Introduction
Ayn Rand in her 20s Ayn Rand was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on February 2, 1905. At age six she taught herself to read and two years later discovered her first fictional hero in a French magazine for children, thus capturing the heroic vision which sustained her throughout her life. At the age of nine she decided to make fiction writing her career. Thoroughly opposed to the mysticism and collectivism of Russian culture, she thought of herself as a European writer, especially after encountering Victor Hugo, the writer she most admired. During her high school years, she was eyewitness to both the Kerensky Revolution, which she supported, and—in 1917—the Bolshevik Revolution, which she denounced from the outset. In order to escape the fighting, her family went to the Crimea, where she finished high school. The final Communist victory brought the confiscation of her father’s pharmacy and periods of near-starvation. When introduced to American history in her last year of high school, she immediately took America as her model of what a nation of free men could be. When her family returned from the Crimea, she entered the University of Petrograd to study philosophy and history. Graduating in 1924, she experienced the disintegration of free inquiry and the takeover of the university by communist thugs. Amidst the increasingly gray life, her one great pleasure was Western films and plays. Long an admirer of cinema, she entered the State Institute for Cinema Arts in 1924 to study screenwriting. In late 1925, she obtained permission to leave Soviet Russia for a visit to relatives in the United States. Although she told Soviet authorities that her visit would be short, she was determined never to return to Russia. She arrived in New York City in February 1926. She spent the next six months with her relatives in Chicago, obtained an extension to her visa, and then left for Hollywood to pursue a career as a screenwriter. On Ayn Rand’s second day in Hollywood, Cecil B. DeMille saw her standing at the gate of his studio, offered her a ride to the set of his movie The King of Kings, and gave her a job, first as an extra, then as a script reader. During the next week at the studio, she met an actor, Frank O’Connor, whom she married in 1929; they were married until his death fifty years later. After struggling for several years at various nonwriting jobs, including one in the wardrobe department at the RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., she sold her first screenplay, “Red Pawn,” to Universal Pictures in 1932 and saw her first stage play, Night of January 16th, produced in Hollywood and then on Broadway. Her first novel, We the Living, was completed in 1934 but was rejected by numerous publishers, until The Macmillan Company in the United States and Cassells and Company in England published the book in 1936. The most autobiographical of her novels, it was based on her years under Soviet tyranny. She began writing The Fountainhead in 1935. In the character of the architect Howard Roark, she presented for the first time the kind of hero whose depiction was the chief goal of her writing: the ideal man, man as “he could be and ought to be.” The Fountainhead was rejected by twelve publishers but finally accepted by the Bobbs-Merrill Company. When published in 1943, it made history by becoming a best seller through word of mouth two years later, and gained for its author lasting recognition as a champion of individualism
Literature Review
‘‘The Fountainhead’, which was published in 1943, stands no less-relevant among various sections of society today as it did then because of its underlying themes that have proved themselves to be eternal and vital to the existence of mankind. Since the post- World War and post- Depression epoch, the seeds of Individualism, Conformity and Objectivism have been deep rooted in societal foundations of the world, challenging and endeavouring to narrow the schism in society between the ‘individual’ and the ‘non-conformist’. However, the cardinal purpose that these themes served during the mid-1940’s differs substantially to the purpose these philosophies serve today. Much of this chasm has been prodded by the contradistinctive socio-economic conditions prevalent in society today and in the post[1]World War milieu. In addition, Rand’s Russian-American ethnicity, her first-hand experience of the 1917 Communist Revolution, World War II, and the Great Depression have also been instrumental in the development of Rand’s opinions on the primary themes of the novel and suggestive of her choice to exemplify polar personalities (that persisted in society) through each of the characters. Rand’s idiosyncratic comprehension of Communism was engendered at the mere age of twelve in the wake of the Communist Revolution in 1917. The event of her father’s (Zinovy Zinovy Zakharovich Rosenbaum) pharmacy being nationalized by armed soldiers delineates the genesis of Rand’s condemnation of Communist tenets that proselytize social/collective solidarity over individualistic interests. In one of her interviews Rand asserts, “I felt the way he looked. His was one of helplessness, murderous frustration and International Journal of English Literature and Culture Vol. 9(2), pp. 43-48, March 2021 DOI: 10.14662/IJELC2021.015 Copy© right 2021 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article ISSN: 2360-7831 http://www.academicresearchjournals.org/IJELC/Index.htm 44 Inter. J. Eng. Lit. Cult. indignation—but he could do absolutely nothing1 .” Zinovy, himself, held a radical stance against the Soviet government and vehemently protested against working for them- an act which left the family in starvation many[1]a-times. Thus, the obliteration of her father’s wealth and unique identity by Communist ideals, serves as a catalyst for the precipitation of Rand’s rejection of altruism and adoption of laissez faire capitalism, which literally translates into ‘leave us alone’, that is, it allows for individuals to carry out economic affairs without the interference of the government. As mentioned by Samuel Bostaph in his ‘Ayn Rand’s Economic Thought’ (2011), “during her address at Lewis and Clark College on “The Goal of My Writing”, she identified that goal as “the projection of an ideal man”” and inarguably, The Fountainhead is the first of her novels that outline her vision of that “ideal man”. Rand added that in order to do that she had to place him “in the kind of social system that makes it possible for ideal men to exist and to function – a free, productive, rational system, which demands and rewards the best in every man, and which is, obviously, laissez-faire capitalism” (Rand, 1963).
In her first notes for The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand describes its purpose as “a defense of egoism in its real meaning . . . a new definition of egoism and its living example.” She later states its theme as “individualism versus collectivism, not in politics, but in man’s soul; the psychological motivations and the basic premises that produce the character of an individualist or a collectivist.”
The “living example” of egoism is Howard Roark, “an architect and innovator, who breaks with tradition, [and] recognizes no authority but that of his own independent judgment.” Roark’s individualism is contrasted with the spiritual collectivism of many of the other characters, who are variations on the theme of “second-handedness” — thinking, acting, and living second-hand.
Roark struggles to endure not merely professional rejection, but also the enmity of Ellsworth Toohey, beloved humanitarian and leading architectural critic; of Gail Wynand, powerful publisher; and of Dominique Francon, the beautiful columnist who loves him fervently yet is bent on destroying his career.
The Fountainhead earned Rand a lasting reputation as one of history’s greatest champions of individualism.
HOWARD ROARK
Expelled from a prestigious architectural school for his unconventional designs — denied work because of his refusal to compromise his creative principles — opposed by the architectural critics, his professional colleagues, his whole society — reduced, at one point, to laboring in a granite quarry — is Howard Roark a selfless martyr to an artistic ideal?
Or does he embody a new concept of self-interest — one that places nothing above the rational judgment of his independent mind? Will Roark’s unbreachable integrity lead him to sacrifice his goals to his creative vision, or will it prove to be the means by which he ultimately achieves his goals in his career and life?
In the story of Howard Roark and his struggle against a tradition-worshipping society, Ayn Rand offers, as she puts it, “a demonstration of how the principles of egoism and altruism work out in people and in the events of their lives.”
A core tenet of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism, is the importance of a central, productive purpose in an individual’s life.
In The Fountainhead this is concretized by Howard Roark’s creative drive and his passion for his work. What motivates Roark is not a craving for wealth or social approval, but the intellectual challenge of solving architectural problems and the artistic drive to create structures of beauty.
This is in stark contrast to Peter Keating, who merely goes through the motions of productive work. Keating’s focus is on achieving success in the eyes of others — on being regarded as a great architect — not on creating buildings he genuinely and personally values.
Keating’s spiritual emptiness stems, partly, from his lack of a central, productive purpose, which, in Rand’s view, is what “integrates and determines the hierarchy of all [of a man’s] other values.”
Significance of the Study
“The Fountainhead,” wrote Ayn Rand, “started in my mind as a definition of a new code of ethics — the morality of individualism. The idea of individualism is not new, but nobody had defined a consistent and specific way to live by it in practice. It is in their statements on morality that the individualist thinkers have floundered and lost their case. They had nothing better to offer than vulgar selfishness which consisted of sacrificing others to self. When I realized that that was only another form of collectivism — of living through others by ruling them — I had the key to The Fountainhead and to the character of Howard Roark.”
The Fountainhead offers a radical rethinking of basic moral concepts. In particular, it rejects the conventional notion that selfishness involves harming and exploiting others. What Roark embodies is Rand’s new concept of selfishness, portrayed, not as a vice, but a virtue.
“The Fountainhead,” wrote Ayn Rand, “started in my mind as a definition of a new code of ethics — the morality of individualism. The idea of individualism is not new, but nobody had defined a consistent and specific way to live by it in practice. It is in their statements on morality that the individualist thinkers have floundered and lost their case. They had nothing better to offer than vulgar selfishness which consisted of sacrificing others to self. When I realized that that was only another form of collectivism — of living through others by ruling them — I had the key to The Fountainhead and to the character of Howard Roark.”
The Fountainhead offers a radical rethinking of basic moral concepts. In particular, it rejects the conventional notion that selfishness involves harming and exploiting others. What Roark embodies is Rand’s new concept of selfishness, portrayed, not as a vice, but a virtue.
She set aside fiction to elaborate her philosophy: “My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.”
What is philosophy? Philosophy is a systematic approach to understanding the universe, and man’s place in it. It addresses the big questions of life: Who are you? How do you know? What should you do? What is right and what is wrong? What is beautiful? What is the purpose of life?
To Ayn Rand, philosophy was a science, whose principles could be proven and applied. So what are the key principles of Objectivism? They fall into five categories:
Metaphysics. This concerns the nature of reality. According to Rand: “Reality exists as an objective absolute—facts are facts, independent of man’s feelings, wishes, hopes or fears.”
Here Objectivism embraces an objective reality consisting of the natural world—not a supernatural realm. There is no dichotomy between mind and body, and each of us has free will. How do we discover the world around us?
That’s where Epistemology comes in. Objectivism holds that reason is our only means of understanding the world. Reason—not faith, not instinct, not the opinions of others—is how we gain knowledge. Logic lets us identify what is, and what isn’t.
Now that we know, what do we do?
That’s where Ethics comes in. Objectivism holds that there is no greater moral goal than achieving one’s happiness. This is the most revolutionary—and most misunderstood aspect of Objectivism. Rand thought man should pursue his rational self-interest—or as she provocatively called it: The Virtue of Selfishness. This means you don’t sacrifice yourself to others—and you don’t sacrifice others to yourself. You don’t act rudely or thoughtlessly, you don’t lie and you don’t cheat. If you do those things, no one will want to play, or trade, or deal with you. And that’s hardly in your long-term self interest, is it?
Since we’re social beings, how do we organize ourselves in a society? That’s where Politics comes in.
The Objectivist approach holds that laissez-faire capitalism is the only system compatible with a respect for individual rights, especially property rights, without which no other rights are possible. And unlike anarchism, it calls for a strictly limited government in order to secure protection of those rights. Objectivism calls for the complete separation of economy and state—in the same way, and for the same reasons that we have separation of church and state.
A flourishing society requires not just individual freedom, but an exalted culture, with inspiring art to convey moral ideals. That’s where Aesthetics comes in.
The Objectivist approach holds that art should be recognizable and meaningful—not nihilistic, purposefully ugly or mundane. Romantic Realism best describes the Objectivist aesthetic, using realistic stories, music and paintings to highlight the heroic character of man—presenting reality not just as it is, but as it might be and ought to be. Such art captures a benevolent universe in which man can overcome obstacles and achieve his goals.
Objectivism presents an artistic vision—but Objectivism is not a work of art. It is a philosophy, a science, and like any other science, it’s open to further discovery and elaboration. As Ayn Rand herself said five years before her death: “The elaboration of a system is a job that no philosopher can finish in his lifetime . . . there is still an awful lot of work to be done.”
It’s in that open and benevolent spirit of exploration and inquiry, that we invite you to gain a deeper understanding of Objectivism, and apply its principles to your life.