This Can't Be Real

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:View of a fourteen year old, October 31, 2005
Reviewer:
Samantha Achanzar-Mendaros (Morgan Hill, CA) - See all my reviewsI am only fourteen, but I'm pretty confident in saying that The Fountainhead shall remain one of my favorites throughout my lifetime. I'm tired of reading reviews that state, "It's about a guy who loved buildings more than people," or "He dynamited a building because he disliked the ornamental facade." (I even heard a review denouncing the book because Ayn Rand was ugly...pathetic excuse for not having the capacity to think of the actual meaning behind the book.) It's more than that. It's about individualism as opposed to collectivism. It's about a man who lived by his own standards, instead of those set by others. It clearly depicts Rand's contempt for altruism and its dedication to "serving the public good," through whatever means, and how if one does something altruistic, he is the most virtuous. Altruism professes human sacrifice for the common good, that the undeserving deserve rights to the product of another, simply because the "need" it. (Like Robin Hood, the ultimate altruist, who robbed from the rich to give to the poor. He stole what did not belong to him and gave it to people who had no right to it simply because they "needed" it. But his theft was declared a virtue because of its altruistic motive. Yes, I HAVE read Atlas Shrugged.) What kind of doctrine is that? The Fountainhead is about a man who struggled against the great adversary of public opinion, who was deemed an egotist because he would not give in to the demands of others, fought against society to give form to his truth...yet triumphed when the truth of his speech was heard by the masses. It's about an individualist who won. To me, the book had deep meaning. Even if one does not agree with Rand's philosophy, how can one deny that she was a powerful writer? She had talent, and certainly no one could write a forty-page monolouge like she could. Her stories are convincing, her books timeless. I, as you might be able to see, believe that Objectivism holds truth. I might not fully understand this philosophy as others who have dedicated years to studying it, but I can grasp that her books have truth to it. She pretty much put words to my thoughts, though her explanations are more complex than I could have imagined. I, for one, cannot find evidence to refute her points. There is a reason The Fountainhead has lasted for over 60 decades. With its brilliant, ingenious writing, thrilling story line, complex philosophical meaning, controversy, and sense of truth, I understand why editor Archibald Ogden put his job on the line to see this book published, though at the time, the manuscript was not even finished. It's because he knew that The Fountainhead was one of the great ones.