The fountainhead essay

The fountainhead essay

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WebAbout The Fountainhead. The Fountainheadserves as an excellent introduction to both Ayn Rand's writing and her philosophy of Objectivism. All of the major intellectual themes that WebThe novel frowns upon pity and compassion and advocates the use of violence to advance human genius. Dominique embodies this viewpoint, constantly battling the world and WebThe Fountainhead The Russian Revolution of greatly influenced the lives of Russian citizens as socialism became a driving political force. Ayn Rand, who grew up during this WebThe Fountainhead Essay Contest Enter by April 27 for your chance to win up to $5,! The Fountainhead essay contest is open to all high school students worldwide. If you WebThe Fountainhead was absolutely fantastic. When I first received the book, I looked at it and thought it was really long; however, I was instantly hooked. Ayn Rand’s characters, ... read more

Regarding this aspect of the book, Rand sets her hero against various collectivist ideas that existed — and to some degree continue to exist — in the United States. The obvious example of collectivism in The Fountainhead is the political one. Ellsworth Toohey, the novel's villain, is a Marxist intellectual, preaching socialism to the masses. He holds that an individual has no value in himself but exists solely to serve his brothers. As Ayn Rand wrote the novel, in the s, collectivism was rapidly engulfing the world. First the Communists took over her native Russia, then the Fascists came to power in Italy, then Hitler and the National Socialists took political control of Germany. On September 1, , Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, as allies, invaded Poland, plunging mankind into the most destructive war of its history.

In the early s, collectivism appeared to be on the threshold of military conquest of large portions of the globe. In the United States, many intellectuals, politicians, labor leaders, and businessmen thought of the Communist and Nazi systems as "noble experiments," as new attempts to emphasize an individual's moral responsibilities to his fellow man. Before the war, there was ideological support in the United States for both the Communists and the Nazis; even after the war, support among the intellectuals continued for Communism and does to this day.

Ayn Rand wrote The Fountainhead , at one level, as a fervent warning to her fellow man of the unmitigated horrors of collectivism, whether of the Nazi, Fascist, or Communist variety; the evils that result in concentration camps; the extermination of millions of innocent victims; and the precipitation of world war. Ayn Rand witnessed these horrors firsthand in Europe; she wrote The Fountainhead , in part, to prevent their recurrence in America. But The Fountainhead is not fundamentally about politics. The book warns against a more subtle manifestation of collectivism, one that underlies the political danger and makes that danger possible. Although all human beings have minds, many people choose not to use theirs, looking instead to others for guidance.

Many people prefer to be led in their personal lives by an authority figure — be it parents, teachers, clergymen, or others. Those who prefer to be led by authority figures are conformists, refusing the responsibility of thought and self-directed motivation, taking the path of least resistance in life. In the character of Peter Keating, a conventional architect who goes by public taste, Ayn Rand provides an incisive glimpse into the soul of such an abject follower. The picture is frightening. Keating, in many ways an average American status seeker, desires acclaim from others.

In exchange for social approval, he is willing to sacrifice any and all of his personal convictions. He becomes a blind follower of the power broker, Ellsworth Toohey, and in so doing reveals the mentality of the millions of "true believers" who blindly follow a Jim Jones, a Sun Myung Moon, or an Adolf Hitler. Ayn Rand shows that conformity, a widespread phenomenon in contemporary American society, is one of the underlying causes of collectivist dictatorship. In The Fountainhead , Rand also shows that nonconformity, often thought to be the opposite of blind obedience, is merely a variation on the same theme. In a variety of minor characters Lois Cook, Ike the Genius, Gus Webb , all devotees of Toohey, Rand demonstrates the essence of nonconformity: an unthinking rebellion against the values and convictions of others.

The nonconformist, too, places the beliefs of others first, before his own thinking; he merely reacts against them, instead of following them. It is no accident that Ayn Rand shows these rebels as followers of Toohey, because nonconformists, placing others first, always cluster into private enclaves that inevitably demand rigid obedience to their own set of rules. Nonconformists value freethinking no more than does the herd of conformists. The nonconformist characters of the novel are fictional examples of historical movements of the early twentieth century.

They are predominantly writers and artists who rebel against grammar, coherent sentences, and representational art in the same way that the surrealists, expressionists, and Dadaists did in actual fact. This band of real-life rebels, not surprisingly, centered in Weimar, Germany, in the s. Outwardly, some opposed Hitler. But at a deeper level, their blind rebelliousness against others and their slavish conformity to their own little subgroup fostered a herd mentality similar to that of the conformists. The nonconformists, too, were part of the culture that spawned the Nazis. This is why, in The Fountainhead , when Toohey is chided for cultivating a circle of "rabid individualists," he merely laughs and responds: "Do you really think so?

The issue of conformity in the story relates to another real-life movement of the time. The Fountainhead takes place in America in the s and s. Roark and his mentor, Henry Cameron, are early designers of the modern style. Although the book is not historical fiction, and the lives of Cameron and Roark are not based on the lives of real-life individuals, their struggles parallel the battles waged by Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. In the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, the architectural style that still dominated American building was Classical. American architects largely copied Greek and Roman designs or those of other historical periods such as the Renaissance. Louis Sullivan was one of the first to build in what became known as the modern style.

Generally held to be the father of modern architecture and, in particular, of the skyscraper, Sullivan waged a long battle for his ideas against conventional standards. Ayn Rand scholar David Harriman, editor of The Journals of Ayn Rand , points out that Sullivan's life serves as a "concrete inspiration" for the character of Henry Cameron. Harriman also notes that Frank Lloyd Wright , the greatest of the modern designers, is famous for his "strikingly original designs. Although the events of Roark's life are not identical to the events of Wright's, in the broad sense Wright does serve as the model for Howard Roark. Cameron and Roark, in the novel, struggle against characters like the Dean of Stanton Institute, who believes that all the great ideas in architecture have been discovered already by the designers of the past, and that contemporary architects are simply to copy those ideas.

Sullivan and Wright, in real life, battled against similar instances of conformity. Though important similarities between Rand's fictional characters and Sullivan and Wright do exist, it is important to remember that Roark and Cameron are exemplars of innovativeness and independent thought; they are not fictionalized versions of Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan. In her previous novels, Ayn Rand had also glorified the heroism of the freethinking human mind, although in different forms. Her first novel , We the Living , published in , tells the story of three individuals who dare to think for themselves in the Communist dictatorship of Soviet Russia. Its heroine, Kira Arguonova, is similar to the author; she is an independently thinking young woman, fiercely opposed to the totalitarian state in which she exists.

But Kira desires to be an engineer in a society in which neither her bourgeois background nor her freethinking mind is welcome. Despite being an outstanding student, she is expelled from engineering school. The story focuses on her relationships with two men — Leo Kovalensky, the aristocrat whom she loves, and Andrei Taganov, the Communist who loves her. Leo is a brilliant young scholar, but his aristocratic family and individualistic views leave him no future in the Soviet Union. Andrei, an honest man who believes sincerely in the ideals of the Bolshevik Revolution, witnesses the harsh fate to which Kira is condemned, and must question the virtue of the Communist principles for which he has always stood. We the Living shows the fate of freethinking men and women in a totalitarian state.

Her second book, the novella, Anthem, published in , also takes place in a collectivist dictatorship — but in an unspecified future. The dominance of the group over the individual is so absolute in this society that it has even outlawed the word "I. With independent thought stifled, this society has lost all technological progress and reverted to a primitive condition. The hero reinvents the electric light, but is condemned to death for the crime of thinking for himself. Further, contrary to the state's decree, he dares to love a woman of his own choosing. In both love and work, he thinks independently, refusing to obey, unwilling to surrender the things most precious to him. Your Plan. SparkNotes Plus. You'll be billed after your free trial ends. Not Applicable. Renews February 14, February 7, Discounts applied to next billing.

This is not a valid promo code. Discount Code one code per order. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv bn. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link. Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership. What purpose does the encounter between Roark and the Dean serve?

What concepts and beliefs does the Dean represent? Like many of the characters in the novel, the Dean has no sense of self or integrity, and consequently cannot create his own philosophy or beliefs. When he tells Roark that everything worth building has already been done, the Dean reveals the foolishness that comes from adhering too strongly to tradition. Because of men like the Dean, everyone at the architectural school has looked only to the past for inspiration and the students have been generating the same designs for years. Whereas Roark does not assign much importance to his clients, the Dean considers them the most important voice, and in doing so surrenders his own will and initiative.

On the other hand, Toohey can be read as a model for the behavior that The Fountainhead advocates. Like Roark, Toohey is only interested in his own advancement. In his manipulative way, Toohey matches Roark in strength. Although he flatters people and defers to them, he only does so until he gets what he wants, and he never actually lets them get the upper hand. Despite their similarities, however, a critical difference separates the two men: Roark creates and Toohey destroys. In The Fountainhead, the creation of something great justifies even the most rampant egoism. Toohey possesses rampant egoism, but no creativity. Even though Toohey displays many of the virtues touted by the novel, he becomes the villain because he does not act in the name of creativity.

How does Rand justify the use of violence? The Fountainhead idolizes strength, austerity, and determination above all else, and violence progresses naturally from these virtues. The novel frowns upon pity and compassion and advocates the use of violence to advance human genius. Dominique embodies this viewpoint, constantly battling the world and welcoming the occasionally physical pain this battle inflicts on her. When Roark rapes Dominique, the violence of the incident makes her come alive. Dominique considers violent acts both passionate and assertive. Passion and assertiveness also characterize genius, so violence becomes indicative of genius. Roark considers bombing Cortlandt a necessity, an act to accomplish with workmanlike dispassion.

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The Fountainhead serves as an excellent introduction to both Ayn Rand's writing and her philosophy of Objectivism. All of the major intellectual themes that inform Rand's fiction and her subsequent philosophy are presented clearly in this novel. Having grown up in the totalitarian dictatorship of the Soviet Union, holding an impassioned belief in political freedom and the rights of the individual, Ayn Rand wrote The Fountainhead as a tribute to the creative freethinker. Its hero, Howard Roark, is an innovative architect, a man whose brilliant and radically new designs are not understood and are rejected by the majority of society.

Roark, like many inventors and creative thinkers of history, struggles to win acceptance for his ideas against the tradition-bound masses, who follow established norms and are fearful of change. The theme, as Ayn Rand states it, is individualism versus collectivism, not in politics but in men's souls. The book is about the conflict between those who think for themselves and those who allow others to dominate their lives. According to Ayn Rand, the goal of her writing is the presentation of an ideal man. Howard Roark is the first such figure in her novels. His independence, his commitment to his own rational thinking, and his integrity mark him as a distinctive Ayn Rand hero. Rand described herself as a "man-worshiper," as one who revered man at his highest and best.

She held man's creative mind as sacred, and consequently admired the great original thinkers of mankind — the artists, scientists, and inventors, such as Michelangelo, Newton, and Edison. In Rand's fiction, she illustrates the heroic battles such great individuals have to go through, both to develop their new ideas and methods and to struggle against a conservative society that rejects them. Ayn Rand presents her heroes as ends in themselves, inviting her readers to simply witness and savor the sight of human greatness. as an end in himself — not as a means to any further end.

Which, incidentally, is the greatest value I could ever offer a reader. She points out that, as a benign secondary consequence, a reader witnessing the life of Howard Roark may be inspired to seek his own heroic achievements. Roark, as a freethinking individual, is opposed by sundry collectivists — some who believe that a person should conform to others, some who believe that a person should rebel against others, and some who believe that, politically, we should have a Fascist or Communist dictatorship in which the individual is utterly subordinate to the will of the people. Regarding this aspect of the book, Rand sets her hero against various collectivist ideas that existed — and to some degree continue to exist — in the United States. The obvious example of collectivism in The Fountainhead is the political one.

Ellsworth Toohey, the novel's villain, is a Marxist intellectual, preaching socialism to the masses. He holds that an individual has no value in himself but exists solely to serve his brothers. As Ayn Rand wrote the novel, in the s, collectivism was rapidly engulfing the world. First the Communists took over her native Russia, then the Fascists came to power in Italy, then Hitler and the National Socialists took political control of Germany. On September 1, , Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, as allies, invaded Poland, plunging mankind into the most destructive war of its history. In the early s, collectivism appeared to be on the threshold of military conquest of large portions of the globe. In the United States, many intellectuals, politicians, labor leaders, and businessmen thought of the Communist and Nazi systems as "noble experiments," as new attempts to emphasize an individual's moral responsibilities to his fellow man.

Before the war, there was ideological support in the United States for both the Communists and the Nazis; even after the war, support among the intellectuals continued for Communism and does to this day. Ayn Rand wrote The Fountainhead , at one level, as a fervent warning to her fellow man of the unmitigated horrors of collectivism, whether of the Nazi, Fascist, or Communist variety; the evils that result in concentration camps; the extermination of millions of innocent victims; and the precipitation of world war. Ayn Rand witnessed these horrors firsthand in Europe; she wrote The Fountainhead , in part, to prevent their recurrence in America. But The Fountainhead is not fundamentally about politics. The book warns against a more subtle manifestation of collectivism, one that underlies the political danger and makes that danger possible.

Although all human beings have minds, many people choose not to use theirs, looking instead to others for guidance. Many people prefer to be led in their personal lives by an authority figure — be it parents, teachers, clergymen, or others. Those who prefer to be led by authority figures are conformists, refusing the responsibility of thought and self-directed motivation, taking the path of least resistance in life. In the character of Peter Keating, a conventional architect who goes by public taste, Ayn Rand provides an incisive glimpse into the soul of such an abject follower. The picture is frightening. Keating, in many ways an average American status seeker, desires acclaim from others.

In exchange for social approval, he is willing to sacrifice any and all of his personal convictions. He becomes a blind follower of the power broker, Ellsworth Toohey, and in so doing reveals the mentality of the millions of "true believers" who blindly follow a Jim Jones, a Sun Myung Moon, or an Adolf Hitler. Ayn Rand shows that conformity, a widespread phenomenon in contemporary American society, is one of the underlying causes of collectivist dictatorship. In The Fountainhead , Rand also shows that nonconformity, often thought to be the opposite of blind obedience, is merely a variation on the same theme. In a variety of minor characters Lois Cook, Ike the Genius, Gus Webb , all devotees of Toohey, Rand demonstrates the essence of nonconformity: an unthinking rebellion against the values and convictions of others.

The nonconformist, too, places the beliefs of others first, before his own thinking; he merely reacts against them, instead of following them. It is no accident that Ayn Rand shows these rebels as followers of Toohey, because nonconformists, placing others first, always cluster into private enclaves that inevitably demand rigid obedience to their own set of rules. Nonconformists value freethinking no more than does the herd of conformists. The nonconformist characters of the novel are fictional examples of historical movements of the early twentieth century. They are predominantly writers and artists who rebel against grammar, coherent sentences, and representational art in the same way that the surrealists, expressionists, and Dadaists did in actual fact.

This band of real-life rebels, not surprisingly, centered in Weimar, Germany, in the s. Outwardly, some opposed Hitler. But at a deeper level, their blind rebelliousness against others and their slavish conformity to their own little subgroup fostered a herd mentality similar to that of the conformists. The nonconformists, too, were part of the culture that spawned the Nazis. This is why, in The Fountainhead , when Toohey is chided for cultivating a circle of "rabid individualists," he merely laughs and responds: "Do you really think so? The issue of conformity in the story relates to another real-life movement of the time.

The Fountainhead takes place in America in the s and s. Roark and his mentor, Henry Cameron, are early designers of the modern style. Although the book is not historical fiction, and the lives of Cameron and Roark are not based on the lives of real-life individuals, their struggles parallel the battles waged by Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. In the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, the architectural style that still dominated American building was Classical. American architects largely copied Greek and Roman designs or those of other historical periods such as the Renaissance. Louis Sullivan was one of the first to build in what became known as the modern style.

Generally held to be the father of modern architecture and, in particular, of the skyscraper, Sullivan waged a long battle for his ideas against conventional standards. Ayn Rand scholar David Harriman, editor of The Journals of Ayn Rand , points out that Sullivan's life serves as a "concrete inspiration" for the character of Henry Cameron. Harriman also notes that Frank Lloyd Wright , the greatest of the modern designers, is famous for his "strikingly original designs. Although the events of Roark's life are not identical to the events of Wright's, in the broad sense Wright does serve as the model for Howard Roark.

Cameron and Roark, in the novel, struggle against characters like the Dean of Stanton Institute, who believes that all the great ideas in architecture have been discovered already by the designers of the past, and that contemporary architects are simply to copy those ideas. Sullivan and Wright, in real life, battled against similar instances of conformity. Though important similarities between Rand's fictional characters and Sullivan and Wright do exist, it is important to remember that Roark and Cameron are exemplars of innovativeness and independent thought; they are not fictionalized versions of Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan. In her previous novels, Ayn Rand had also glorified the heroism of the freethinking human mind, although in different forms.

Her first novel , We the Living , published in , tells the story of three individuals who dare to think for themselves in the Communist dictatorship of Soviet Russia. Its heroine, Kira Arguonova, is similar to the author; she is an independently thinking young woman, fiercely opposed to the totalitarian state in which she exists. But Kira desires to be an engineer in a society in which neither her bourgeois background nor her freethinking mind is welcome. Despite being an outstanding student, she is expelled from engineering school. The story focuses on her relationships with two men — Leo Kovalensky, the aristocrat whom she loves, and Andrei Taganov, the Communist who loves her.

Leo is a brilliant young scholar, but his aristocratic family and individualistic views leave him no future in the Soviet Union. Andrei, an honest man who believes sincerely in the ideals of the Bolshevik Revolution, witnesses the harsh fate to which Kira is condemned, and must question the virtue of the Communist principles for which he has always stood. We the Living shows the fate of freethinking men and women in a totalitarian state. Her second book, the novella, Anthem, published in , also takes place in a collectivist dictatorship — but in an unspecified future. The dominance of the group over the individual is so absolute in this society that it has even outlawed the word "I.

With independent thought stifled, this society has lost all technological progress and reverted to a primitive condition. The hero reinvents the electric light, but is condemned to death for the crime of thinking for himself. Further, contrary to the state's decree, he dares to love a woman of his own choosing. In both love and work, he thinks independently, refusing to obey, unwilling to surrender the things most precious to him. Ayn Rand shows in Anthem that all the values that make human life valuable and joyous come from the individual, not from society. In both We the Living and Anthem , the independent heroes are pitted against a collectivist dictatorship; in both books the theme is political, emphasizing the necessity of freedom for human progress and happiness.

But the theme in The Fountainhead is deeper and more complex. It is psychological and epistemological. It concerns the way in which individuals choose to use their minds — whether they think and value independently or whether they allow their lives to be dominated, in one form or another, by the beliefs of others. The story of innovative architect Howard Roark, and his lifelong battle against a society committed to traditional forms of design, The Fountainhead glorifies the great original thinkers of history. Ayn Rand's subsequent Atlas Shrugged , published in , carries further the same idea.

It shows what happens when the thinkers go on strike — when the Howard Roark types, the inventors, scientists, and men of independent judgment — refuse to practice their professions in a world that expects them to comply. Ayn Rand's masterpiece, Atlas Shrugged shows the role of the mind in man's existence — not merely in the life of one rational individual, as in The Fountainhead , but in the life of an entire culture. All of her books defend man's mind, and uphold the need for an uncompromising independence of thought. The history of The Fountainhead is like an example of its own theme. It was rejected by twelve publishers. Some thought that it was too intellectual, that there was no market for such a book among a reading public that was interested only in stories of physical action.

Others rejected it because it glorified individualism and repudiated the collectivist ideals so popular among modern intellectuals. But Ayn Rand refused to alter her story or dilute her theme. Finally, the book was read by Archibald Ogden, an editor at Bobbs-Merrill. Like an independent-minded Ayn Rand hero, Ogden loved the book and fought for it against dissenting thought in the company.

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WebThe novel frowns upon pity and compassion and advocates the use of violence to advance human genius. Dominique embodies this viewpoint, constantly battling the world and WebThe Fountainhead Essay Contest Enter by April 27 for your chance to win up to $5,! The Fountainhead essay contest is open to all high school students worldwide. If you WebThe Fountainhead Essays Plot Overview Howard Roark, a top notch younger architect, is expelled from his architecture college for refusing to comply with the college’s previous WebThe Fountainhead: Essay Q&A Essay Q&A 1. Literary critics describe The Fountainhead is an anthem for the indestructible spirit of humankind. Agree or disagree. In the WebAbout The Fountainhead. The Fountainheadserves as an excellent introduction to both Ayn Rand's writing and her philosophy of Objectivism. All of the major intellectual themes that WebAnnual Essay Contest on Ayn Rand’s novel, The Fountainhead, for 11th and 12th graders. Essays will be judged on both style and content. Judges will look for writing that is clear, ... read more

How does each character portray an image of success and which one would Rand be more likely to embrace? Contact us for a customized plan. Today, The Fountainhead has achieved the status of a modern classic. It was published in and made history several years later by becoming a best-seller through word of mouth. Judging from examples of these aspects of his decisions and actions, do you think he would be a supporter or opponent of free-market capitalism?

One night, Roark enters the residence and rapes her. Explore Other Contests. Choose Your Plan. James 11th grade student at Bayside High School New York. Compare Two Biographies of Wayne Gretzky.