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Objectivisim is the name given to Ayn Rand�s philosophy, which she has depicted in two of her best selling novels � The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. An immigrant from the USSR, she moved to the US in the early 1900�s and proceeded to write what are widely acknowledged as the most brilliant novels of our time.
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I have to say that I hadn�t the slightest idea what to expect. I�d heard of course of both the books and also that Atlas Shrugged was in a sense a sequel to The Fountainhead, picking up from where it left off and attempting to answer some more questions.
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�I�m bored to death, mom. Give me a book to read.� I said dully to my mother one Sunday. My mother, a voracious reader even in her fifties smiled and passed along a Jackie Collins book to me. �Aw. I don�t want to read this stuff, mom. Give me a life changing book�, I said to her.
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And then she passed into my hand one of the thickest books with the smallest print imaginable. Atlas Shrugged. Covered meticulously in brown paper like all her literary possessions, I took it apprehensively, saying �Its too thick. Between work and the baby, I�ll never manage to finish it�.
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A knowing smile flashed across my mom�s face. �You won�t be able to put it down, my dear,� she said sounding old and wise and knowledgeable. �You�ll finish it�.
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�Isn�t this one of those weird philosophical books where you don�t understand what�s being said?� I asked her, still uncertain.
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�If you�re asking me whether this book will force you to think, yes it will.�
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I started reading the book slowly at first. During the night when all my work was completed and the baby had been put to sleep. I started slow, reading just about a chapter a day for the first three days. And then the book started taking over my life. I�d sneak out from work to read it for a couple of hours, I�d sacrifice my precious night time sleep for a few more hours with Ayn Rand and I�d ignore all that was happening around me. It was an obsession that I was in love with. I wished the book would never finish.
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�What�s with you?� my husband asked me one day after he�d asked me a question four times and I had still not replied to it.
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�I�m not here�, I said to him flatly. �I�m living with them in their world.� And I was.
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Dagny Taggart, the railroad heiress, fighting to keep her trains running, Fransisco d�Anconia, the copper magnate going slowly to ruin, Hank Rearden, producing his precious Rearden Metal and John Galt who doesn�t even appear till the third part but still is there throughout the book.
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�Who is John Galt?� The question asked throughout the book is answered at last.
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Her philosophy is simple. Positive selfishness is a good thing. Competence is irreplaceable and happiness is the goal. If every individual is competent enough to do his work and do it well and if each individual is selfish enough to work towards his own happiness and goals without ever losing his integrity then there is never any need for anyone to worry about anyone else or sacrifice anything for anyone else. In short, no one needs to live for anyone other than himself or herself. And no one needs to answer to anyone but himself or herself. Self Respect, Reason and Purpose is within and no one can put it there, nor remove it.
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I think the lady is brilliant and I�ll narrate in my own words one of the scenes from this book that illustrates what she means. John Galt and Fransisco d� Anconia are the closest friends in the world. Their friendship and loyalty to each other is unshakeable. And both are in love with Dagny Taggart. Only that Fransisco�s love is well known and open whereas John Galt�s is still under wraps. Now Dagny is staying with John Galt and Fransisco asks her to stay at his place for a few days. She of course at this point is equally friendly with both so she tells Galt that she wants him to decide whether she can leave his place or not. The beauty is not in the fact that John Galt says �No� but in the fact that Fransisco simply shrugs when he says so. The point is that here isn�t any need for Galt to sacrifice anything for Fransisco. Fransisco either has her love or doesn�t and where she stays makes no difference in the matter, so Fransisco doesn�t even feel bad about it. And in fact had Galt allowed Dagny to stay with Fransisco it would�ve been out of pity, which would have been more than an insult to Fransisco. Brilliant.
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Throughout the book, the characters are built up so well, their actions supporting each characteristic of their personality and above all their strength and conviction towards their belief in their own ability is simply astounding. Her philosophy as is quoted often is of man as a heroic being and all her protagonists are shown as such. Each one of us has the power really to be that great, but most lack the conviction.
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It was numbness that I felt when I closed the cover after reading almost 4,000 pages of Atlas Shrugged. I rushed to the bookstore to buy The Fountainhead the very next day.
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Again I started slowly. Just a chapter or so at first until I could not keep my hands off the book. I may have had a different opinion if I�d have read The Fountainhead after Atlas Shrugged as one is supposed to, but because I was moving in reverse, I felt that Fountainhead was nowhere as great as Atlas Shrugged. Good of course, but not that great. There are so many similarities that you know by the style itself that it�s the same author. Not that you mind it of course and not that she has ever denied it either.
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The story of Dominique Francon and Howard Roark portrays a struggle for Dominique and a patient wait for Roark. She asks him once �Doesn�t it hurt?� and he replies simply. �Only down to a certain point. Not after that.� Its not that Roark wins his battle against the whole foolish world that makes a mark in this book, but rather the fact that he knows he has a battle on his hands and still he continues to do what he does, knowing only that there was no other way he could have done it. So when Gail Wynand fails in his battle against the world, you know how poignant it is when he asks Roark to build The Wynand Towers and says only this � �Build it at a monument to your great spirit � which could have been mine�
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And you are left with only one thought � Am I too just one of the world, walking with the mob, saying what the masses want me to say, thinking what the collective community wants me to think, or am I one of the heroic ones, the individualist, the doer?
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�Thank you�, I said to my mother as I passed back the brown paper wrapped book into her hands. �Keep it�, she said to me. �It was a gift from my father. I�m now passing it to you.�
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Three generations? Longer. These books have been in print for over 60 years, but they continue to be printed, sold and an inspiration for all those who close the book and say �Yes, ma�am. I get your point.�
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