Excellence, criticism, success, tradition, individuality, popular opinion, creativity, and conformity; these are merely a number of the extraordinarily powerful themes set in motion in The Fountainhead. In her novel The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand communicates with her readers more often than not through the chief conflicts of excellence verse achievement and individualism verses popular opinion. Ayn Rand's book has greatly been influenced by her life experiences; therefore, she can relate to her audience on a more delicate note, creating a private argument inside the readers mind. There are countless quotes that could be explained that have a huge influence on the numerous extraordinarily powerful themes of The Fountainhead; however, only three of these extremely vital quotations will be scrutinized.
In this primary citation, Gail Wynand pronounces to Howard Roark: Theres a particular kind of people that I despise. Those who seek some sort of a higher purpose or universal goal, who dont know what to live for, who moan that they must find themselves. In the readers mind, abridgment of this quote can be quite difficult because it pertains to various instances in The Fountainhead. The majority of readers would consider that in the dialogue of this quote, Gail Wynand is explaining to Howard Roark about his feelings regarding second-handers.
Gail is asserting that he cant put up with people who do not even recognize that they have been living their whole lives as a second-hander. They live much like a leach; they survive by sucking the blood of their victims. Closely related to this, second-handers will strive to make themselves so involved into other peoples lives that they forget to live for themselves, but live it for other people. A second-hander will work their whole life trying to impress the people around them. Second-handers, by no means, do anything true to their uniqueness. They do everything for the one sole purpose of pleasing the people around them; although, manipulating others to make them believe that they are better than them is another strong quality of a second-hander.
In The Fountainhead, the concept of a second-hander is the opposite of individualism, one of the most important themes in the novel. Individualism is the same thing as being unique, and being true to one self and no one else. Individualism is not even caring what other people think or say about you. Practicing this concept will get a person excellence and achievement in their lifetime. However, if one does not follow these principles, they could turn out to be extremely similar to Peter Keating. This shift of ethics is made known in the following quote that will as well be analyzed.
In the second quote, Peter Keating says to Dominique Francon: Id rather youd express an opinion, (inappropriate words) it, just once! Here is a great example of what happens when a human being gambles with his or her priorities and goes down the wrong path concerning a dreadfully imperative judgment in life. Keating is the type of person who needs to know that whatever he is doing or thinking will be approved by the people of authority around him.
Peter Keating is asking, and is exceedingly close to the point of pleading Dominique Francon to express her opinion; however, Dominique Francon is not the type of youthful woman who will let Peter Keating be satisfied by simply giving her insignificant but, as destiny would have it, highly admired opinion. Dominique knows that Peter is nothing like the true love of her life. This man, named Howard Roark, will be explained in the following quote.
In the third and final quote, Howard Roark says to Ellsworth Toohey: But I dont think of you. In this citation, Ellsworth Toohey has asked Howard Roark to tell him his opinion about him; however, Roark gives the perfect answer of, But I dont think of you. This answer is perfect in the sense that Howard Roark could care less about what other people think about him. On the other hand, Ellsworth Toohey is widely admired for his opinions about architecture. This is how Ellsworth Toohey has learned to control everyone around him. He controls Dominique Francon, Peter Keating, but ironically enough, not Howard Roark. This was the meaning behind his question to Roark.
Howard Roark; he is known throughout the city of New York as the modernist, the individual, and the excellent. He is the hero of Ayn Rands novel The Fountainhead. In the previous quote, it was Ellsworth Tooheys plan to ask Roark what he thought of him; by doing this, Toohey was hoping that he would succeed in controlling Roark. Toohey wanted Roark to tell him that he hated him, his work, and his opinions. He wanted to get beneath Roarks skin and make him annoyed; however, no one can control Howard Roark. He knows who he is. He does not act false around anyone, anywhere, anytime. He knows who he is, and he is proud of the excellence that he has achieved.
Excellence, criticism, success, tradition, individuality, popular opinion, creativity, and conformity; these are merely a number of the extraordinarily powerful themes set in motion in The Fountainhead. There are countless quotes that could be explained that have a huge influence on the numerous extraordinarily powerful themes of The Fountainhead; however, only three of these extremely vital quotations have been scrutinized. In this analysis, we have touched on the main themes of excellence, success, individuality, creativity, and conformity through the preceding three quotes. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand is one of the most theme-filled and personal reflective books that most people will ever read. It will make people think of whom they really are and whether or not they will choose to be no more than another follower, or an individual, being true to their own self and who they really are. This was Ayn Rands goal the entire time, to send a message to her readers and persuade them to take a look in the mirror at whom they really are and who wish to be. After all, most people would agree that her goal has been achieved, and to a great extent, surpassed even perhaps beyond all logical comprehension.
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