From the opening scene when the hero of the story, architect Howard Roark stands naked on a cliff to the winning end when the rebel hero stands on the top the building he fought to build, his uncompromising individualistic character and the story of his struggle is truly irresistible.
It’s a story of a brilliant and genius architect Roark, who lives life on his own terms. He is a perfectionist, never compromises on what he believes is right. He neither humbles nor gratifies himself. He never gets flattened by compliments. He doesn’t talk much, yet whatever he says will hit you straight on the head. He has that ego and selfishness which being one of the most beautiful things in this book. How come someone’s selfishness and ego can be admired and wondered? But this book gives an entire new meaning of the word “selfish”. It is like ’being completely self-centered’ or ’having a sense of the SELF’. Still this could be easily misunderstood, like the world around him misinterprets the ego as arrogance. The reader spends the entire novel to discover Howard Roark and his character of independence and integrity. He stayed himself to the very end.
“Selfish” is just being yourself. And so “Selfless”, is like ’doing for others without thinking about one’s benefit’ or ’complete absence of the sense of the SELF’. Peter Keating, Howard’s friend and competitor, is a ‘selfless’ or ’spineless’ character who is mostly influenced by others opinion, who never had a thought of his own which leads himself to losing his one true lady-love and eventually, his very soul. He is never true to anybody, including himself. He needs somebody to help him make decisions as he is always unsure about what he wants. I think his character reflects most of the people in this real world, who are being selfless and living life to impress others. Throughout the book I simply felt pity for this character, for being a victim of this selfless world, unknowingly.
“I can accept anything, except what seems to be the easiest for most people: the halfway, the almost, the just-about, the in-between. When I think of what you are, I can’t accept any reality except a world of your kind.”
This is one of my favorite quotes said by the only important woman character of this story.Dominique Francon, an unusual woman, beauty and strength combined, which is definitely believable. And so is her love for integrity and the ‘self’, which allows her to fall for Roark. She falls in love with Roark, who represents to her the ideal man which is normal, still she is weird enough to destroy the man of her love before others destroy him and bold enough to punish her own self for that. This weirdness and boldness which seems to be an unexpected trait of woman nowadays, made this dynamic character as my second most favorite of the book. The way she looks at and admires Roark, became my much loved part of the book. And also the conversations between Howard and Dominique are so intense and so beautiful, which is enough to stand as a single good reason for me to read the book again.
Another interesting thing about this book is that ‘the book’ or I should say ‘Howard’, never tries to preach anything. There had never been a page where I found the philosophy a bit boring or never experienced a single “have to read” it instances (which I will face with most of philo books). It’s the awesome narration by the writer which keeps us engaged and travel through this journey along with Howard. Yes! You can feel what he feels. You will be angry for what is happening around him. You will feel bad when he is miserable. You will be happy at the end where he finally succeeds. There are many other important characters in the story, Henry Cameron, Roark’s mentor, Ellsworth Toohey, in direct contrast with Roark and his idealism and we have Gail Wynand, sharing the same idealism of Roark, yet corrupted by the world’s cynicism, as he turns out to be the most tragic character at the end.
To conclude, this book is definitely worth a read and is food not only for your thoughts, but also for your soul. At the end of this amazing journey, I felt pity for Keating, felt a bit annoyed by Toohey, felt sad for Wynand. At last envied by Dominique’s love for Roark, I closed the book, saying, “I am in love with you, Howard”.
