Howard Roark

My Favourite Character
and
Is it possible to be like Howard Roark ?



“I don’t wish to be the symbol for anything. I’m only myself.”
~Howard Roark
“The Fountainhead”

Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead” which was published in 1943 had a lot of new things to offer – from architecture to Objectivism, everything was lapped up the cult following it generated. For me, the best part of the book is its protagonist-
Howard Roark – Architecture.

Roark is the kind who wonders why ineptitude should be allowed to exist. He is the sort who would rather struggle in obscurity than compromise on his artistic and personal vision. He is from the rare species who in shrugging off a compliment manage to keep their integrity and self-respect perfectly intact. He denies all references to his inherent selflessness, instead declaring himself as selfish as humanly possible and referring to Peter Keating a selfless man. He denounces his kindness while at the same time helping a man face through his most troublesome projects. It is the same man who later refers to him “a failure, a flop, an incompetent”.

Ayn Rand, in descibin’ the character of “Mike” Sean Xavier Donnigan,
has given us an inside view of Roark as well-
“…People meant very little to Mike, but their performance a great deal. He worshipped expertness of any kind. He loved his work passionately and had no tolerance for anything save for other single-track devotions. He was a master in his own field and he felt no sympathy except for mastery. His view of the world was simple: there were the able and there were the incompetent: he was not concerned with the latter. He loved buildings. He despised, however, all architects.”

After reading the book I believe that each man has the moral obligation to defend what is good and true- to stand for every man, woman and child who can not be stood for.
I believe a man should stand for himself.
To the sheep and the second-handers, I have only one thing to say – Learn to swim.

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OBJECTIVISM

“Man cannot survive except through his mind”
~Howard Roark, “The Fountainhead”.

The theory of Objectivism was first propounded by the writer, novelist and philosopher, Any Rand. According to Wikipedia , Objectivism is derived from the principle that human knowledge and values are objective: they are not intrinsic to some inaccessible reality, nor created by the thoughts one has, but are determined by the nature of reality, to be discovered by man's mind. Rand characterized Objectivism as "a philosophy for living on earth", grounded in reality, and aimed at defining man's nature and the nature of the world in which he lives.

Rand when asked to simplify the terms of her theory said that Reality existed as an objective absolute. Facts are facts independent of man’s feelings, wishes, hopes or fears.
She identified Reason as man’s only means of perceiving reality, his only source of knowledge, his only guide to action, and his basic means of survival. According to her, Man - every man is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.

Rand believed that there must be only three supreme values allowed to govern a person's life: Reason, Purpose, and Self-esteem.
Reason, as his only tool of knowledge.
Purpose, as his choice of the happiness which that tool must proceed to achieve.
Self-esteem, as his inviolate certainty that his mind is competent to think and his person is worthy of happiness, which means: is worthy of living.
These three values implied and required all of man's virtues, and all his virtues pertained to the relation of existence and consciousness: rationality, independence, integrity, honesty, justice, productiveness, pride.

It is like Roark says at the Cortlandt trial, “Mind is an attribute of the individual. There is no such thing as thing as a collective brain.”


Bibliography-
~Wikipedia
~Ayn Rand Institute