Ayn Rand 101 Trivia Quiz

Answer: New York City

The story and its characters center around the architecture of New York City in the early 20th century.

Answer: We the Living

"Red Pawn," her first screenplay, was published in 1932. "Night of January 16th," her first published stage play, followed shortly thereafter. "The Fountainhead" was her first widely-read novel, and the one that catapulted her into literary fame, but it was "We The Living," published in 1936 (a work loosely based on her years under Soviet tyranny), that began her brilliant string of successful novels.

Answer: John Galt

The title is a reference to the mythic tale of Atlas, carrying the weight of the world upon his shoulders. John Galt, symbolically "carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders" as a thinker, inventor, and man of great accomplishment, "shrugs" the world off his shoulders by "dropping out" of society, refusing to contribute his great inventions to an unappreciative world, and recruiting others of a like mind to join him.

Answer: 2112

'2112', the breakthrough album of legendary Canadian rock trio Rush, is based on this novel. The liner notes of the album credit "the genius of Ayn Rand."

Answer: Rearden Metal

Hank Rearden's new metal is superior to all other available metals, but since Rearden is not a part of the "Looter" political structure, the use of his metal is opposed, and even actively sabotaged, at every turn.

Answer: James Taggart

Although Dagny Taggart is the real power and brains that drives Taggart Transcontinental, her brother James is actually the President (and one of the leaders of "the Looters").

Answer: architect

Roark's innovative and far-ahead-of-its-time style of architecture is of course vilified by most, and recognized and appreciated by only an elite few people of vision. The character of Roark sets the tone of the heroic individualist to be seen in Rand's next work, "Atlas Shrugged."

Answer: Equality 7-2521

In this barely-concealed indictment of socialism, fascism and totalitarianism, Equality 7-2521 rebels against the mind-control of the State, conducting secret experiments that ultimately lead him to the re-discovery of the now-unknown electric lightbulb. While short, this novel packs in quite a scathing rebuke of the Soviet system that Rand endured early in her life and despised.

Answer: I

In an effort to completely submerge the individual self, and thus maintain ultimate control, the State has forbidden the very concept of individuality. All characters in the book refer to themselves as "we," until Equality 7-2521 re-discovers the forbidden word.

Answer: Henry Cameron

Cameron was credited with the creation of the modern skyscraper early in his career, but eventually falls into disfavor with the emergence of the more popular re-hashing of Neo-Classical architectural styles favored by his less-talented contemporaries, such as Francon and Keating.