Select ONE of the following 3 topics.

1) Identify the theme of The Fountainhead. Explain why some people think it is important to destroy a person like Howard Roark. Is it possible to bring such a person down in the real world?

2) Identify any two characters from The Fountainhead with whom you relate the most, and give reasons for your choice.

3) For each of the following quotations, from The Fountainhead, explain its significance in the story, and their general implications.

a. Howard Roark to Henry Cameroon: "If at the end of my life, I’ll be what you are today, here, in this office, I shall consider it an honour that I could not have deserved."

b. "It’s sheer insanity!" Weidler moaned, "I want you. We want your building. You need the commission. Do you have to be quite so fanatical and selfless about it?"....... Roark smiled.... He said, "That was the most selfish thing you’ve ever seen a man do."

c. Ellsworth Toohey: "Why don’t you tell me what you think of me?......." Howard Roark: "But I don’t think of you."

Rules  and Conditions:

The participant must be a student at the Higher Secondary level (i.e., class XI or XII) or its equivalent, including pre-degree levels, intermediate levels or junior college, and based in India.

Essays must be typewritten or legibly hand written on one side of the page with double line spacing, and must not exceed 1200 words.

Essays must be sole work of the participant.

Essays must reach us on or before 30 October, 2000.

Decision of the judges will be final, and winners will be notified by 30 November, 2000.

All entries will become the property of Liberty Institute, and will not be returned.

Important: Entries must include a stapled cover sheet with the following information

(a) Participant’s Name and Address;
(b) Name and Address of the school;
(c) The topic selected; and
(d) A photocopy of the participant’s current school Identity Card.

Special Prizes for Schools

A. The school that sends the maximum number of entries, which are of acceptable quality, will receive a set of Ayn Rand’s fiction and non-fiction books.

B. Two runners up schools will receive a set of Ayn Rand’s fiction.

Attention Teachers:

1. Copies of Teacher’s guide to The Fountainhead, prepared by Dr. Andrew Bernstein, professor of philosophy, are available on request for teachers who would like to encourage their students to participate in the contest.

2. Copies of The Fountainhead are available for purchase at a special price  of Rs 200/- only (plus postage) by schools, teachers and students.

3. On request from teachers, Liberty Institute could help organize video screening of The Fountainhead.

The essay contest seeks to introduce young people to stimulating literature, so that they may develop their critical faculties, be well informed about some of the very basic issues of life, and live up to their full potential in their own chosen fields. For over a decade the Ayn Rand Institute has been organizing similar essay contest is being held in the United States and some other countries, attracting thousands of participants each year.