Rationale for my Love for Ayn Rand

“My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.” — Ayn Rand

I have long been an ardent fan of Ayn Rand and admired her novels and thought. The partner who prides himself on his socialism traits has always found my Ayn Rand love to be in continuation of my love for shopping and by extension unabashed consumerism.

I thought of clarifying my standpoint to him and then decided it might be exciting to hear what you guys have to say about my views as well, so here goes.

My favorite amongst Rand’s novels is of course Atlas Shrugged. I am totally in love with the character of Dagny Taggart – as a teenager when I first read Atlas Shrugged my only grouse with Dagny was the ease with which she slipped into bed with the various men in her life (then I was a believer in the one life one love theory). Now as an adult nearing 40 this aspect of her life no longer upsets me. Dagny as a working woman who works in an arena considered ‘only men’ excited me. Her ability and keenness to dig knowledge and be involved in meaningful, intense conversations as against frivolous chats I found very endearing.

However what made Dagny the heroine that she was to me was a certain naivety, an eternal optimist outlook on life and never say die attitude. When most men who mattered had lost heart and chosen to disappear – she chose to keep fighting the system and trying to make a difference while facing tremendous odds.

Incidentally this trait she shares with Rand’s first female protagonist Kira Argounova (We the Living) as well. Even when Kira loses everything she retains her belief. I found and still find this an amazing character trait.

While Ayn Rand was and is considered an unabashed supporter of capitalism I found her effort at glorifying individual effort and endeavor a bigger story. In the years since I first read Ayn Rand communism has died a slow death and even countries which consider themselves communist move full throttle in the world market. This I believe gives greater credence to Rand’s stress on individual effort, like that old saying 'everybody's job is nobody's job'.

The need to not sit back and take the state’s welfare measures for granted. It makes man a sloth and this is I believe Rand’s objection so is it mine.

As Indians we know only too well the stories of individual toil and success inspite of tremendous odds be that of a Dhirubhai Ambani, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Mary Kom or your neighbor’s daughter who went on a scholarship to US, waited tables and cleaned cars before she managed to get a proper job and is now well settled enough to be able to send her parents on a world tour for a year.

All of this is possible only because an individual strives to achieve his/her best, he/she doesn’t just accept their state in life but takes active legal measures to change the same and overcome so called destiny.

The other endearing bit about Rand is what you will find in her hero Howard Roark from The Fountainhead. Roark gives his best to the simplest projects, he doesn't allow the bitterness of friends politicking to enter his mind or embitter his relationship with his work. To me Howard personifies the very heart of Gita’s learning.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says:

"tasmad asaktah satatam karyam karma samacara asakto hy acaran karma

param apnoti purushah"

Therefore, without being attached to the fruits of activities, one should act as a matter of duty, for by working without attachment one attains the Supreme.

While Howard didn’t have any Supreme that he bowed to except perhaps excellence in architecture his actions and attitude possibly are the best example of following the Bhagvad Gita’s principles.

I have for long believed that the Right thing needs to be done and Howard’s actions resonate with my belief.

The last but not least reason for my love for Ayn Rand is the quality of her writing and her ability to superbly weave in a pretty complex philosophy into a story and yet not lose the plot and keep us enthralled and involved in the lives of her protagonists. You can agree or disagree with Rand but you will never put her down without having read the last page (yeah you may skip the 90 pages of John Galt’s speech, I won’t hold that against you).

So there I have explained as best as I could my love for this Russia born American novelist, philosopher, playwright and screenwriter and I feel in her own way feminist as well.   

*Picture and quote from Aynrand.org