This essay won one of the three Second Prize in the all India The Fountainhead Essay Contest 1999.
Individualism the doctrine of free thought and action of the individual, forms the basis of Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead. The major theme of her fiction is the primacy of the individual, the unique and precious individual life. That which sustains and enriches life is good, that which negates and impoverishes the individual's pursuit of happiness is evil.
The Fountainhead is Rand's fullest explication of the primacy of the
individual. As she worked out her interpretation of the inalienable rights:
the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; and what these
entailed, she saw three areas of conflict where these rights were held
in balance.
The Three Antipodes:
Individualism versus CollectivismAll of these areas are interconnected. Collectivism, altruism and mysticism all work against individual freedom, a healthy ego, and rationality.
Egoism versus Altruism
Reason versus Mysticism
The Fountainhead is the story of a highly individualistic architect, Howard Roark, and his fight for integrity and individualism against the altruistic parasites and also against the non-heroes who do not believe the fight can be won - the fight of the individual against the non-entity called collectivism.
Non-entity because, any 'collective' or group is only a number of individuals. But here, being an individual is to be selfless, voiceless, righteous, slave of any heed, claim or demand asserted by others. Under collectivism, it is imperative to repress one's critical faculty and hold it as one's guilt. Doubt, not confidence, is man's moral-state; self-distrust, not self-reliance, is a virtue; fear, not self-confidence is the mark of perfection; guilt, not pride is the goal.
Howard Roark is an egoist and loves his work with a kind of religious fervour. He tries to explain to people that "...An honest building, like an honest man had to be one piece and one faith; what constituted the life-source...... and why if one small part committed treason to that idea, the thing or the creature was dead .... and why the high and the noble on earth was only that which kept it's integrity."
Henry Cameron, Roark's mentor both in work and principles had been very successful, but had gradually faded away into oblivion. He did not give in to others' demands on him and worshipped and believed in the 'heroic' in man....... he wished to build as he wished, and for that reason only." For him Gail Wynand represented "everything that's wrong with the world."
Peter Keating, a successful young architect, Roark's senior, possesses a modicum of talent but guides his life by pursuing what other people want of him. Though openly successful he is actually a bundle of anxieties. This he tries to obscure by amassing wealth and following proper public opinions. In all his major works, it was Roark who provided him with ideas.
When he achieves everything he 'should' want, he doesn't understand the hollowness of it all. He can never be satisfied because he has never gone after what he wants. He is a parasite, a 'second-hander' as Roark calls him; incapable of self-direction.
Ellsworth Monkton Toohey again is a 'second-hander' but of a worse kind than Peter Keating. He preaches self-abnegation, self-sacrifice, and self-surrender as a means to power over human beings. A self confessed humanitarian, he denies himself all the materialistic pursuits but ends up raking all the public adulation. His quest for power is just a protection against helplessness and against insignificance. His stringent need to impress others, to be admired and respected, is born out of anxiety, hatred and feelings of inferiority.
Gail Wynand, on the other hand succumbed in his youth to the belief that integrity of character stands no chance in human society. He concluded that the only choice left to him was ' to rule or be ruled - and he chose to rule.' He is the hero, the individual who never was.
He tries to undo his past by using 'The Banner' for the first time, for a cause he believes in, in defence of Roark; who for him is the embodiment of the impossible -- of integrity of soul. His readers desert him and realisation dawns on him that it was not he who directed public opinion, but public opinion which directed him. He held a leash of power. 'A leash is only a rope with a noose at both ends.' He didn't know that power seeking always means dependency.
Dominique Francon, who loves Howard Roark intensely, denies herself his love, to protect him from a world which doesn't let such integrity of character survive; a world where man works not even for the harmless money, but for the headless monster -- prestige, in others eyes.
The Fountainhead is a long account of the education of Dominique Francon, wherein she learns not to submit herself to something greater, she learns to live for herself. "Dominique," says Rand, "is myself in a bad mood."
As a foil for Dominique is Catherine Halsey, a tragic, but beautifully drawn figure - a figure of utter altruism of complete submersion in to the lives of others. Society, however applauds her dedication as the perfect social worker, failing to see that until she has a self of her own, she cannot possibly be of any value to others.
Rand describes the various groups of writers and artists that Toohey organised: there was 'a woman who never used commas.….. and another who wrote poems that neither rhymed nor scanned...... A few friends pointed out to Toohey that he seemed guilty of inconsistency; he was so deeply opposed to individualism they said, and here were all these writers and artists of his and everyone was a rabid individualist. "Do you really think so?" said Toohey smiling blandly.'
What Toohey knew is that such subjectivists in their rebellion against the 'tyranny of reality,' are less independent and more abjectly parasitical than the most commonplace 'second- harder'. They struggle to fill the void of the egos they do not possess, by means of the only form of self assertiveness they recognise -- defiance, for the sake of defiance; irrationality for the sake of irrationality.
Roark is the touchstone by whom the rest of the characters are to be judged. He needs no approval, acclaim or admiration. He knows his work is good, and doesn't need to be told so. He believes that just as life is an end in itself, so every human being is an end in himself, and not the means to the ends of others.
At the Cortland, he explains to the jury that his action was necessary and inevitable. "I wished to come here and say that I'm a man who doesn't exist for others. It had to be said, the world is perishing from an orgy of self sacrificing……"
Today, the world faces a choice, for civilization to survive men have to reject collectivism. As Rand says in Atlas Shrugged -- "You have been using fear as your weapon and have been bringing death to man as his punishment for rejecting your morality. We offer him life as his reward for accepting ours."
Copyright 1999. Liberty Institute, New Delhi.
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