strong tinge of self hatred. It is like saying: "How could I be so stupid?", raised to the umpteenth power. An inability to accept very deeply painful consequences of one's mistakes, so much magnified, in that temporary blindness to the greater reality, to be overpowering and as such appearing inescapable.
How is that for a scientist playing a psychologist?

Do you mean "feel" as in an emotion or "feel" as in think?

I believe that, at a certain point; the character comes to life and the writer takes on the journey of their fate as the unvealer, as the eye of which we behold how their fate unfolds.

All of her characters were extremely realistic, and she spent countless hours, months and sometimes even years developing each one.

Cheryl committed suicide for the simple reason that she felt at a loss about everything she believed in, which was much more than the honor and dignity of her husband. No, her entire world turned on her and well; she ended up realizing that she was on the wrong side and not the right after all. Her own dignity drove her to do what in some cultures is considered quite honourable; keeping one´s honor by ending one´s own life.

I believe her death represents the end of a farse, and for the character the ultimate escape from the winding wrong-turned road she ultimately realises she´s taken, to her surprise and due to deceit. A weak character or a very proud one, that too is left for each of us to decide.

Great Work

Please stop using the word "you." (LOL)

James was weak. He really could not do anything or make decisions for himself when Dagny left.

jlc: Excellent point. When James no longer saw the adoration in her eyes, when he began to see himself, as he was, reflected in Cheryl's eyes then he lashed out refusing change, giving her no hope as their roles dissolved into tragedy.

An excellent assessment, Mike.