| The
Fountainhead Essay Contest |
| for
students of high schools and junior colleges in
India |
| 1999
Second Prize Winner: Sruthi Shreedhar |
|
|
|
Sruthi
Shreedhar, Bishop
Cotton Girl's High School, Bangalore
Topic:
What is the one essential
difference between the heroes and the villains in The Fountainhead?
Ayn
Rand propagated her philosophy of Objectivism through her
book The Fountainhead, and Howard Roark, the hero of the novel,
is seen as a personification of her ideals. The idea of selfishness
being a vice is refuted, and altruism is seen as a device
to reduce humanity into collective mediocrity.
The
essential difference between the heroes and the villains
in the novel is that, as opposed to the villains, the heroes
possess self-esteem; because of this, they retain their
individuality, and do not degenerate into inconspicuousness
in the sea of humanity. They place themselves above everyone
and everything else, and achieving their own personal happiness
with rationality as their guide is the sole purpose of their
lives. The villains, on the other hand, live by the ideas
of altruism and collectivism. They undermine the importance
of the individual as opposed to the majority. They
possess no sense of self-worth, and are reduced to a condition
in which, in the words of Roark, "they have no self." Ayn
Rand thus rejects the claim that it is honourable to live
for others or for society.
Howard
Roark, the hero of the novel, is the embodiment of objective
principles. He lives in his 'pinnacle of loneliness'
with his own happiness as his only motivation. Neither
does he sacrifice himself for others, nor does he sacrifice
others to himself, but works for his rational self-interest.
Roark reveres his ego, and refuses to be broken down by
those who want him to compromise on his integrity. He believes
that the motivation to think comes from the ego, as the
mind is an attribute to the individual -- there can be no
'collective thought'. Therefore, every creator or achiever
is a person who lives for himself. His relations with other
men are secondary. Roark is a very talented architect who
truly loves his work, but he does not desire popularity
or commercialism, as that would make him dependent on what
others thought of hitn. He is a very individualistic person,
an egoist in the absolute sense; he stands above the need
of using others in any manner. He believes that personal
independence and initiative determine his talent as a worker
and his worth as a man. He refuses to conform to a society,
which has been conditioned to mock talent and achievement,
and adheres to his principles throughout. Roark proves that
unrelenting conviction in oneself does ultimately lead to
self-satisfaction. This is especially significant to Henry
Cameron and Steven Mallory, who are extremely talented individuals
who have been broken in spirit by the callousness of the
world. The compliment that Peter Keating pays him sums up
his personality: "You are the most egotistical and the kindest
man 1 know."
Dominique
Francon evolves into a heroine with the help of Roark, the
man she loves passionately. She fervently admires his talent
and everything he stands for, but she feels that it is heinous
to waste it on a world that is not worthy of such greatness.
She is truly fascinated by one of Roark's buildings, and
she writes the following about it in her column in The
Banner: "Our structures are meaningless and false; this
building makes it more so. By creating the contrast it will
have made itself a part of the great ineptitude."
She
first tries to ruin Roark, as she cannot bear to witness
him struggling against things and men, which do not deserve
to be his opponents. Roark teaches her not to be afraid
of the world, not to be affected by it. By learning to hold
her own self-interest above all else, Dominique becomes
immune to the power that other people exerted on her earlier.
She stops hating the world and no longer notices the baseness
of most people around her. The ultimate happiness of the
heroes of the novel goes to prove the triumph of Objectivism.
The
entire novel is divided into three sections, each section
named after the three principal villains -- namely, Peter
Keating, Ellsworth M.Toohey and Gail Wynand. Roark calls
them 'second-handers', because in their craving for prestige
and power, they function through other people. They sacrifice;
their individuality and self-esteem.
Peter
Keating does not possess any admirable talent for architecture,
and is aware of this fact even though he manages to conceal
it from most other people. He admires Roark rather grudgingly,
and sometimes even expresses an inclination to be like him,
but this is quickly over-ruled by his desire 'to belong'.
His desire is greatness in other people's eyes, not true
greatness within himself; he thus surrenders his ego and
his self-esteem. Since other people are his prime concern,
he can be said to be a 'selfless' man. He manages to deceive
others that he is content, but after a while, the facade
slips. He ends up broken and discontent, unhappy both professionally
and in his personal life.
Elisworth
Toohey is the most despicable villain in the novel, because
unlike Keating and some others, who are ignorant about their
faulty ways of living, Toohey is completely aware about
the evils of altruism. He is very intelligent and wily and
has no disillusions about being virtuous, though he manages
to deceive most people into believing that he is a 'humanitarian'.
He is totally unscrupulous, and has neither self-respect,
nor respect for anyone else. He seeks to enshrine mediocrity
so that he will be powerful by comparison, even though he
knows that desire for power is a second-hander's dream,
as one can be established as powerful only with the help
of other people. Toohey thus seeks to destroy the conception
of greatness, as greatness would lead to individualism,
and then independence. This is why he sets out to destroy
Roark, who has unshakeable conviction in himself and whose
sole objective is to achieve perfection, irrespective of
other people's opinions. Toohey believes that happy men
are free, so he preaches that personal desire is an evil
and ties happiness with guilt by preaching unselfishness.
He says to Keating:
"I am the most selfless man you have
ever known. I use people for the sake of what I can do to
them.... I desire power."
Gail
Wynand is perhaps the most likeable villain in the book.
Circumstances early in his life erased his faith in humanity,
and he sought power as a solace. He is the owner of the
newspaper The Banner, which he himself detests even though
it is popular among the masses. But by doing something which
he dislikes, he is always discontent and has no self-respect.
Wynand once says that he is the epitomy of selflessness,
as he has erased his ego out of existence. He admits that
he gave the world his soul in exchange for luxury. He wants
power over the 'collective soul', which he achieves through
The Banner. On introspection, he realises that by doing
this, he just added himself to the things the mob ran. Wynand
admires Roark, who manages to retain his individuality against
the rest of the world.
The
heroes of The Fountainhead possess self-esteem while the
villains lack it. In Howard Roark's words: "If one doesn't
respect oneself, one can have neither love nor respect for
others."
Copyright
1999. Liberty Institute, New Delhi
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