Individualism in The FountainheadIndividualism, the doctrine of the free thought and action of the individual, forms the basis of Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead. The main theme of his narrative is the primacy of the individual, the unique and precious individual life. What sustains and enriches life is good, what denies and impoverishes the individual's pursuit of happiness is bad. The Fountainhead is Rand's most complete explanation of the primacy of the individual. As he developed his interpretation of inalienable rights: the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; and what this entailed, he saw three areas of conflict where these rights were held in balance. The three antipodes: individualism versus collectivism Egoism versus altruism Reason versus mysticism All these areas are interconnected. Collectivism, altruism, and mysticism all work against individual freedom, a healthy ego, and rationality. The Fountainhead is the story of a highly individualistic architect, Howard Roark, and his struggle for integrity and individualism against altruistic parasites and even non-heroes. who do not believe that the fight can be won: the fight of the individual against the non-entity called collectivism. Non-entity because each "collective" or group is just a number of individuals. But here, to be an individual means to be selfless, voiceless, just, a slave to any attention, claim or demand made by others. In collectivism it is imperative to repress one's critical faculty and consider it a fault. Doubt, not confidence, is the moral state of man; self-distrust, not self-confidence, is a virtue; fear, not self-confidence, is the sign of perfection; fault, not p...... middle of the sheet ......Works cited and consultedBerliner, Michael S., ed. Letters of Ayn Rand. By Ayn Rand. New York: Dutton, 1995. Branden, Barbara. The Passion of Ayn Rand: A Biography. New York: Doubleday, 1986aBranden, Nathaniel. My Years with Ayn Rand. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1999.Garmong, Dina. Personal interview. November 2, 1999.Peikoff, Leonard. The philosophy of objectivism, a brief summary. Stein and Day, 1982. Rand, Ayn. The Source. New York: Plume, 1994. The Ayn Rand Institute. "A Brief Biography of Ayn Rand" [Online] available at www.aynrand.org/aynrand/biography.html, 1995Walker, Jeff. The cult of Ayn Rand. Carus Publishing Company, 1999 You might begin your article with the following quote: "The theme of The Fountainhead is individualism versus collectivism - not in politics but in the soul of man." Ayn Rand