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Selfishness And Objectivism In Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead

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Ayn Rand, born in Russia during the wave of mass hysteria surrounding the Russian Revolution, became familiar with the political and social unrest caused by the country’s government. As a result of the violence associated with the revolution, Rand developed her ideologies surrounding self-importance and objectivism. In order to actively communicate her philosophies with other Russian citizens as well as the rest of the world, Rand became a writer, with The Fountainhead being her first major novel. Her principles can be identified through the actions of Howard Roark, the protagonist of The Fountainhead, who personifies Ayn Rand’s ethical beliefs.
Howard Roark portrays what can only he described as Ayn Rand’s image of the “ideal man.” Through …show more content…

She credits that man’s highest purpose is to discover and become a beneficiary of whatever makes him/her happiest, but only if the ideal is supported by the use of rational thought. By thinking selfishly, Rand simply means to place one’s own self-interest above all else. As observed in The Fountainhead, Howard Roark employs “selfishness” throughout the entirety of the book anytime questions surrounding his practice arise. Although many instances can be found, one particular occurrence of the notion arises when Roark is offered the Manhattan Bank commission. As soon as his designs are challenged, Roark calmly responds that “an honest building, like an honest man, had to be of one piece and one faith… if one smallest part committed treason to the idea-the thing or the creature was dead” (195). Roark does not care what others think. He refuses to alter the slightest detail of his creation, even when desperately in need of a commission. By selecting self-interest as one of the many unique traits of Roark, the reader is offered a glimpse into Rand’s youth when her family could not live as they wished. On the contrary, in the communist country, they were subjugated to lifestyles manipulated by the government. By giving Roark this approach to life, Ayn Rand can mentally live the life she was denied through The

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Equality 7-2521’s journey to individuality has finally reached an acme where he discovers his true purpose. He has discovered the importance of the word I, and his discovery helps him question the life he has been living, and envision a world free from oppression. Anthem by Ayn Rand details the scary, yet feasible possibility of a world without individuality, education, and questions. The protagonist, Equality 7-2521, lives in a world where freedom of speech is a sin, curiosity is viewed as a curse, and the sense of an ego is completely lost. Equality 7-2521 eventually learns about his desires for education, curiosity, and an identity.

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Why did Ayn Rand believe in Objectivism? Is relying on yourself for every situation a good thing? Ayn Rand grew up with lots of political influence in her home country Russia. Ayn Rand’s books were very controversial in the political side of things she went along with a lot of objectivism, which in simpler form means that you can only use rational self-interest to survive.

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Ayn Rand’s method and use of vocabulary explained their findings and the way they experienced their findings stayed inspirational “[Such as] never had we seen rooms so full of light. The sunrays danced upon colors, colors, more colors than we thought possible” (90). Subsequently, these items were so forbidden to Equality and Liberty the way they described their findings was exalting, “We found a room with walls made of shelves, which held rows of manuscripts, from the floor to the ceiling” (95). If Equality did not contemplate himself first, then discovering the wall of the books or the house with Liberty would never have occurred because, they remained in their city performing their jobs and would not have met each other. In addition, they were to gain their own process of philosophies about issues, with more of an open opinion and the many ways they could act upon or us their egos to guide their judgments through

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Selflessness is the purpose of life. Lewis states, “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” Ayn Rand seems to have an inaccurate reasoning behind her hatred of altruism because she denies the fact that someone looking to help others can also care about themselves. Rand uses Roark as her muse for all of her beliefs, so in the court case when Roark is spewing his beliefs, Rand is seeping out of the words as well. This shows that Roark’s views of selfishness translate over to Ayn

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