Do you have integrity?. Review on FountainHead, The - Ayn Rand

A group of children is playing near two railway tracks, one still in use while the other is dilapidated and unemployed. Only one child is playing on the disused track. The train comes and you are just beside the track interchanger. You can make the train change its course to the disused track and save most of the kids. However, this means that the lone child playing by the disused track will be sacrificed. Or would you let the train go it's way?

Sounds intriguing, doesn't it?

Picture the above scenario in your head. Now, take a pause about what kind of decision you would make. Most people might choose to divert the course of the train, and sacrifice only one child, because to save most of the children at the expense of only one child is a rational decision most people would make, morally and emotionally. But do you realize that the child choosing to play on the disused track has in fact made a right decsion to play at a safe place? Nevertheless, he might have to be sacrificed because of his ignorant friends who choose to play where the danger is.

Well Fountainhead is one such novel that gives us somewhat above scenario. It is a story of a man against entire society. He has been left alone in a society of so called intelligent people. Most of his friends choose to go with the current but this guy opposes standard conventions & does not want to go with it. He has his own integrity which he follows till the end.

Howard Roark, The architect loves his work to such an extent that he thinks different from others & sets his own conventions of architecture.He does not like repeating things. According to him a man when he builds a building, the building must reflect his integrity, every building should have its own integrity, each building should stand out from others. However the society does not approve this as it is against conventions to build modern buildings & forget ancient architecture. They call him selfish as he is only concerned with his own interest. The society unites to destroy him.

In this classic book the author has illustrated a battle between individualism & collectivism, a battle between selfishness & altruism.

The author says that every man has a huge amount of potential to do whatever he wants in life. Selfishness is a virtue which is very much necessary for human proggress.If a man works for himself & not others he can reach unlimited possibilities.A man is the only thing that is an end in itself.

This book preaches one to be selfish in his own work.It gives us the sense that one's life is important, that great achievments are within ones cpacity and that great things lie ahead. The only thing to remember is never to give up or compromise your integrity under any circumstance. Many people loose the fire within themselves when they are pressurised (as one of the character in this book does).

Yet a few hold on that fire and move on, knowing that fire is not to be betrayed, learning it how to give it shape, purpose & reality. These are the men that society has destroyed from time to time. These are the man who have stood alone against thousands of humanitarians.One example is of Copernicus who said that earth revolves round the sun and never was believed by the society until he ceased to exist. I have rarely seen any man win a battle against the society. By the time he gets support he has been completely destroyed.

However this being a fiction the man wins the battle against society.I think he too should have been destroyed. A man of such calibre cannot exist in a society of people who consider themselves belonging to a class of intelligentsia. His existence at every second of his life would be made like hell by the society. His existence would be an insult to his soul & his integrity.(That's what I think should have been the end of the book.)

The highlight of this book are 3 characters who share similarities:Howard Roark, Domnique Francon, Gail Wynand in their character.They all have integrity but then only one man is able to carry it till the end. Other highlights are the conversation between Roark & Wynand on a yacht where they discuss selfishness. A good understanding is required to grasp that conversation.

The main highlight is Roark's speech in court about selfishness & how it acts as a FountainHead for human progress. That speech really changed my way of thinking. Whenever I am in doubt about an important issue in my life I read that part. It has helped me a lot.

It requires a good patience & understanding of reality while reading this book. Only a few will be able to actually understands its underlying theme & grasp it.