jbgotmar

More oxford books @ www.OxfordeBook.com
A NEW CREDO OF FREEDOM 83
mixed brawn and intellect: “two executives of industrial concerns, two
engineers, a mathematician, a truck driver, a brick layer, an electrician,
a gardener and three factory workers.” Although several of the jurors
are recognizable as men of exceptional achievement, the majority are
manual workers of little distinction. Rand makes clear that they are
hard-working types who have seen much of life, writing that Roark
chose those with “the hardest faces.” 31 If the jury understood Roark’s
argument, they would demonstrate their ability to recognize and
reward individual genius.
First, though, the jury had to hear Rand’s philosophy of life. Roark
begins with a history lesson, arguing that all important achievements
have come from creators who stood opposed to their time. Just as Rand
emphasized in her “Manifesto,” Roark explains to the jury that creativity
is inextricably linked to individualism: “This creative faculty cannot
be given or received, shared or borrowed. It belongs to single, individual
men” (679). He situates the government’s alteration of his design
within the global struggle of collectivism versus individualism and
repeats Rand’s idea that good stems from independence and evil from
dependence. Within this framework Roark’s individual decision trumps
the rights of government, future tenants, or any other involved parties,
because “the integrity of a man’s creative work is of greater importance
than any charitable endeavor” (684).
Though it closely followed the “Manifesto,” Roark’s speech introduced
a new theme that was to become one of Rand’s signature ideas:
the evil of altruism. In her fi rst notes for the novel Rand had attacked
Christian ethics, but now she attacked altruism. In the speech Roark
identifi es second-handers as preachers of altruism, which he defi nes as
“the doctrine which demands that man live for others and place others
above self” (680). The origins of Rand’s shift from Christianity to altruism
are unclear, but her conversations with the philosophically literate
Paterson most likely played a role. Regardless of where she picked up
the term, Rand’s use of altruism refl ected her refi nement and abstraction
of the concepts that had underlain the novel from the very start. At
fi rst she had understood the second-hander as a kind of glorifi ed social
climber. The frame of altruism signifi cantly broadened this idea, allowing
Rand to situate her characters within a larger philosophical and ethical
universe. Identifying altruism as evil mirrored Rand’s celebration
Fore more urdu books visit www.4Urdu.com