The book presented an extraordinary tale of a young architect,Hoard Roard who represented the free ,unsupressible human spirit ,his struggle against the glorified ineptitute of the masses and his victory. The novel presents a new and different perspective to ubiquitous human qualities like altruism,sympathy, egoism,selfishness and so on. It is refreshing in its novelty and portrayal of characters. The bussiness magnate Gail Waynard who represented a man deluded into believing that he could control the city and people with his immense wealth, was another powerfull character.His realization of his failure is brilliantly essayed in the book.His megalomania cal belief of manipulating the masses through controlling the media and immense wealth, backfires towards the end opening his eyes and making him realise that we was just a twig in the big wave of public emotion,swept everywhere by it. Elswerth Monkton Toohey ,the main villain is the ideal master manipulator who pulls all the string behind the scenes.He controls people by suppressing individual brilliance and by enshrining mediocricity.He knows his capabilities and his limitation and is well aware what he is doing.his manipulation of people ,especially Peter keating shows how good a manipulator he is.Peter Keating was one character whom most of the masses could associate with.He represented the man who craves for societies approval and appreciation.He had no goals or ideals.He represents the perennial rat race for fame and glory ,which for most people represent life.He derived pleasure by comparing himself with the less talented and less capable around him.
Dominique Francon, Hoards love was another strange character.Her life was filled with her sarcastic response to life .Her indifference to others and ineptitude and devotion to the qualtiy and capability of free human will made her the best companion a guy like hoard could get
The novel is the portrayal of these various characters and shows the triumph of the indomitable human spirit characterized by Hoard Roarks relative success.The novels beauty lies in the various philosophies espoused by the various characters.Ayn Rand has thrown some light on ones selfishness and need to be selfish.Self is the one thing that no man should let go.It represents him,it is his identity. The clamour for charity and sacrifice of self is a pathetic destruction of human individuality .It thrives on the wretchedness of the society as people derive satisfaction by being sympathetic to it. It left me thinking about many of the socially accepted norms regarding charity and selflessness. What is charity?Does charity mean that we should sacrifice our happiness and luxuries for others? What is the purpose of living if we are giving scant regard for the concept of self? Isnt self the most precious thing for a person.The moment we disregard this wont we start becoming second handers living off others.Such a person would be happy seeing others misery as that is when he can be altruistic.Is that what we all want?Shouldnt we all aim for individual excellence?
These are some thoughts that came into my mind after reading the book
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