FREE ESSAY ON AYN RAND'S THE FOUNTAINHEAD

AYN RAND'S THE FOUNTAINHEAD

Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead
Imagine power as a form of free flowing energy, a source found within every one
and for each individual. Assume that to gain power, one has to tap this
resevoir of immense proportions and relish upon the rich harvest to their hearts
desires. Consequently, when there is such a dealing of concentrated materials,
nature takes charge and similarly to other physical abstracts, rendering this
package lethal, with the potential for untold destruction. In other words,
power in the wrong hands or power without responsibility is the most harzardous
weapon mankind can possess.
To say that power is a medium out of control and pertaining to something with
incredible destruction, is rather quite true. Assuming that every one and
anyone has the potential to be entitle to a share of this universal medium.
Then it would be justifiable to claim that like any other unmoderated activities,
raging amibition for power uncontroled could wreak havoc and acts as a catalyst
in the breakdown of a society. Similar to politics which deals with the static
physical component of society, there must be a more formidable source of
pervailance over the mystical realm of power. There fore, this form of guidance
can only exist from the mind, and as product of thought, thus the ideas within
a philosophy.
The Ideals warp between the covers of, The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand's
philosophical revolution of Individualistic power, is her solution to society's
request for a cure. She believe that the highest order of power stands above
all alternatives as the power belonging to an individual and her mission is to
prove the greatness of individualist power within the hero she christain the
name Roark.
Rational thinkers, do not make decisions in a give or take scenario, but instead
they carefully distinguish between be extremes of the Black, the White, and the
median Gray. The Fountainhead, simulates the world as a whitches cauldron,
filled with many evils, among which only one true and worthy victor can pervail.
Ayn Rand explores the many facets of power within a structural community,
relying upon her philosolophy as a test-bed and a believable standard.
In essence the portfolio of The Fountainhead, contains, four major fronts of
power, each dominated by a type of relative character and characteristics.
Manipulative Power entitle itself to be crown the champion of false promises
and deciet. The Power of Green or power due to money is difficult to achieve
and deserve honorable mentioning, yet it is a virtual power built upon wealth.
Worst of all evil in man's search for power lies behind the mask of a man built
on betrayal, resorting to self-deprivation for prestige and the selling of
oneself to fame. The true power belongs to an individualist, who fights for
himself, lives for himself and is Rand's answer to the plea of the people.
Subjecting to visualization, this could be interpret in the form of a compass
rose with its four extended arms representing each front of power, converging
onto a center of origin. This origin is the birth place of all men. Attaining
power is a rather lenghthy, delicate process and is likely prone to failure.
Life's goal is determining of one direction and that single path can represent
an arm of the rose. Simply it may seem not too difficult to make the correct
choice, yet many fail to do so.
Ironically, Ayn Rand play the role of a mischieve when she weave such a
believable character to represent the cold, uncompassionate, and power hungry
Manipulator. She fool the reader to believe that Ellsworth Toohey, a successful
and very influential member of society, is a worthy man, fighting for the cause
of the human kind. His generosity and sacreficial offerings are only cover-ups
from his true nature, the impulsive liar who strive on manipulating others for
power.
Physically Toohey is described as a weak man, apparent only through the power of
his mind. According to Rand, a wholesome, powerful character has to unify both
the mental and physical hemispheres. Toohey is a man that could have been, yet
upon his own choosing, warp himself into something beyond rescue. Toohey is a
very dangerous man. Dangerous because he knows the weakness in other men and
uses this porthole as a point of attack. His aim, is the breakdown of another's
soul and thus in this way he gain power over them. Toohey can be rank above
the most tyrant Monarchs and the worst dictators in history. His ambition is
not only to physically own people, but the possession of their very souls. In a
confession to one of his victim he says. ' If you learn how to rule one single
man's soul, you can get the rest of mankind.' Toohey understands that he is
capable because there exist people who wants his reasurance and the recognition
from others that they have done something right, something significant. Thus
this gives him the power manipulate others into thinking what he wants and
believing what he permits. He plays with his victims like puppets in a show,
because to him, people can be like water, aimlessly following the shift of a
tide.
Similar to an engine over heated, Toohey is too power hungry, in turn his
eminent downfall. He knows quite well that he is incapable of acheiving true
power, so his conscience convulges and lash back at the world that he despise.
His destructive natural corrupts and he vows vengence. ' I have no private purpose. I
want power. I want my world of the future. Let all sacrifice and none profit. Let all
suffer and none enjoy. Let progress stop.' Like a fugitive who fear being caught, Toohey
has to live in the agony of having to guard himself from the retribution of the people.
He knows that power gain through manipulation of others does not have the integrity too
oppose the yearning of men for freedom. He can only accept defeat.
Ayn Rand is not materialistic, yet she promotes rank differences and wealth. Her
characters are in fact very influential personalities who are often leaders within a
society. Critics of Rand's work often redicule her philosophy as unrealistic, liable to
things that occurs in fairy tales. However, Ayn Rand believes differently. In using
characters who are over achievers, she demonstrates the power of her philosophy and the
potential of those followers who strive to attain goals with the best of their abilities.
Symbolically, her characters represent the highest potential that exist within each
individual.
Green is a significant color that maintains two polarities. To many, this color glorify
the shear power of money and to others it resembles the pale sickness that originate from
greed. In fact, there is a coralation between these ' similar opposites'. According to
the mechanics of time, one event leads to another in a chronological order. The old
phrase, 'There no smoke without the fire,' holds true when associated with money and
greed. It may seem trivial that Ayn Rand promotes such a character within her novel,
honoring greatness, then include in the package, a terrible flaw. Ayn Rand mocks the
world for its imperfection when she introduce the character of Gail Wynand, a rugged
newspaper tycoon who owns every thing within his reach, but lacks the possession of his
own soul. She artistically accept her own imperfection in permiting this foul experiment
to take place.
Wynand's accomplishments are radical, unchallenge by any other character in the novel.
His power is very concrete and true to life, but only to the extent that public permits.
The readers of his newspaper pretends to fear him while he play the role of the dictator
who deny his dictatorship. The situation unveil a continuous loop of lies and deciet.
The Tycoon's reign is the result of power he attain from shear wealth. Such power comes
with a price and he paid for by selling his soul to the public. On the contrary to the
purpose of a newspaper as an expression medium, the world of The Fountainhead expresses
zero tolerence for free speech. The paper exist for the collective and praise everything
but heroic ventures into the new frontiers. Society encourages the conservative while it
condone aspiring changes.
Gail Wynand's falter is due to carelessness in maintaining his integrity. His business
etiquette involves sacrificing himself and dedicating his whole life's work as a service
to the people, for the people. He suppresses the outcries of his conscience, acting only
on the behalf of strengthening public relations and obtaining higher profits. The man
owns his fortune, but he did not own himself. The public mob lay claim to his existence.
His fortune is a mere donation from the public in return for the service that he provides
them.
Wynand suffers internal pain, a pain unbearable due to disappointment and a sour
appointment with reality. He dare challenges the public in a duel, wasting his efforts in
exercising a power that he never own. The sudden impact caught the victim off guard
because he never bother to ask and no one care to answer. In an effort to reclaim
himself, Wynand risked his fortune in a fight against the public for something which he
believes and lost. He is force to forfeit his newspaper empire, a life long dream of a
man who never was. In the end, he realizes too late that it is easier to move imilar to
an engine over heated, Toohey is too power hungry, in turn his eminent downfall. He knows
quite well that he is incapable of achieving true power, so his conscience convulges and
lash back at the individual boulders, then to budge entire mountains.
To every situation there exist two extremes, presumably the black and the white. The
identity of the black is usually mark with a stamp of disapproval and render forbidden
deep within the abyss. In the world of The Fountainhead, Foul plays the dead man's hand.
Ayn Rand is a towering deity who rules with an iron fist She refuses to tolerate
imperfection, despising power gain through self deprivation and unjust sacrifices. She
mimics the qualities of a collective society in Peter Keating, a living mannequin,
suseptable only to the movements which others care to permit. Outspokenly, Ayn Rand
defends her opinions of a collective's destructive nature by lowering the character of
Peter Keating to a point which is comparable to insects, slugs and parasites.
Keating is not a man, but a mass mob of the collective. When Rand refers to him, she
speaks of society as a whole. When Keating speaks of self, he voices the thoughts of a
million. He kills the meaning of the word 'independence'.
He is very smart and cunning, but all of which he steals or borrows from others. His
apparition of progress is repetition and his view of success is the approval by some one
else.
Keating is the master manipulator, who knowingly victimizes himself. He represents his
own sacrificial goat, offering to a god that has no face, but many faces. In sacrificing
he gains nothing except false prestige and a delusion of happiness. He follows the
desires of his mother and cast aside dreams of pursuing the profession he wants. In doing
so, he denies himself the gratification of doing what he wants to do and in turn
sentencing himself to a life of misery and frustration. The fool refuses to accept that,
' Where there's sacrifice, there is some one collecting sacrificial offerings,' and, '
Where there is service, there is some one being served.' Ultimately, this ties into
slavery, and worse yet, its self slavery.
Keating flows through a transition of vanity, fame, lies, flatter, and
eventually guilt. He lacks the essential of self respect. A person without self respect
lives in insecurity, holding a bomb that has no control over its detonation switch. The
fame that he dwell on comes with a price and that is the man's own dignity. He flushes
his human qualities in a trade with the devil and in the end suffers the consequences. He
who deceives others, deceives himself. Yet even deceit has its limits. A collective is
not an entity, it is a monster that consume without remorse. It destroys what is great
and promotes a relationship where the exchange is mutual exploitation. The society which
would keating into existence abandons him, satisfied that it has done its toll. Then it
has abruptly embraces him, his power vanishes. Keating realizes that he is left alone and
slowly his conscience seeps in, destroying the empty shell that remains. This is true
example of power without responsibility.
With respect to the Webster's Dictionary, power is define as, 'authority,' and a form of
'control'. Inevitably, authority suggests the notion of power aim at a target, and often
over group of people or individuals without 'control'. In turn, power is rather
destructive, its nature is the encouragement of a society where individuals strive to
conquer one another. Generally, human kind have never learn cope with this fact, thus
locking itself in a cycle of voluntary
decay.
Ayn Rand sums it up in a quote,  Life can be kept in existence only by a constant process
of self-sustaining actions. In her vision, she proposes progress as a measurement of
power and a solution to the 'process of self- sustaining actions', as an individual who
exist not to triumph over other men, but in the conquest of nature.
Nature is a formidable foe which trembles the heart of the weak, but to great men, it's
dangers serve as an inspiration. Ayn Rand worships the greatness in men who dares to
break the Cycle and humbly honor them by creating the character of Howard Roark, a
symbolism of strength and determination.
Roark is `self centered', `self generated', `self sufficient', `self motivated' and is
the ideal man. He represents a powerful locomotive, pulling his only cargo of an ego and
armor plating which protects it. Power streams from this neural core, it surges in a
fluxing shield that illuminates an aura of remarkable energy, fuel that can only come
from an individual.
The antagonist, Ellsworth Toohey once claims that,  A thinking man can't be ruled. This
statement aims at an opponent that is superior to all and including society. Roark thinks
and this gives him the power to create. Creators are mile stones, set far from the filthy
reaches of the mass mob who deserves no place for contest. Creators travels uncharted
paths into a unique destiny, pursuing uncontrollable possibilities. Society lack control
over Roark, this hatred overwhelms them and they set out to destroy him. The Leeches
complicates themselves in attacking something that is prone to their touch. Roark is not
an image of a man, but a hologram that is immune to outside interference.
At first, Roark's character can be on the outrageous side, doom humorous and terribly
intimidating. However, he is the product of a radical thinker and thus is an incredible
concept of thought. Believing in his existence help to understand the philosophy behind
his character and like wise the character behind the philosophy.
Perhaps at the dawn of creation, all human beings can be considered paupers in terms of
knowledge, wisdom and undoubtedly, the power to make appropriate decisions. Simply put,
life's a continuous search for a sturdy foundation, upon which will erect a monumental
shrine for those who succeeds, and for mindless others who fail to choose the right path,
it will be their final resting place, six feet under. Success is eminent for those who
search vigorously, but more importantly for those who knows where to seek the guidance.
There are few however, that surpass the stage of seeking, they go beyond to collect their
wisdom into a teaching, guidance in the form of a philosophy. Ayn Rand is one among
them.
Individualism is the philosophy which exemplify 'self', promotes greatness and prolong
longevity of the human race. It contains the power lock inside every individual. Our
responsibility as an emity on this planet, is to tap this incredible source of energy,
utilizing this fuel to propel humanity into the depth of the future.
This is a lesson readers of Ayn Rand's philosophy will never forget. We are supplied with
various paths to take in life. The true heroes will know which he is to take and remain
above all others. Those who fail, will end up in the melting pot of society, their flame
of freedom extinguished.