Ayn Rand

I originally posted this in a forum, but I also feel like posting it here. ^.~

Just two months ago, I never would have guessed I would start a topic on Ayn Rand. I've been assigned to read two of her books, Anthem and The Fountainhead for English class before the start of spring break. I didn't find this assignment to be enjoyable in the beginning. Truthfully, I found it to be quite a drag. I've never heard of Ayn Rand before reading her books, but all of her books are considered modern classics and they all contain her philosophy, Objectivism.

I finished Anthem in two days. I finished The Fountainhead today, after two long months.

I wasn't sure whether I liked the books until the very last minute, when I finished them. Two things are for sure: Anthem is the strangest book I've ever read and The Fountainhead is the longest book I've ever read (the edition I have with me consists of 704 pages). I think I'll write mostly about The Fountainhead since it was the more recent one that I finished…

It's funny how my thoughts changed from, "I hate this book. I hate this book," throughout the two months to, "Hmm. This is a good book," after today.

Reading The Fountainhead was a lot of work for me because it was so long, I thought it was boring and that the author's abstract ideals were too much for me to understand. I didn't start to understand until the ending. There are many great quotes in the book! I didn't quite fully understand anything I read in the book until I came upon this:

"You said yesterday: What architect isn't interested in housing? I hate the whole blasted idea of it. I think it's a worthy undertaking - to provide a decent apartment for a man who earns fifteen dollars a week. But not at the expense of other men. Not if it raises the taxes, raises all the other rents and makes the man who earns forty live in a rat hole. That's what's happening in New York. Nobody can afford a modern apartment-except the very rich and the paupers. Have you seen the converted brownstones in which the average self-supporting couple has to live? Have you seen their closet kitchens and their plumbing? They're forced to live like that - because they're not incompetent enough. They make forty dollars a week and wouldn't be allowed into a housing project. But they're the ones who provide the money for the damn project. They pay the taxes. And the taxes raise their own rent..."

I smiled. I couldn't believe this was written in the book. This was something my sister had said to me in the past, only in different words. And it's true, especially in Hawaii. The average firefighter-teacher couple can barely afford to buy their own house while the people living on welfare drives a Mercedes and posesses a dozen Rolex watches. The people living on welfare can even afford to go on extravagent trips every summer. What is up with that?

The following excerpt basically wraps up the Rand's philosophy and beliefs:


"In all proper relationships there is no sacrifice of anyone to anyone. An architect needs clients, but he does not subordinate his work to their wishes. They need him, but they do not order a house just to give him a commission. Men exchange their work by free, mutual consent to mutual advantage when their personal interests agree and they both desire the exchange. If the do not desire it, they are not forced to deal with each other. They seek further. This is the only possible form of relationship between equals. Anything else is a relation of slave to master, or victim to executioner.

"No work is ever done collectively, by a majority decision. Every creative job is achieved under the guidance of a single individual thought. An architect requires a great many men to erect his building. But he does not ask them to vote on his design. They work together by free agreement and each is free to his proper function. An architect uses steel, glass, concrete, produced by others. But the materials remain just so much steel, glass and concrete until he touches them. What he does with them is his individual product and his individual property." - Howard Roark

Rand believes in individualism over collectivism. She doesn't believe in suffering or sacrifice. "Independence is the only gauge of human virtue and value. What a man is and makes of himself; not what he has or hasn't done for others." I find her philosophy to be quite interesting because it brings me to a whole different perspective. I've never thought about things this way before. She challenges all that men have been made to believe for centuries. All in all, she believes men should be absolutely selfish (but not in the way most people think) and that they should not live for others, but only for themselves. Rand explains that this is answer to why we humans keep seeking for "happiness," but never find it.


"If any man stopped and asked himself whether he's ever held a truly personal desire, he'd find the answer. He'd see that all his wishes, his efforts, his dreams, his ambitions are motivated by other men. He's not really struggling even for material wealth, but for the second-hander's delusion - prestige. A stamp of approval, not his own."

After reading it, I kept thinking how true it was. I never realized it, but she made me understand. I think she is a great writer because she can explain her philosophy through novels...putting her thoughts into words...she simply writes so well.