The head of Wyatt Oil. He has almost single-handedly revived the economy of Colorado by discovering oil there. He is quick-tempered, more bound to violent outbursts than other characters. When first introduced, he is aggressive towards Dagny, whom he does not yet know and whom he blames for what are in fact her brother's policies which directly threaten his business. Of all the disappearances of industrialists in the novel, Wyatt's is surely the ...
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The head of Wyatt Oil. He has almost single-handedly revived the economy of Colorado by discovering oil there. He is quick-tempered, more bound to violent outbursts than other characters. When first introduced, he is aggressive towards Dagny, whom he does not yet know and whom he blames for what are in fact her brother's policies which directly threaten his business. Of all the disappearances of industrialists in the novel, Wyatt's is surely the most dramatic: when the government passes laws and decrees which make it impossible for him to continue, he does not just go quietly away but sets all his oil wells on fire, leaving a jeering note: "I am leaving it as I found it. Take over. It's yours." Without his expertise, the State Science Institute is unable to bring those wells back into production. Later, when Dagny meets him in the hidden valley where his energies are not encountering futile daily obstructions, there is little of that violence to be seen. Though involved in a different profession, the character seems very similar to the sculptor Steven Mallory in The Fountainhead, Howard Roark's friend who in a similar kind of violent outburst tried to assassinate Ellsworth Toohey. Ellis Wyatt is mentioned or appears in sections 111, 114, 132, 146, 147, 148, and 152.
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