Ayn Rand Institute Essay

The goal of The Fountainhead is a pursuit of human perfection with Howard Roark and Peter Keating in this eternal race to fulfillment. Each has his own standard of fulfillment and perfection. Each will do what he thinks necessary to reach his own goals. How far should one go in this pursuit; should he sell his soul? But, what is the soul? Is it this that makes a person who he really is? Or is it just a part of the flesh in the human body?
Roark is the image of Rand with her sense of innate human value, the pillar of objectivism. She represents the soul of American mindset which contrasts the heartless communist ideology. The soul is the immaterial part of a person. It consists of one’s thoughts and personality. But what did Roark really mean when he told to Keating: “To sell your soul is the easiest thing in the world. That’s what everybody does every hour of his life. If I asked you to keep your soul—would you understand why that’s much harder?”
The souls of each living person in our world are different. They have all evolved or have been perfected with contacts made with other people and life experiences. Their soul may be pure, indifferent or evil. Howard Roark’s background was a much dimmer one compared to Keating’s, but with all the things he had learned throughout his life and challenges, he became a man, a perfect one. He had to stand up for himself throughout his life and had established his owns standards of life and architecture. He didn’t need anyone to tell him what is wrong or right, unlike Peter Keating, the “best student in Stanton” in the year of 1922.
Peter Keating was considered a good student because he followed the standards set by the Dean and the Stanton Institute. He was very good at following rules, but when it came time to make his own rules in his company and make stressful decisions for the good of his corporation; he was the worst one at it. He never realized what life was really about.
Life is a series of decisions you take...