Brigitte’s “Brilliant” Book Blog

Reading The Picture of Dorian Grey slowed down my progression through The Fountainhead, but I have realized there is a strong similarity between the two works. They both have a strong philosophical foundation, as expressed through characters idealizing their author’s principles. There is also an obvious resemblance between the ideas that are promoted in the works. One part of The Fountainhead that seemed straight out of Dorian Grey was when Gail Wynand proclaims he cannot have his art gallery shown to the public. “‘We could make a swell spread for the Sunday scandal sheet out of your art gallery,’ said Alvah Scarret. ‘No,’ said Wynand. ‘But why, Gail?’ ‘Look, Alvah. Every man on earth has a soul of his own that nobody can stare at… Everybody but me. My soul is spread in your Sunday scandal sheet’” (pg 413) This part relates to how Basil is at first afraid of showing off the portrait of Dorian because he fears his soul being seen in it, and then Dorian’s soul really is shown in his picture so he does not want it shown either. I thought the similarities between the works were quite interesting, although having to interrupt reading the one with the other, I fear I will confuse parts.

Before I start reading Song of Solomon I plan to read as much Fountainhead as possible. I am on page 459, which only leaves 235 pages left. So, more later, now I am back to reading…

I finally googled objectivism today. I got a number of hits, but I thought this one was the most realiable, as well as easiest to understand. http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=objectivism_intro It really helps you understand the motives behind Rand’s characters. I also googled “the fountainhead movie” and found the trailer of the one made in 1949 on youtube. The link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swOxKu80JpU I also read some comments and found out that critics hated this movie verison, and I have to say the black and white film was not very appealing.

I have a sort of flu or something of that nature, so not going to school I was able to read between napping all day. Despite my condition, I still enjoyed The Fountainhead and realized it is the way Rand describes her characters and setting. For instance when describing a character she does not simply give descriptions of their appearance, but the method that she develops the character allows the reader to understand how that character thinks. I like this technique a great deal because I feel as though I am really connecting with her characters. This novel takes place more in the minds of the characters, which I believe moves the story, and not the plot. I would say her writing may be preachy at times, however, overall I suppose her writing is an attempt at depicting a world where her character’s strong ideals shape the world around them. Roark symbolizes principle, obviously, and I think Rand uses him to illustrate that it takes such people to progress a civilization.

So, I have finished my other novel and have started some serious reading of The Fountainhead. Since I have been quite busy outside of school, I was pleased to be able to read all-hour in three out of my six classes yesterday. Reading, I learned, is a very good way to make the hour go by quick when your teacher does not feel like giving you anything to do… (Sorry, Kreinbring, yours is one of the only classes that actually require my presence on a daily basis.) Anyway, I found Ayn Rand’s honest writing to be very enjoyable. As I was reading I had to force myself to not highlight all the examples of “good writing” that I found, out of fear it would stop serving as a marker of importance. I specifically liked a conversation between Howard Roark and the dean who just kicked him out of his school. Howard is such an interesting character, although the adjective interesting does not do him justice, because of his I-don’t-care-what-everyone-else-thinks attitude. I would write more about my new love affair with this character, but I want to get back to him in the story. More later…

 I have known that The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand was going to be the subject of my AP English final project for at least a week. It has taken me a while to create this blog, so I will fill you in on my thought process to why I have chosen this particular book to read.

Part 1: The short list

The first thought I had after being assigned this project was “how I’m I going to pick just one book to read!” I happen to be a book geek and therefore I thought selecting only one book was near impossible. In order to narrow my book selection field down, I regarded my AP book section on common literature on the AP exam. Out of all those books I discovered five works that sounded interesting by using http://www.barnesandnoble.com/bookstore.asp?r=1 to read reviews of the titles that sounded appealing in the AP book. 

Part 2: The book store

With my list of five works in hand, I dragged Joe to Barnes and Noble to find them and read enough of them to decide which one I liked best. Together we searched out the works, along with a few others we found to be possibilities, and two books that did not fit the assignment, but I wanted to read anyway and made our way to the children’s section and situated all of the books on top of the little table not meant for seventeen-year-olds. For the next thirty minutes, sorry Joe, I preceeded in reading a few pages out of each book I chose along with the first page of each work Joe grabbed for himself. In the end, I brought three (The Fountainhead, 1984, and Crime and Punishment) that I was planning on either using for the assignment or reading for fun, and one novel, Princess Forever by Meg Cabot, totally for fun. Joe, did not buy any…

Part 3: The clincher

When I arrived back at my house, I read a few more reviews and a few more pages and still could not decide, which piece of literature was going to inspire me to write my A paper. At school the next day, I spied my friend reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand! She ended up raving for 10 minutes on how much she absolutely loved Ayn Rand, and how I would be insane not to choose The Fountainhead. Naturally, I succumbed to the peer pressure and convinced myself, that I must now read this “amazing, life-changing” story. 

Part 4: One small problem (the present) 

Even having selected The Fountainhead, I have only been able to read to page 15 so far. It has not been that I have not been reading, but rather I have had to finish the novel I was previously reading, Tamar by Mal Peet. Hopefully, I finish Tamar soon, and then I will begin seriously reading the 694 pages of Ayn Rand.

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