The Fountainhead is the story of an individual, Ayn Rand’s vision of the ideal man. It is the tale of his unabashed refutal of tradition, his struggle against conventionality, and his eventual triumph over the parasites who fear and lust after his greatness. This man, Howard Roark, succeeds because he thinks of his own accord and embraces reason. While others let themselves be controlled by tradition and trends of public opinion, Roark only follows his own logical judgement. That is why—in the midst of a sea of “second-handers,” people who live only in others’ eyes—Roark stands alone and magnificent. Like the skyscrapers he designs, he is an embodiment of rationality and perfection. It is his belief in reason—something that “no one really wants to have on his side”—that distinguishes Howard Roark. Men like Peter Keating fear it, as it exposes their hypocrisy and incompetence. Men like Ellsworth Toohey loath it, as it allows others to question and rebel against them. Only those who embrace reason egoistically, without regard for convention or prestige, can truly achieve greatness.
When the reader first meets Howard Roark, he is standing naked on top of a cliff, in harmony with his surroundings. Self-reliant and freethinking, he is the image of the perfect man. Rand’s description compares him to the granite that he sits on—composed of “long straight lines and angles, each curve broken into planes.” Roark has just been expelled from the Stanton Institute of Technology, and yet he is completely calm. While most people would be in tears, he seems almost indifferent.
Over the next few pages, Rand describes the reason for his expulsion: Roark refuses to compromise his designs. Every one of his projects is designed in the same s...
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...He depends on the masses, and reason is something they do not want to hear. When Wynand finally gives in and apologizes publicly for defending Roark, he manages to hold on to his power, but he compromises his principles forever.
In the end, only Howard Roark is true to reason. He alone has the strength to embrace it wholeheartedly, without compromise or regard for the public’s opinions. Others who forsake reason, achieve transient success, but their achievements are hollow and temporary. In that respect, The Fountainhead is an allegory, a meditation on the nature of human greatness as symbolized by its protagonist. Characters like Keating, Toohey, and Wynand serve to warn against compromise and irrationality, while Howard Roark acts as a reminder that, ultimately, reason will always triumph.
Works Cited
Rand, Ayn. The Fountainhead. New York: Plume, 2005. Print.
“For the coming of that day shall I fight, I and my sons and my chosen friends. For the freedom of Man. For his rights. For his life. For his honor.”(page 104). In the novella Anthem by, Ayn Rand, the main character Equality, fought for a way to be himself and help mankind. Rand clearly made Equality’s primary motivation joining The Council of Scholars as a creator, and through the course of two years, due to Equality conducting experiments in all of his spare time until he discovers a method of harnessing the power of electricity to use it to light the community. Equality confirms the right to his motivation. What was Equality’s primary motivation, is he right to be motivated in this way, and what would the world be like if everyone was
The society in Anthem is a very collectivist society, thus a single individual’s health and survival might not be as important as with an objectivist “society”. However, the society in Anthem does address health and survival in a collectivist way. By having the Old Ones not work and “the State take care of them” this society deals with one of the biggest health problems, old people (7). This society takes a socialist method of health care and the State provides for all of the Old Ones which shows how they are meeting the needs of health and survival. The society takes a different approach on survival. Because of the strong collectivism, individual lives do not matter and “there are no men but only the great WE”, as long as the WE survives any one person can die and the society will not care (3). Anthem’s society takes survival to mean the survival of the whole not the individual. This shows that society is not needed for the individual’s survival, as not only does this society provide little individual health care, Equality 7-2521 in the later part of Anthem is easily able to
The Fountainhead is a story about heroism. The novel is a triumphant cry of protest against all those who insist that life is about mediocrity. That man is destined to suffer. The greatness of The Fountainhead lies in its ability to inspire hope and confidence in its readers, to show how much is possible. For more than fifty years now, people all over the world have been looking towards this great book for support and sanction, for encouragement and hope, for ideas and answers. The Fountainhead applauds strength and greatness in human spirit, giving its readers a hero they can admire, respect, idolize and love. Howard Roark -- the hero, the ideal man, the human being.
The government’s authority over several aspects of society displays its corruption and causes more people to become conformists who lack egotism in Ayn Rand’s novel Anthem. The government chooses the occupations of all of the citizens. It is the Council of Vocation’s position to decide everyone’s job, thus suppressing the right of the people to freedom of choice. The teachers, who had been appointed by the Councils, inform the students to “Dare not choose in your minds the work you would like to do when you leave the Home of the Students. You shall do that which the Council of Vocations shall prescribe for you. For the Council of Vocations knows in its great wisdom where you are needed by your brother men, better than you can know it in your unworthy little
Within life, there are moments where one begins to question one’s ideals. Whether these beliefs are ones taught through social interaction and experience or are religious in nature, most of us, humanity, come to a time in life where one’s perception of life challenges the foundations of one’s strongest and, often times, longest held convictions. Sometimes, the questioning and examination of these convictions often lead one to a sense of disillusionment, and, in some ways, this individual analysis allows one to gain personal perspective on one’s life. In Human All-Too-Human, Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies”, and, within the backdrop of the 1920’s, Fitzgerald makes abundantly clear in the text that the American dream is a conviction that so happens to be based on lies and corruption. Throughout The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrays the American dream as an ideal steeped in corruption and deceit through which the attainment of material wealth and the appearance of success justify the methods by which one attains his or her idea of that fabled dream.
Ayn Rand said that the theme of The Fountainhead is "individualism versus collectivism, not in politics, but in man's soul." I want to comment on three specific aspects of this theme, as it is embodied in Roark's character and his interactions with the other figures in the novel. Roark is a man of independence, he is an egoist, and he is a creator, a paragon of productive achievement. These three concepts—independence, egoism, and achievement—are the key to understanding the moral sense of The Fountainhead and the ways in which it differs from the conventional ethos.
Throughout the book “Anthem” the city has many rules and controls. Such as, not loving any person over another. Not saying the forbidden word “I”. Not stealing from another. With these rules and controls Ayn Rand created a collective society, but with the idea of a utopian society. The definition of Utopia is “ an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect.” The rules and controls listed above and the many more that are in the book “Anthem” describe a society trying to become collective but in a utopian way.
One of the overarching conflicts in Ayn Rand’s, Anthem, is Collectivism versus the belief in Heresy. Rand is a firm believer in heresy, making her one of history's most notable heretics. In the same way Anthem is bias, so is my ‘Big Idea’ collage. I used propaganda and symbolic images to express the importance and just within heresy. The two silhouettes of a human heads serves the significance of the seemingly everlasting conflict that both groups have. All the images that make up the silhouettes is what the different parties stand for. Equality’s rebellious views and experiments, such as ‘the power of the sky’ and the sacred manuscripts, are enclosed within the traced head on the right side. On the other side, I dissected the authority in
...prosperity. It does not allow for emotional and ideological growth, as money-oriented assets do not always acclimate to physically intangible desires. Hamilton’s work stresses the notion that the capitalist media disillusions the American dream; Fitzgerald is more so certain it stems from human elitism and social pressures. Showcasing that ideologies should be questioned as to the legitimacy of its source and function, serve to inform our current society that we must watch what we chase. The accumulation of opinions leads to revelations. The unrest and discomfort voiced by both are societal stimulation, had they stayed quiet perhaps society would have gone about living lavishly and selfishly. The pressures regarding the importance of epiphanies create change. Modern society is itself due in part by educated deductions realized and voiced during the 20th century.
There has always been a slight anxiety of being alone or standing alone. Students rarely want to admit to having an answer different from the rest of their classmates; some people do not want to go somewhere and do something by themselves. Notably, with more shy or anxious people, they will often stick around someone they know, so they will not be alone in the crowd. Although that company might help them make it through those nerve-wracking moments, when is the right time for them to walk alone? Should a person ever walk alone? In Ayn Rand’s Anthem, Equality’s internal conflict of conformity versus individuality plays a role that Equality needs to overcome in order to complete their quest for freedom which helps create their outcast archetype and gives significance to the final word of the novel.
Reason is the opportune quintessence of logic. Ayn Rand’s “Fountainhead” explores the assets and disadvantages of employing reason as a weapon of persuasion. The protagonist of the novel, Howard Roark, is reason. He symbolizes, epitomizes, and embodies living logic. Assuming individualism, he achieves complex thought processes, simultaneously exploring the theme of the novel—society’s manipulation of individualism. As reason, Roark is faced with constant opposition—every semblance of his person is shunned, negated, and trampled solely for the presumption of his potential threat. In regards to Roark’s personal opinion, he lamented that: “…on [his] side [he] ha[d] reason…[he] kn[e]w, it [was] something no one really want[ed] to have on his side…” (Rand 165). Acknowledging that loss is imminent, Roark’s righteous ideals negate his failure(s). Furthermore, Roark has no choice. Reason is a constant aspect of his continuation—he is incapable of existing without it. Its role is a cosmic, undeniable force that, while consistently causing him to lose anything he ever desires, he masochistically reveres. Roark’s identity as reason is further cemented by his lack of it. “Then, without reason, he thought of Dominique Francon” (Rand 264). Roark’s unnatural relationship with Dominique Francon conveys to the reader of his infallible rationale. When with Dominique, Roark is unnaturally impractical and capable of human emotion, conveying to the reader that this state of being, this unreasonable existence, is a prosthetic state for him and therefore his true state is one of practicality.
The ultimate motive of both the altruist and egoist is personal gain. Separating the two ideologies is the method by which this is accomplished. For the altruist, addressing the needs of humanity is purportedly the sole purpose of existence. Egoists, on the other hand, refuse to act if an action does not directly benefit themselves. In The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand addresses the function of altruists and egoists within society through character development. There are four characters in particular who distinctly exhibit the attributes of altruistic and egoistic individuals: Catherine Halsey, Peter Keating, and Ellsworth Toohey possess altruistic qualities; whereas, Howard Roark is explicitly egoistic.
Utilitarianism, the belief in doing the greatest good for the greatest number of people, is often seen as a cold and harsh ideology, as shown in Ayn Rand’s Anthem. The book shows the egoistic-capitalists of former society “reborn” into a perfect utilitarian state where there is no individual or self; there is only “brother-man.” The society is led by a hierarchy of councils, which face extremely limited opposition, the only case being Equality 7-2521 evading the World Council of Scholars when the glass box was unveiled. This case of limited opposition is to be expected, as the new system of society ostensibly has no problems; there are enough resources and life sustaining necessities for everyone, but additionally, they do not realize they are oppressed. The aspects of life in Anthem’s universe provides no reason to oppose the councils. However, in order to ingrain themselves into the society of Anthem, the former society has to have implemented certain ideologies to achieve the book’s status quo. Society became extremely utilitarian, as well as egalitarian, abolishing egoism and inequality. “We are nothing. Mankind is all” (21).
Anthem, by Ayn Rand, is a very unique novel. It encircles individualism and makes the reader think of how people can conform to society and do as they are told without knowing the consequences and results of their decisions. Also, it teaches the importance of self expression and the freedom that comes along with being your own person and having the power to choose what path to take in life. Figurative language is used often in this book and in a variety of quotes that have great importance to the theme, plot, and conflict of the novel.
Throughout life, you are faced with everyday conflicts; getting cut from soccer tryouts, not receiving the grade you wanted on a biology test, arguing with your siblings, etc. Equality 7-2521 was faced with conflicts as well; however, to a more extreme level. Several external conflicts throughout Ayn Rand’s Anthem, shape Equality’s character. The controlling factors of Equality’s society, that lead to several conflicts, prevented him from sharing his intelligence, choosing and communicating with others and venturing outside the city walls.