While a number readers of Atlas Shrugged skip over Gait's Speech on a first reading, it is an integral part of the plot. This course studies the speech and integrates it with the rest of the story. Dr. Ghate examines the speech's overall structure and shows why it is essential to the novel. He considers how (a selected number of) its abstract philosophical points explain events in the story. Finally, since Gait's Speech is Ayn Rand's most carefully crafted statement of Objectivism, Dr. Ghate examines her precise formulations on such questions as why altruism is the morality of death and why evasion is the root of evil.