English Language Learners Asked on February 1, 2021
The following is a line from the novel ‘Atlas shrugged’ by Ayn Rand.
Why, then—she wondered—should he have had to carry a burden of tragedy which, in silent endurance, he had accepted so completely that he had barely known he carried it?
I have learn’t that ‘have had’ is used when the main verb is ‘have’ in present perfect tense. But in the above line, the main verb is ‘carry’ but still ‘have had’ was used.Please explain this.
This is intended to suggest a transition from carrying the burden in the past, to not carrying in the future. That is, the person doing the wondering is looking at something that occurred in the past and projecting it not occurring in the future.
This is related to a major theme of the novel, specifically, people who have accepted an unearned guilt becoming aware of it, and discarding it. This is related to the title of the book.
So the person doing the wondering is asking what the justification for the burden was. This is the "why should he?" part. And, by implication, saying that there was no justification. And so the person with the burden should have long since thrown it off.
Answered by puppetsock on February 1, 2021
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