On Ayn Rand’s Individualism in The Fountainhead

By Qian Yiping

In partial fulfillment of the requirement

For the B. A. degree

Department of English

College of Liberal Arts

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

May, 2018

On Ayn Rand’s Individualism in The Fountainhead

Qian Yiping

College of Liberal Arts, NUIST, Nanjing 210044, China

Abstract

Ayn Rand, a famous American writer and thinker in the 20th century, is also known as the goddess of liberty in America. As one of the best-selling writers in the history of the world, Ayn Rand’s work has been strongly favored by the American public, which is second only to The Bible in the United States. The objectivist philosophical thoughts she founded have strongly advocated a philosophical system that centered on reason and egoism and thus attracted many followers. Although she is a significant person in American philosophical circle, there is little discussion about Ayn Rand’s individualism. Because of this, the author analyzes the characters in The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand’s best novel, so as to expose the implied spirits of individualism in her works.

Key Words: Ayn Rand; individualism; The Fountainhead; egoism

摘要

安·兰德是二十世纪美国著名的作家和思想家，同时她也被誉为“美国的自由女神”。作为全世界有史以来最畅销的作家之一，安兰德的作品受到美国公众的强烈热捧，在美国她的作品在美国的销售量仅次于《圣经》。安·兰德创立的客观主义哲学思想，极力倡导以理性、利己主义为核心的哲学体系，因此吸引了大量的追随者。安·兰德在美国思想界具有举足轻重的地位，然而，对于安兰德个人主义思想却鲜有人探讨。本文基于安兰德的《源泉》这部小说代表作，通过分析小说中的人物，集中探讨了安兰德小说中的个人主义思想及其对我们的借鉴意义。

关键词：安兰德；个人主义；《源泉》；利己主义

Contents

Abstract 3

摘要 4

Chapter One Introduction 1

1.1 Introduction to Ayn Rand 1

1.2Introduction to The Fountainhead 2

Chapter Two Individualism 4

2.1 The Definition of Individualism 4

2.2The Development of Individualism 5

Chapter Three Ayn Rand’s Individualism in The Fountainhead 7

3.1 Independence 7

3.2 Reasoning Mind 8

3.3 Intellectual and Spiritual Pursuit 9

Chapter Four Conclusion 10

References 11

Acknowledgments 12

Chapter One Introduction

1.1 Introduction to Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand (1905-1982), one of the famous writers, philosophers and public intellectuals of the 20th century in the United States, is an advocate of the Objectivist Movement in the 1960s. Ann Rand was born in 1905 in a Jewish family in St. Petersburg, Russia. When she was a little child, she has shown a strong interest in literature and philosophy. Influenced by Victor Hugo’ works, Rand made a decision to become a writer. During the Russian Revolution in 1917, her father’s business has been ruined twice by the war. Afterward, when Rand was just 16 years old, she was admitted by Leningrad University. Strongly influenced by Aristotle, she still did not give up her unique interest in philosophy, though she majored in history during her university years. Those early life experiences evoked Ayn Rand’s profound meditation on totalitarianism.

When she graduated from Leningrad University, Ayn Rand immigrated to the United States by the chance of visiting her relatives, which became a turning point in her life. At the beginning of her job hunting, Rand found her first job in Hollywood, working as a screenwriter. In 1935, she wrote her first play, which won a great success in New York. Over the next few years, Ann Rand has written several excellent novels, but they all failed to cultivate the same uproarious response. Until the creation of The Fountainhead did she make a name for herself. After that, Ayn Rand successively created several great works, systematically expounding her philosophy. Among those works, the influence of The Fountainhead is second only to The Bible in the United States.

In the year of 1950, Ayn Rand has established an objectivist group in New York. At the beginning, it was just some salons held to make academic exchanges. However, due to the gradually increased influence and increasing attention from researchers, plenty of universities began to set up specific course for objectivism. Moreover, the objectivism movement also developed rapidly under the influence of The Fountainhead in the 1960s and 1970s. Before and after the Second World War and the Cold War period, it was precisely the golden period for Ayn Rand’s creation. During this period, the international situation has been changeable and the United States was also stuck into a series of contradictions and adjustments. Thus, Ayn Rand has proposed a new social standard, which challenges traditional Irrationalism and Collectivism.

In the late 1970s, Ann Rand’s health has been deteriorated, which directly bring about the shrink of her personal activities as well as objective movement. In addition, the death of her husband also brought a massive blow to her. In March 1982, Ann Lander died of heart failure in New York at the age of 78.With her critical thoughts and unique creation style, Ayn Rand is regarded as one of the best writers in America. Ayn Rand witnessed the Soviet regime under the collectivist system and compared it with the democratic regime under Capitalism. Eventually, she raised her ideological viewpoints to the philosophical level and formed a system of objective philosophies, which not only affect the upper layers of American government but also the ordinary people. After her death, her influence is still expanding.

1.2Introduction to The Fountainhead

The Fountainhead is a literary masterpiece with great vitality, which describes the whole life of a young and talented architect, Howard Roark. At the beginning, he was expelled for refusing to follow the stubborn rules of the school. Thus he came to New York on his own, working for a worshipped but notorious architect Henry Cameron. Howard Roark created many beautiful and outstanding works at Cameron Design Institute with Cameron, but their project only received a very small number of approvals in the society at that time. Eventually, due to the financial losses, Henry Cameron had to close the design institute. At the same time, Peter Keating, Roark’s alumnus, also worked in the Franken-Hay Architecture Design Institute in New York, and he made his career a success at the Franken Design Institute. During this period, Roark opened a small office by himself, but because he refused to design the building according to the customer's idea, and only accepted the commission of the customers who was following the principle of individualism like himself, thus, at the end, no one wanted to give him a commission and the office had to be closed.

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