Walking down the steps of his plush office, Sam wonders what on earth is he to do. Is he supposed to be someone who does what his heart, his ethics, his consciousness and his rationale mind tells him to do or is he supposed to be just a cog in the wheel doing what his boss wants him to do, his parents expect him to do, his children desire of him to do and his wife demands him to do.
A basic existential question like this, is the story of the Sam in each one of us. We all live our lives guided sometimes by the wishes of our parents, sometimes by the whims and fancies of the social norms or at worse sometimes just to appease someone. We become in straightforward terms just another nobody.
But are we happy to be this nobody, who does things for the heck of it or do we think we are made for better and bigger things in life, things that we think of, we love to do and are passionate about. From time immemorial we have heard people say man is a social being. I adhere to it, but is man just a social being, and is he not supposed to be one who has his own rationality, individuality, a freedom to act, and a reasoning mind. Does society condemn man to be a nobody or does he have the right to aspire to be a somebody.
Fountainhead is the story of a man?s quest to be somebody, somebody who can think and act for himself, somebody who can tread the path less taken, somebody who has the freedom to do and preach of his own free well and somebody who doesn?t get bogged down by conventions and social norms to kill his spiritual and individual self.
It is also at the same time, the story of millions of us out there who are content to change ourselves and in the process end up losing our own identity, our own individuality and our own rationale mind to be that nobody, that cog in the wheel, that average populace who doesn?t question his identity, doesn?t confront things around him, doesn?t try to conceptualize why is this this and not something else.
Fountainhead speaks about the concept of man as a heroic being, and a man who puts his happiness as the moral purpose of his life, productive achievement as his noblest activity and reason as his only absolute. It speaks about a rationale self interest that each one of us has, its very different from the oft interpreted connotations of the word selfish. The latter is a myopic term, devoid of the larger implications of the former; the latter is a negative word, a closed word. A rationale man would keep his interests first, but he doesn?t say that I wont let anyone else have what I have. He says I have it not by birth or by my own whims and fancies, I have earned what I have and you also have the right to do the same. I wont help you earn anything, and neither do I expect you to help me in turn. It talks about meritocracy, justice, freedom to earn and a society where man earns by pride and honest means.
Fountainhead speaks the language which is either right or wrong depending upon the school of thought each of us belong to. For someone who places merit first, it appeals, for someone who professes egalitarianism, this is an anti-social notion, a notion which preaches the me generation. I for one would feel that there is nothing like controlled freedom. Either it is absolute or it is not. A society which says you are free in letter but then says that each man has a right to live, even if he is not working or doing anything to gain a living, is a farce in the first place. A just and honest society is one, which doesn?t force anyone to live by force or under duress.
Ayn talks about the tussle between the objective and the collective, between mind and the body, between natural and the super-natural and between fact and imaginations. Her protagonist is willing to rebel against the social system, shun accepted norms and do things, which are not the done thing, from a conventional set of values. Her protagonist is the rebel, the maverick and the achiever in each one of us. She talks about the strife between man?s inner self, his mind against his outer self, the self that lives in this society and sometimes consciously or unconsciously follows the social system even when he doesn?t approve of it.
Beauty of Fountainhead lies not in saying things in a provocative and incisive way, but in putting it across in forms we cant run away from. Where others have failed, fountainhead excels, it excels in putting forth a theory which even when you don?t adhere to, forces you to think and question. It is brilliantly intellectual yet subtle at the same time, powerful and path breaking yet stimulating. Fountainhead is a treatise which praises the existentialist in each one of us, who says I am and who is not afraid to accept nature?s truths in his quest for knowledge, who applies his logic to the axioms, who propounds theories that are grounded on fact and yet are deductive in nature. This book is a celebration of man?s love of wisdom
Panache of fountainhead lies in saying simple things in a manner which stirs and entices your rationale self. Be it the helpless agony of Peter Keating when faced by the genius and brilliantly ruthless self-confidence of Howard Roark or the fallacies of a certain Ellsworth Toohey to revel at destroying and deriding the brilliance around him or the fiercely successful business acumen of Gail Wynand or the vulnerable feminine love of Dominique Francon, Ayn captures each of these moments so poignantly, that?s it?s a treat. The raw and at times animistic carnal desires of the protagonists, or the passionate zeal of Roark for his work, or the mediocrity of Keating to stoop to any level to attain success, the book touches upon facets of human life which is simmering on the edges to say the least.
Whose cuppais it anyways. Well fountainhead should be read by anyone who is willing to think, anyone who wants to experience the power of words and anyone who is not afraid to let his belief system and his notions come under heavy scrutiny. The discerning would love it, the thinker would love to debate it, the intellectual would question it, the critic would lambast it, the purist would revel at it, the hoi polloi would hate it, but none would be able to come out of it without picking up something useful out of it.
Is it philosophy some would ask me. Well yes it is but not drooly types, which you cant, enjoy, it?s a book one can read and revel at. It?s a fine piece of literature, you might not like it or might not adhere to her theories, but hey it doesn?t matter. We must not close our minds to new ideas and notions. Mind is the conundrum where the myriad ideas and experiences converge together to bring out new and better things.
I am not discussing the story and the plot on purpose as always, as I don?t want to spoil the fun for people who want to encounter it as they read. Also I haven?t dealt into Ayn?s philosophy per se, for that, please check my other review on Atlas Shrugged.
P.S. For those who of you who are wondering if I am an objectivist, well I am not but I do adhere to a lot of Ayn?s theories. The discerning is invited for an open debate in the comment section.
