"Completed The Fountainhead."Message sent.
New message received."FINALLY!"
Yes, it took me a really long while to finish this novel, but I'll be honest enough to give all the reasons for having done so.
The Fountainhead written by Ayn Rand is a 1943 novel that traces the life of an architect Howard Roark and his passion- architecture. But more than that, this book takes the reader on a quest to unfold life and live it, free from any societal bonds and expectations. So, when one picks up that book, questions and doubts about oneself or others around are bound to rise and it's better to answer them or perhaps search them.
What is left of the edition of Fountainhead that I picked up are abundant folded pages and bookmarks for me to go through again, because God knows, I'm still entangled in those abundant questions that Ayn very conveniently asks the reader to think over.
"Before you do things for people, you must be the kind of man who can get things done. But to get things done, you must love the doing, not the people." Roark.
"Personal luxury is a limited endeavor. What they want is ostentation: to show, to stun, to entertain, to impress others. They're second-handers." Gail Wyand.
"I even admit that I love them (friends). But I couldn't love them if they were my chief reason for living." Roark.
"A world in which man will not work for so innocent an incentive as money, but for that headless monster- prestige." Ellsworth Toohey.
"The choice is not self-sacrifice or domination. The choice is independence or dependence." Roark.
Fountainhead might not make you fall in love with it, but it will make you fall prey to it and push you to question the idea of living in a world where expectations, success, and being worthwhile are the sole riders of distinction. Here, Rand places a very diabolic statement asking the readers to ponder over the reality of whether by being true to oneself and not caring about the world's view is right or whether getting lost while being given every monotone person's licensing badge is correct.The concept of fame as not an individualistic win, questions the fundamental prospect of being famous in the first place Ayn's philosophy of Objectivism might have been a core point of discussion since decades, but with that, her primary placing of characters in the story along with their ideals is worth notice. Despite being a fifty year old publishing, Fountainhead's protagonists hold relevance in today's world as well. We all have seen a person who is an Ellsworth Toohey with all his knowledge and snake-like charisma, or a Peter Keating who despite his ambitions is quite prone to fall because of his submission of guilt and conscience. Rand's book does not glorify the abject philosophy of right versus wrong, in fact it admonishes the very essence of it by laying the foundation of individual against the collective. She proclaims that what a person does, he does it for himself and only by being true to his own-being can he be true to the entire world, if that is what he wants for that matter. Living for oneself is not a crime, and this is what Ayn Rand portrays brilliantly through her work, whether you agree to it or not is upto you, since each one has his own life to live without thinking of what others might perceive it as. And as she quotes Roark saying- "The egotist in the absolute sense is not the man who sacrifices others. He is the man who stands above the need of using others in any manner."
Ayn Rand has such individualistic notions. They pump in so much confidence in you, that you see no reason to bow down your head as you walk on roads.
ReplyDeleteI still remember, "The world is perishing from an orgy of self-sacrificing."
"You'll get everything society can give a man. You'll keep all the money. You'll take any fame or honor anyone might want to grant. You'll accept such gratitude as the tenants might feel. And I - I'll take what nobody can give a man, except himself. I will have built Cortlandt." - Roark
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely.
ReplyDeleteIt just jolts a person from within making him think beyond the notions of success and failure.
Ayn Rand is substantially a pious idealistic philosopher, with very little preparation in political economy. It wouldn't be a problem if she didn't talk about political economy, but she perpetually refers to Capitalism and Individualism (an historical produce of Capitalism, and by no means an inherent human prerogative) in most of her works.
ReplyDeleteI found her works quite dull, full with fallacies and loyal to something she doesn't even completely know, expect from the viewpoint of a bourgeois. People make their own choices, it is true, but their choices are influenced by the material surroundings. There is no "completely free" will.
Even with the "strength of his/her individuality" a slum boy/girl don't have the same opportunity of a high bourgeois in Capitalism.
The behaviour of one person is, of course, influenced by the achievement of social functionings, of needs realisation, which also determine the achievement of one's happiness in life.
The achievement of social functionings is strongly influenced by the material scarcity or abundance of one society (in our case a Capitalist society). It goes without saying that this Capitalist planet of slums, unemployment and cyclical economic crises — the same planet that Miss Ayn Rand loves so much for its systemic qualities — don't help for the realisation of all the people's needs.
Nice sharing thoughts with you!
Dave Ferri,
B.A.Eco(H), SRCC, Delhi University
http://marxistferri.blogspot.com/
***except
ReplyDeleteI like the way you term Rand as a "pious idealistic philosopher." What works for me is not her treatment of political economics, but the fact that she easily brings out the true nature of every character without presenting a farce about being selfless, to the world.
ReplyDeleteAnd I highly doubt whether Rand loves this planet.She'd rather quote Khalil Gibran and talk about right and wrong, than go about praising the way our world functions.
PS- Had a good time reading your train of thoughts and views about Fountainhead.