jbgotmar

82
More oxford books @ www.OxfordeBook.com
THE EDUCATION OF AYN RAND, 1905–1943
Burning with ideas as she composed her novel, Rand stepped out
of her passive, listening role and began to share her ideas about ethics.
Paterson jousted back, during one conversation challenging Rand’s view
that self-interest must always be the fi rst principle of action. Family was
a sticking point for Paterson. Wasn’t it true, she asked Rand, that parents
must take care of their children before themselves? Rand countered
swiftly, “If the child has no one but the parent, and the situation is such
that the parent has to sacrifi ce himself and die, how long would the
child survive thereafter?” Rand remembered, “[Paterson] gasped, in a
pleased way, like an electric bulb going off. And she told me, ‘of course
that’s the answer.’ Now that’s the last brick falling into place and she is
convinced.” 30 Paterson asked if she could draw on this conversation in
her book, permission Rand gladly granted.
As 1943 approached Rand closed in on the fi nal scenes of her novel.
Here she made the fi rst major changes that refl ected her recent intellectual
development. The fi nal section of the book, named after her hero,
was intended to celebrate Roark. Fleshing out the solution she had hit
upon so many years earlier, Rand described Roark’s design of a housing
project, Cortland Homes, for Keating. It is a straightforward trade.
Roark is intrigued by the problem of low-cost housing but knows he
would never be chosen to design the project. He agrees to let Keating
use his design, asking only one thing in return: the building must be
built exactly as designed. But Cortland Homes is a government project,
and everyone has a say. When built it blends Roark’s design with
the additions and amendments of several other architects. Appalled at
the resulting compromise Roark dynamites the building late one night.
Dominique is by his side in the storm of controversy that erupts, fi nally
ready to love him openly.
From there Rand fell back on her trusty device of a trial, with a
critical twist. Originally, an esteemed trial lawyer, roused from retirement
by the Cortland case, was slotted to deliver a climactic defense of
Roark. Now, as she neared completion of the novel, she decided that
Roark would represent himself and deliver his own plea to the jury. It
was a Hollywood-style scenario that injected a rare note of implausibility
into an otherwise largely realistic novel. Having Roark deliver
the speech, however, proved critical to expressing Rand’s newfound
appreciation for the average American. Roark’s hand-selected jury
Fore more urdu books visit www.4Urdu.com