The Mind of Ayn Rand..
Writing is something i feel like doing, rest are mere details. Here i am, writing again, celebrating the human spirit,breaking myths, creating a new legend, as legend are nothing but men who have the courage to defy the odds.Its unfathomable, unthinkable, unreasonable as why we deify the men who defy the odds. What is there in human nature, human mind , which gives different reactions to different emotions as biologically all emotions are same play of nerves.
Then why is so that we deify the people like Howard Roark, the legendary hero of fountainhead, hate people like Toohey and pity people like Gail Wyand. There has to be some logic in that, because all the three mentioned men are fundamentally the same , conqueror of their miseries, masters of their souls,genius in their fields and giants among men. Then what is that difference between Roark and Toohey?
Practically speaking, we all like men like Toohey around us who has all the connections, who is powerful yet humble, someone who has a calming effect on people around him. Still despite all our pretenses, we hate him to the guts.
On the other end of the horizon stands Roark, following a absolutely different path, absolutely unconventional path. Now he has all the qualities we never want in a person. He never pities you, never try to console you, never laughs with you in your happiness and never weeps with you in your sorrows. He is the epitome of anti sociability , the height of egoism. He has a revolting effect on every person he met, they all are left with a bitter, unidentified feeling after meeting him. Still we love Roark, we worship him in confines of our heart, but never pledge our affection/admiration for him publicly.
The third dimension is provided by Keating, the person who symbolizes the modern man, who cut corners to gain, who measures his success in the eyes of other, one who keeps running far ahead only to find out later that he was running in the wrong race and still decides to carry on for the fear of being left behind in the wrong lane. He , who is a lecher , but a perfect poster boy, he is a parasite albeit a successful one. Whether we agree or not, majority of us are like Keating, to one degree or another, no matter how much we hate to admit this but this is true. The Blue Eyed boy lost in the maze of his own undoings.
The fourth dimension is provided by Gail Wyand, the man who we all envy, we all hate his guts, but we all are submissive , fearful of his authority. He is a man who is like Roark in his personal sphere, but publicly has given to pretenses. A man of unquestionable integrity, but a seeker of power. A proverbial example of a man who rise from gutter, who emerges from the shadows to claim his destiny. We all fear him because he can make or break us and he does that openly.
Ayn Rand beautifully constructed these 4 characters and use medium of comparison / differentiation to put forward her point of view. Toohey, the man who epitomizes the word altruism is shown as a second hander, a parasite. He is the person who is eating away the basic premises of humankind in a very human way.A man who wants to control the entire world by following and using the time trusted weapons of mob psychology and flattery.
Roark on the other hand is a study in contrast. A champion of egotism yet altruistic, a genius par excellence , but oblivious to this fact. The immortal "Howard Roark" , a man who has no sense of fear, guilt, pain. A man who never thinks about others, but focus on only thing he loves- his work. A man who has no sense of traditions, pity, politics. A man who is self sufficient , who don't need anybody, who helps a person with no strings attached. A person for whom words like mediocrity, compromise, power are alien. A man who is as passionate as cupid, as powerful as Zeus but strangely as naive in worldly sense as a new born baby. Purity in its purest form, an human par excellence.
Then why do we hate people like Roark. The answer is simple, we all know it but turn blind eye to it because the answer is too painful to the soul. We pretend ignorance because deep down the trenches of our heart we all love him, nay deify him. To some degree or other we all want to be like him, fearless, perfect, oblivious to pain and pressure. But somehow we find ourselves lacking at those counts and that is what harbors the hate. It is human nature to envy superiority yet be submissive to it. But Roark don't want our submission and that is what make us hate him. How can be a human be so self sufficient? How can he don't want power, prestige, recognition?
The answers to these is deep inside us, we need to look inside , to lay bare our souls and introspect in retrospect and that is precisely what Ayn Rand wants. To awaken the giant within all of us. To create more Howards to take humanity forward. Even if this book manages to create a single Roark, the world can afford to have and bear millions of Tooheys'.
Then why is so that we deify the people like Howard Roark, the legendary hero of fountainhead, hate people like Toohey and pity people like Gail Wyand. There has to be some logic in that, because all the three mentioned men are fundamentally the same , conqueror of their miseries, masters of their souls,genius in their fields and giants among men. Then what is that difference between Roark and Toohey?
Practically speaking, we all like men like Toohey around us who has all the connections, who is powerful yet humble, someone who has a calming effect on people around him. Still despite all our pretenses, we hate him to the guts.
On the other end of the horizon stands Roark, following a absolutely different path, absolutely unconventional path. Now he has all the qualities we never want in a person. He never pities you, never try to console you, never laughs with you in your happiness and never weeps with you in your sorrows. He is the epitome of anti sociability , the height of egoism. He has a revolting effect on every person he met, they all are left with a bitter, unidentified feeling after meeting him. Still we love Roark, we worship him in confines of our heart, but never pledge our affection/admiration for him publicly.
The third dimension is provided by Keating, the person who symbolizes the modern man, who cut corners to gain, who measures his success in the eyes of other, one who keeps running far ahead only to find out later that he was running in the wrong race and still decides to carry on for the fear of being left behind in the wrong lane. He , who is a lecher , but a perfect poster boy, he is a parasite albeit a successful one. Whether we agree or not, majority of us are like Keating, to one degree or another, no matter how much we hate to admit this but this is true. The Blue Eyed boy lost in the maze of his own undoings.
The fourth dimension is provided by Gail Wyand, the man who we all envy, we all hate his guts, but we all are submissive , fearful of his authority. He is a man who is like Roark in his personal sphere, but publicly has given to pretenses. A man of unquestionable integrity, but a seeker of power. A proverbial example of a man who rise from gutter, who emerges from the shadows to claim his destiny. We all fear him because he can make or break us and he does that openly.
Ayn Rand beautifully constructed these 4 characters and use medium of comparison / differentiation to put forward her point of view. Toohey, the man who epitomizes the word altruism is shown as a second hander, a parasite. He is the person who is eating away the basic premises of humankind in a very human way.A man who wants to control the entire world by following and using the time trusted weapons of mob psychology and flattery.
Roark on the other hand is a study in contrast. A champion of egotism yet altruistic, a genius par excellence , but oblivious to this fact. The immortal "Howard Roark" , a man who has no sense of fear, guilt, pain. A man who never thinks about others, but focus on only thing he loves- his work. A man who has no sense of traditions, pity, politics. A man who is self sufficient , who don't need anybody, who helps a person with no strings attached. A person for whom words like mediocrity, compromise, power are alien. A man who is as passionate as cupid, as powerful as Zeus but strangely as naive in worldly sense as a new born baby. Purity in its purest form, an human par excellence.
Then why do we hate people like Roark. The answer is simple, we all know it but turn blind eye to it because the answer is too painful to the soul. We pretend ignorance because deep down the trenches of our heart we all love him, nay deify him. To some degree or other we all want to be like him, fearless, perfect, oblivious to pain and pressure. But somehow we find ourselves lacking at those counts and that is what harbors the hate. It is human nature to envy superiority yet be submissive to it. But Roark don't want our submission and that is what make us hate him. How can be a human be so self sufficient? How can he don't want power, prestige, recognition?
The answers to these is deep inside us, we need to look inside , to lay bare our souls and introspect in retrospect and that is precisely what Ayn Rand wants. To awaken the giant within all of us. To create more Howards to take humanity forward. Even if this book manages to create a single Roark, the world can afford to have and bear millions of Tooheys'.
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