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THE EDUCATION OF AYN RAND, 1905–1943
small-town booster she touted the glories of American capitalism and
individualism, voicing a newfound nationalism that celebrated the
United States as a moral exemplar for the world. Her volunteerism completed
a transformation that shaped her passage through the second half
of the 1930s. Rand entered that politically charged decade an ingénue,
focused relentlessly on her own personal ambitions. Ten years later she
had located herself fi rmly on the broad spectrum of domestic public
opinion.
The essence of Rand’s new novel had come to her shortly after her
marriage to Frank. While working at RKO she became friendly with a
neighboring woman who was also a Jewish Russian immigrant. Rand
was fascinated by her neighbor’s daughter, the executive secretary to an
important Hollywood producer. Like Rand the daughter was fi ercely
ambitious and dedicated to her career. At her mother’s urging she
introduced Rand to an agent who eventually succeeded in selling Red
Pawn, giving Rand her fi rst important success. Even so, Rand disliked
the secretary, feeling that somehow, despite their surface similarities, the
two were quite different. One day she probed this difference, asking the
other woman what her “goal in life” was. Rand’s abstract query, so typical
of her approach to other people, brought a swift and ready response.
“Here’s what I want out of life,” her neighbor lectured Rand. “If nobody
had an automobile, I would not want one. If automobiles exist and some
people don’t have them, I want an automobile. If some people have two
automobiles, I want two automobiles.” 1
Rand was aghast. This piece of petty Hollywood braggadocio opened
an entire social universe to her. Here, she thought furiously, was someone
who appeared selfi sh but was actually self-less. Under her neighbor’s
feverish scheming and desperate career maneuverings was simply a hollow
desire to appear important in other people’s eyes. It was a motivation
Rand, the eternal outsider, could never understand. But once identifi ed
the concept seemed the key to understanding nearly everything around
her.
Swiftly Rand expanded her neighbor’s response into a whole theory
of human psychology. The neighbor’s daughter was a “second-hander,”
someone who followed the ideas and values of others. Her opposite
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