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 learnt that 'have had' is used when the main verb is 'have' in the present perfect tense. But in the above line, the main verb is 'carry' and '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.
Sample sentence: 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?
Let's simplify this and put it in the declarative form first:
She wondered why he should 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.
Question form: She wondered why he should 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?
The verb here is: should have had to carry, and not just have had to carry. Notice the inversion: should he have had in the question is "he should have had" in the declarative. The sample sentence is a question.
should have had is a modal usage of should, like should have seen, should have gone.
Why, then—she wondered—should he have had to carry a burden of tragedy
The first one ("have") indicates the present perfect.
The second one ("had") is the main verb. Along with "to...", it indicates an obligation.
A paraphrase:
Ms. Rand used the simple past perfect tense.
He had carried his burden for quite a bit it seems--before something dawned on him.
