The Fountainhead (Review)

The Fountainhead
The selfishness of the noblesoul.





Rabindranath Tagore once wrote that , 'How strange it is that the MAN is noble but the MEN are evil?'. Ayn Rand (1905-82),the writer of The Fountainhead is also an exponent of such a philosophy.She believes in the value of human self above all else and presents her systemetic philosophy of 'Objectivism' in the guise of imaginative literature.The Fountainhead was first written in 1943 and brought fame and money to Rand.In Ayn Rand's own words the very purpose of writing this novel was to show that ' man's ego is the fountainhead of human progress '.The Founatainhead demonstrates the importance of man's struggle to free himself from the tyranny of collective society.So,this book is an inspiration for those who believe in the cause of Individualism.
As a piece of literature this novel has to be judged on two grounds,firstly as a work of fiction and secondly as a work of philosophy.The story revolves around Howard Roark,a self-centered architect whose integrity is as unyiielding as the granite of the buildings he creates.Its about his violent battle against the standards,norms and conventions of the society.He knows only one way to live and that is to live for himself.Being a man of integrity he neither rules nor obey.He creates his own values and sets his own standards.The novel also contains the explosive love affair between Roark and Dominique Francon,a perfect woman for a egotist like Roark.She loves Roark passionately yet struggles to defeat him. Set against Roark is Peter Keating ,who is also an architect.He lacks Roark's arrogance and egoism.He is a dishonest man who cares more about the public opinion and never shy away from coping Roark's work and present it as his own.For him his work is a mean to an end (money),in contrast Roark considers his creative work as an end in itself.
As a work of philosophy ,the novel presents Rand's own views about the ancient debate i.e, 'Individual vs Collective' or to put it simple 'MAN v MEN'.She rejects altruism as a moral philosophy and presents it as an evil in the form of Ellswort Toohey,the villian of the novel.Being a proponent of altruism ,Toohey regards the interst of the masses above the interest of the individual.Rand presents Roark as a man who has the potential to be an ideal man and he himself is aware of this fact.Whereas,Toohey recognises his limitations and hates anysort of superior creative abilities in others.He is a person of modest talent,and for him modesty is pure honesty .But for an egotist like Roark with superior qualities ,modesty is mere hypocrisy.He regards altruism as the greatest evil because how can a man sacrifice his integrity,his vision,his own truth and ideals?He argues that such an act of humiility should be despised rather than called 'pure virtue'.Toohey preaches that if the world doesn't agree with you,you must agree with the world.Roark preaches that if the world doesn't agree with you,rise against it.
The Fountainhead presents man as a heroic being,with his own happiness as the moral purpose of life and productive achievement as the noblest activity .However critics have always regarded Roark as Rand's modified version of Nietzschean Ubermensch(Overman).Like Ubermensch,Rand's ideal man (Howard Roark) is also indifferent towards the society and regards creative art as the noblest of all activities.Her ideal man has a selfish desire to express his own truth.He walks the long and winding road of life with nothing but his own vision.He is selfish but doesn't demand fame ,respect or recognition because in Nietzsche's words 'the noble soul has reverence for itself'.
I must conclude my review with the words of Fredrick Nietzsche that adresses the prime question of the novel that why every great innovater ,creator or reformer is denounced by the society of his time.He writes ,'During the longest period of the human past nothing was more terrible than to feel that one stood by oneself. To be alone, to experience things by oneself, neither to obey nor to rule, to be an individual—that was not a pleasure but a punishment; one was sentenced to "individuality." Such was the fate of Howard Roark ,he was sentenced to individuality.So,i'll highly recommend this book to all those who want to be themselves.