The Fountainhead By Ayn Rand

By Srishti Jain:

Objectivism, I didn’t exactly know the real connotation of this word before I read ‘The Fountainhead’ by Ayn Rand. This book had an impact on me in real sense; it molded my way of thinking and perceiving success, failure, morality and society ethics.

The protagonist Howard Roark is one of a specimen, the man loves buildings and making them and he is very good at it too. A little haughty in nature and stubborn in his ways, though intelligent than most of his batch mates, he is expelled from the architecture school.

From then on, starts the remarkable journey of a man who as the story progress, makes the reader question the reader’s long believed ethics about work, love, and social behavior. Being marred by traditions and conventional ideas he is left devoid of everything and is reduced to nothing. But the man displays exemplary courage and comes out winning and reinforcing in the reader a state of self belief and a notion that the real purpose of being born is to find something you love and then completely devoting yourself to it.

The story glorifies that there is nothing wrong with thinking about one owns self first before anyone, else questioning the very meaning of the word ‘Altruism’ and at the same time giving it a new definition.

The plot gives us insight about the author’s way of thinking which goes like that the main purpose of a man being heroic is , with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, productive achievement as his noblest activity and reason his only absolute.

She is not telling us to be selfish but rather to be true to our word and work first and then anything else.
The plot isn’t only about a man’s crusade against this hypocrite world but a lot more, teaching the reader the practical sense and advantages of accepting Objectivism as their way of life.

The story is also adorned by other interesting characters like Dominique, an independent daughter of a rich dad who personifies elegance, confidence, and daunting belief in one’s own decisions and never being apologetic.

Then we have Peter Keating, another character, which is the most common sight in today’s world, he is the brightest student of Howard’s class and values success as the most important thing in his life, which is not wrong at all. What is wrong is his definition of success. He defines success as becoming rich and having power.

For other more interesting characters like Ellsworth Toohey and Gail Wynand, you should definitely give this book a read.

The best part of this book is that every character is unique and right in its own sense. Nobody is wrong; it is about whom you chose to be at the end of the book.

I cannot assure weather you’ll like it or not but definitely it’ll be a very enriching experience for you.