ipl-logo

The Struggle Of Individualism In Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead

1399 Words6 Pages
The ideal person to Ayn Rand, author of “The Fountainhead,” is someone that does not allow their decisions in life to be affected by external sources, and is able to deal with the struggle of staying an individual in such a collectivist world. However unless this person lives in complete isolation, that is nearly impossible. Man struggles to stay this ideal person that Rand describes because of how difficult it is to be such a man. It is seen who is, and who is not affected by others through their actions, and motives in life. Peter and Toohey are both affected by the events in their past, meanwhile Roark stays unchanged throughout the entire book. Everybody faces conflict in keeping their individualism, but what separates them, are the ones who stay unaffected from these obstacles.
Achieving absolute individualism is almost impossible when one is completely surrounded by others. However, Howard Roark never changes his values or his actions off anyone else 's point of view. In order to do this, one must “recognize his need of a moral code.”(Source 4, The Virtue of Selfishness, ix) Rand argues that by doing this, it sets an easy to follow set of rules that is not to be broken. Roark’s moral code in life is that he loves building and it is what he is going to do in life no matter what, and he will not let anyone get in his way of building or change his opinions on it. This stays the same when Roark is building for a customer. He will not change the building because they do not
Open Document