“Man’s ego is the fountainhead of all his progress” this is the idea based on which Ayn Rand has developed her novel The Fountainhead.
First of all I would like to deal with the important characters of the novel before talking about the novel as a whole.
Howard Roark - The protagonist and undoubtedly the most important character of the novel around whom the whole story revolves. He’s shown as the virtual god of the novel who reaches to the very top from almost nothing-to where he began. He is confident, immensely talented and possesses a moving persona who has his own ideals and principles and can move not an inch from his concept of life and way of living. He is the triumphant hero of the story, one with a ‘rags to riches’ tag. I would like to address him as The Individualist.
Dominique Francon - Right after Howard Roark I shifted to Dominique, for I believe she is the second most important character of the plot. A very strong lady with huge enduring capacity and high emotional quotient, beautiful and talented one who is able to adapt and perform at new jobs, this lady who can be every man’s desire represents the idol each female soul of this century idealizes.
Gail Wynand - A real man, much like Howard Roark in nature and qualities. He too has a ‘rags to riches’ curve in his life however he doesn’t have one thing which Howard Roark has- lady love and that is what I believe led to his downfall. However to me he is the real hero of the plot.
Ellsworth M Toohey - Great humanitarian, majestic speaker and representative of masses, he is one who I like to associate with the Indian arthashastra guru Chanakya. I feel he rules the whole plot and gives direction to events and incidents till the very end when the writer decides his downfall thanks to his lust for power.
Peter Keating - The downcast, immoralist man, one who doesn’t have any principles in life. He is a born ‘second hander’ and is left with an identity crisis at the end of the novel, even though the story began on his promising ability and what looked as a bright future. However the author leaves him in absolute filth with him accepting all his failures. Roark’s line-“I donot blame Peter Keating. He was helpless” leaves a piteous attitude for him in the minds of the readers. Helpless indeed is the word that defines Peter Keating.
ANALYSIS
Indeed Ayn Rand is a great writer and she through her novel ‘THE FOUNTAINHEAD’ has spun a web of human philosophy and emotion in which the reader is left in a perplexed state contemplating the creative excellence of the writer. She’s come up with an entirely new theory, an unseen, unheard philosophy, probably one ahead of the present times. I must admit that I find it a bit difficult to completely understand this attitude (and sometimes stubbornness) of humanity which seems to me under the disguise of the term ‘positive ego’.
‘ego’ is a hugely negative word and egotism one of the undesired phenomenon for humanitarian behaviour. However self respect which by many is termed as ‘Ego’ is a much desired quality for every individual. The author’s viewpoint on this self respect of human behaviour is entirely justified. However on a number of occasions Ayn Rand develops a theory in favour of complete egotistic attitude, when she says-
“the creator is the egotist in the absolute sense and the selfless man is the one who does not think, feel, judge or act”
Also the line-“There must be something terribly wrong with a world in which this monstrous feeling (pity) is called a virtue” seems to go a mile further than desired.
Both of the above cases and a few others represent a completely extremist approach of Ayn Rand and I am somewhat unable to justify my mind the futility and uselessness of mercy, charity, forgiveness and tolerance. Indeed a huge part of the world today is soaked deep in the swamps of selfishness and self interest but the basics of ethics, I believe would always remain the same. ‘Consideration for others’ is still one of the great qualities and even in these times the Gandhian concept of forgiveness holds a lot of value for me. In fact in present times, they make even more sense.
However Ellsworth M Toohey’s remark-‘ First divide and conquer and then unite and rule’ is a completely understandable concept and that is what’s been depicted in the plot too in the way Ellsworth rules over the hearts of the workforce of Gail Wynand, which ultimately made Wynand get him back in his office(after a court order).
All in all, I would say ‘THE FOUNTAINHEAD’ is a great novel and AYN RAND a great thinker and writer. It is a must read for all the people of the present generation, lest they relate themselves with the present society and world and discover some rules of life which aren’t there in any religious book or taught by our parents. To endorse or not depends entirely on one’s own thinking and conscience.
My final word for THE FOUNTAINHEAD – An Invention.
