Success is defined as the favorable or desired outcome, and in some ways it’s regarded as the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence. (Merriam-Webster). Under the circumstances of Howard Roark and Peter Keating in Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, their personal views of success contrast differently and are obtained in separate but ultimately satisfactory outcomes. While Keating is a go-getter and prefers to aim high, Roark is wholesomely content that his plans, his and his only, are coming to life. However, due to the spiraling society and persistent influence on these two, they’re ultimately torn by the backlash of American norm and what really is “true” contemporary architecture. Peter Keating’s line to success is an open road, where any choice he makes gives him the opportunity to soar. Scouters flocked to him before he received his college diploma, he was successful before he even got a job. Being the star athlete of Stanton, young and attractive, and graduating with high …show more content…
Keating’s immediate success drives him to arrogance and pride, belittling others who cannot appreciate his revelations. Power was his enemy, and it drove him to extremes where he couldn’t find confidence in his own work. He ultimately suffers from denying his own mediocrity and deeming a sensible, happy life not good enough. Unfortunately, his dependence upon his audience causes him to fall weak. Unlike Keating, Roark’s strength stems from himself. Roark builds for the sake of seeing his ideas erected (684) despite the rest of society being disgusted by his buildings. This leads to the destruction of Cortlant in the hands of the creator, claiming that he wouldn’t let it exist due to it’s last minute manipulation. Even if he got no commision out of it, recognition or promotion as long as it was “My work done my way.” (579). In the end, his natural ability and drive for standing his ground turned his life
What is the definition of true success? Everyone has his or her own definition of success. For me success is to have earned the appreciation of honest critics and tolerate the betrayal of deceptive friends and most importantly being self-reliant. Some great writers have their own special wise thoughts on prosperity, for example, in Self- Reliance and Other Essays “Self-Reliance”, by Waldo Ralph Emerson suggest we all need to be individuals and put ourselves before anyone else. However, in Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, he gives a different meaning of prosperity. He claims success is never the result of talent alone. Both of the writers Emerson and Gladwell have similar and different thoughts on what makes a content opulence and self-reliant
As two men on the extreme sides of conformity and independence, it is hard for Keating to understand how someone could be so sure of himself, whereas it is incomprehensible for Roark to believe that Keating could have so little self-assurance and such a lack of resolve regarding the decisions he chooses to make. In this r...
Mr. Keating is obviously a teacher that went above and beyond what was expected of him. He exhibited many more characteristics of a hero than are listed here, but selflessness, determination, and impact are some of the most prominent. Mr. Keating was truly a hero who cared deeply about the success of his students. From giving them life advice to helping them conquer their fears, Mr. Keating never gave up on his students and gave his time and energy to ensuring their happiness.
One way that success is conveyed is through the use of phrases that show how some people are motivated by success, such as when Miranda says, “History has its eyes.../ on.../ you!” (page 84, line 120-122, “Non-Stop”). He uses personification to show that the steps they do now will grant them a legacy and, with it, fame. Also, he directs the message to one individual person when saying this, causing it to be more personal by saying “you”. Together, this shows that success can both harm and benefit a person since the person will always be looked down by higher, more powerful people to evaluate their fame and success; and that some people want to become more successful.
The definition of success varies around the world, but according to Malcolm Gladwell its achievement can be broken down into a few components. Although Gladwell never truly establishes credibility in his book Outliers, he still backs up his proposed theories with reputable studies and sources which intrigue the audience to keep reading.The purpose of Outliers was to enlighten people about the different elements of success while also informing them of real life situations where seemingly less than likely people beat the odds and became the powerful figures that they are today. The intended audience is anyone who is looking to become successful or who is perhaps interested in the idea of success itself and wishes to learn more about it. Understandably, a secondary audience could be high school students who are about to venture out into the world on their own because with this book they will hopefully start paying attention to different factors of their lives and seizing opportunities that they may have otherwise passed up. Malcolm Gladwell talks about the 10,000 Hour Rule and also how I.Q. does not amount to much without creativity. He also speaks of how chance opportunity comes into play and that the distant background of a person still reflects how they handle situations in their present day life. Gladwell’s Outliers successfully informs the reader about the different components that add up to success with probable theories and credible studies to make for an interesting and motivational read.
The small book was only about the size of my hand and the dirty yellow pages smelled of both smoke and dust. The pages didn’t stand out to me on their own, but what they read did: “Religion is a primitive form of philosophy that seeks to answer the unanswerable questions of the world.” The quote stopped me from reading further. I set the book down and the title, The Romantic Manifesto, looked unapologetically at me from the top of my dimly lit night stand.
Keating wins the competition and takes all the credit for himself, as no one can be the best but him (Rand 187). Later, when a normal person would feel guilty, Peter visits Roark and tries to pay for his silence about his help (Rand 192, 193). Roark gives the money back in exchange for Peter’s silence, as Roark hates the building and wants no one to know he had a hand in it (Rand 193). Keating gets very upset and starts screaming at Roark; Roark is impassive and tells him to relax (Rand 193, 194). Keating decides that he hates Roark (Rand 194). And this is where readers see the final major element of Peter’s character – fear. Keating exposes himself as weak, scared, and lesser in this exchange with Roark. Peter started as a happy, successful kid, until he succumbed to the same forces that have lost every monarch their rule – the love of power. Keating’s obsession with being the best has made him fear and hate those who may be better; this weakens him and drives him a bit crazy. And ultimately, his love of power will lead to the downfall of Peter
In the world today, altruism is associated with the “common good” of man while egotism is associated with evil and non-consideration of the fellow man. In contrast to the world’s view, Ayn Rand provides and proves a new definition for egotism through her book, The Fountainhead. She defines egotism in the context of ethics. She states: “Man-every man-is an end in himself, not a means to the ends of others; he must live for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself; he must work for his rational self-interest, with the achievement of his own happiness as the highest moral purpose of his life.” Howard Roark, the protagonist in the book is a selfish and egoistical man whose actions reflect his own conviction. On the other hand is Elsworth M. Toohey, a humanitarian, whose goal is to see others suffer so that in providing help, he might be seen as virtuous (680). These men serve as foils for each other. The idea behind Howard Roark is illustrated by Ayn Rand in her philosophy called “Objectivism” and the idea behind Ellsworth Toohey is the “second-hand.” The book wields together the concepts of selfishness, selflessness, and heroism.
Rhetoric by definition is the art of persuasion by speaking and writing; being able to sway someone else’s opinion to match or appear similar to your own. Aristotle has given further definition to rhetoric. He created the rhetoric triangle. The rhetorical triangle uses the three basic credentials that people use to make decisions. They are ethos, or credibility of the author or speaker; pathos, or ability to draw emotion out of your audience; and finally the logos, or the logic of the message being sent out and determined valid by the audience. I feel that one of the best example that I could find of the rhetoric triangle is the character Ellsworth Toohey, in the novel The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. This character uses every part of the rhetoric
Hard work, determination, and initiative can earn someone success, right? For almost all people, their life goal is to achieve success for themselves however it may be. People want the best for themselves and accomplish this wherever they are in life, whether they are poor, rich, or anywhere in between. This process, in other words the American dream, has been and still is believed to prevail in all situations. This all seems perfectly fine until it does not work. The author F. Scott Fitzgerald has something to say against this belief as well. In his well known book, The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, Fitzgerald tells a lively story about riches, lavishness, hopes, dreams, and ultimately failure. Throughout his book, the author conveys to
To most of us, they say they can spot success at first glance. Generally by the car one drives or how one is dressed. Some might see it by how healthy or how happy one feels. Merriam Webster's Dictionary states that success is “the fact of getting wealth, respect, or fame.” If one where to adopt this definition of success, one might go on to living a life of materialism. This mindset is deceitful and will only reward you with short term happiness, like a drug addict searching for a quick fix. For one to be ultimately successful, one must be able to overcome hardships and possess qualities like integrity, pride and patience which no amount of money in the world could buy. These qualities will make anyone strive in most, if not all the difficult obstacles one must face in life.
Often, success is rooted in factors beyond an individual’s knowledge or control. These exterior forces may vary greatly in all aspects except one: the successful individual has no power over them. Society likes to paint famed success as the result of years of arduous work in which an individual seizes every opportunity and eventually sees all of his struggles pay off as his goals are achieved. Sure, success would have been a distant dream if not for the seizure of opportunities and all that hard work, “but in fact [people who stand before kings] are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot” (Gladwell 19). Take, for example, the story of a successful career man who made his living for 39 years thanks to a conversation behind closed doors of which he was not aware until he inquired about it years later. Greg Counts spent all but the first few years of his career in transportation and logistics because of a job he took in the first few years of his life after college. The
Throughout the life of any man or woman north London, there is an indescribable amount of desire to be successful. Thoughts of Lamborghini’s, Ferraris, or a home on an island too foreign to pronounce contribute to sleepless nights. One’s whole life consists of buying bigger objects and becoming better in hopes of reaching the point where one can say “I am a success”. Success, especially in north London, is not a fixed point rather it is a progression in constructing a lifelong project plagued by an unmatched desire for peer gratification. Success, then, is not the measure of the common three central factors: appearance, status, and career. It is the legacy that is produced by a life well lived that encompasses these factors.
Professor Keatings doesn’t follow textbooks or the curriculum, but teaches from his heart. Unlike his conservative colleagues, Keating employs decidedly unorthodox teaching methods and strives to teach more than just his subject matter, which is poetry. His goal is to inspire his students to suck the bone of life to the marrow, to seize the day and to make their lives extraordinary. In Keating's class, you learn passion, courage, romanticism, and, of course poetry. You pass if you avoid conformity and find your own voice, and you fail if you neglect to live life to the fullest. The impact that professor Keatings has on his students is eternal. His spirit will probably always live in his students’ hearts.
Keating was an effective teacher was because, from the very start, Mr. Keating always encouraged his students to carpe diem or ‘seize the day’ and become who they really were, rather than how society wanted them to be. One person that Mr. Keating’s philosophy really influenced and affected drastically was Neil Perry, as Neil made many life-threatening decisions based on his advice from Mr. Keating. He stood up to what his father had planned for his life and followed his dream of becoming an actor. But in the end, killed himself because his father didn’t approve of his choices and was going to force him to do what he