Three weeks ago, Molly Ortberg of The Toast amused us by retelling Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone as though it had been written by the philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand. She's working her way through all seven of J.K. Rowling's famous fantasy series in this manner. So far, she has also composed Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoners of Collectivism.
Ortberg took a break from that project to reveal the Objectivist wisdom in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Here's a selection from Alice's confrontation with the Duchess:
“If everybody minded their own business,” the Duchess said in a hoarse growl, “the world would go round a deal faster than it does.”
“Which would not be an advantage,” said Alice, who felt very glad to get an opportunity of showing off a little of her knowledge. “Just think of what work it would make with the day and night! You see the earth takes twenty-four hours to turn round on its axis–”
“Talking of axes,” said the Duchess, “chop off her head!”
“You have no right to do that,” Alice said calmly. “The removal of heads does not fall under the purview of government.”
The Duchess gasped.
“A society that robs an individual of her head,” Alice continued, “or in any way attempts to limit the freedom of her head, is not, strictly speaking, a society, but a mob held together by institutionalized gang rule. You cannot promote the aristocracy of non-value at the expense of individual liberty.”
The Duchess fell silent.
“I am going to build a railroad here,” Alice said. “There is nothing you can do to stop me.”
“By the way,” Alice said as she turned to leave, “The appropriate posture of a worthy woman to a worthy man is hero-worship, not in chopping off his head. She never loses the awareness of her own sexual identity and theirs. A properly feminine woman does not treat men as if she were their pal, sister, mother—or leader. There will never be a woman president.”
-via American Digest