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Atlas’s Shrug
Throughout Atlas Shrugged, the dollar sign reappears as a consistent emblem of earned value. Often dismissed in the real world as a symbol of greed, it is reclaimed in the novel as the mark of integrity and voluntary trade. The sign appears first on a cigarette, then over Mulligan’s bank, and again when Galt draws it in the air. In each instance, it signals a place or person where no person lives by force. In Galt’s Gulch, money is gold, prices are real, and every exchange reflects mutual benefit. There is no charity, no coercion, and no guilt. The dollar sign thus becomes a kind of moral signature—each time it appears, it marks the presence of justice and production. Rand’s use of the symbol reframes capitalism not as a system of exploitation, but of respect between equals. When Galt signs the air with it in the final scene, it is not a boast—it is a benediction for the world they will now rebuild, guided by reason and value.
The Dollar Sign Quotes in Atlas Shrugged
The Atlas Shrugged quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Dollar Sign. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Part 3, Chapter 10
Quotes
They could not see the world beyond the mountains, there was only a void of darkness and rock, but the darkness was hiding the ruins of a continent: the roofless homes, the rusting tractors, the lightless streets, the abandoned rail. But far in the distance, on the edge of the earth, a small flame was waving in the wind, the defiantly stubborn flame of Wyatt’s Torch, twisting, being torn and regaining its hold, not to be uprooted or extinguished. It seemed to be calling and waiting for the words John Galt was now to pronounce.
“The road is cleared,” said Galt. “We are going back to the world.”
He raised his hand and over the desolate earth he traced in space the sign of the dollar.
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Get the entire Atlas Shrugged LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Dollar Sign Symbol Timeline in Atlas Shrugged
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Dollar Sign appears in Atlas Shrugged. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 2, Chapter 2
...at the newspaper stand stops her with urgency. He asks about the cigarette with the dollar sign stamped on it. Dagny gave the cigarette to the man previously to figure out...
(full context)
Part 2, Chapter 3
...the right to exist. Dagny notices a cigarette butt in the ashtray, marked with a dollar sign. She asks to keep it, suspecting that it is a key clue in this...
(full context)
Part 2, Chapter 10
...now who do not trade in guilt. He lights a cigarette marked with a gold dollar sign and offers her one. He explains what it means: a symbol of pride, of...
(full context)
Part 3, Chapter 1
...Galt arrive at a hilltop and look down into a small town. A giant gold dollar sign hangs above the village—a symbol Dagny at first finds ironic, even amusing. Galt says...
(full context)
Part 3, Chapter 5
...Dagny ever truly decides to abandon their world, she can signal him by drawing a dollar sign on the base of Nat Taggart’s statue. He promises to come for her within...
(full context)
Part 3, Chapter 7
...of her choice: if she ever decides to join him, she need only draw a dollar sign on the statue of Nat Taggart. He will come for her. Until then, he...
(full context)
Part 3, Chapter 8
...are abandoned, their doors marked in blood, chalk, or paint with the symbol of the dollar. The country’s best minds and workers continue their quiet disappearance.
(full context)
Part 3, Chapter 9
...a crisis. She walks out, and on the way to the terminal, she draws a dollar sign in lipstick on Nathaniel Taggart’s statue.
(full context)
Part 3, Chapter 10
...first rays of dawn stretch across the valley, Galt raises his hand and traces a dollar sign in the air—their final salute to the values they fought to protect, and the...
(full context)
