Individualism In Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead

While The Fountainhead provides an insight to Rand’s perspective regarding individualism, Atlas Shrugged is the novel where she defined her school of Objectivism which holds individualism as one of its major tenets. Individualism is the driving force which keeps the intellectuals of Atlas Shrugged committed to making their ideas work for them rather than being drawn into a system of collectivism which effectively destroys their progress and spreads it equally across the masses. The two main characters of the novel, Dagny Taggart and Hank Rearden, are two intellectuals who have not protested against the socialist economy because they still managed successful industries despite countless attacks against them. However, Rearden and Taggart are overshadowed by John Galt, the perfect individual who embodies the ideas of Objectivism and clearly delineates the importance of individualism in his soliloquy. …show more content…
In addition, Galt also states that the government’s promotion of selflessness and losing oneself in the service of others are ideas fabricated by the government to desensitize individuals to emotions, and thus a moral compass. Galt proclaims that the people must break from the cycle of socialism by withdrawing from the system and and regaining their individuality. According to Galt, only then will the workers realize that the captains of industry were important parts of the system who needed to return to guide them in the right direction and out of the destitution caused by the socialist economics (Neumann