Ayn Rand
In order to fully understand Ayn Rand’s philosophy you must understand the time and place she came from. The woman who would become Ayn Rand was born Alissa Zinovievna Rosenbaumon on February 2, 1905 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Her father was a successful pharmacist while her mother was involved in the theater. They would be considered members of the intellectual class. During the early part of the 20th century most women did not have much choice on what they wanted to do with their lives. Being a woman in Russia was even more limited than being in America. Ayn taught herself to read at the age of six and three short years later decided to make writing fiction her career. Her determination to stand up for what she believes and not to let her upbringing hold her back is why I chose her to be the subject of my paper.In 1917, the Russian Revolution broke out and her father’s business was seized by the Bolsheviks. The family relocated to the Crimean Peninsula. In 1926 she traveled alone to the United States never to return to her Russia. Her experiences growing up in St. Petersburg, fleeing Crimea, and returning to the University of St. Petersburg had a tremendous impact on her philoso
The next few years Ayn worked at odd jobs such as being a waitress. In 1929 she finally married Frank O’Connor and began working on the first novel she had published which was called “We the Living”; which was the story of three young people destroyed by dictatorship. However, it wasn't until 1936 when she started to become successful and well known for the play “Night of January 16th”. The play which was a courtroom drama that was tried before a jury drawn from the audience each night had two different endings, one for each verdict. Although a success, it marked Ayn's first struggle to keep the integrity of her writing intact from those who did not share or understand her vision. Rand’s is most well known for being the founder of Objectivism. This is the philosophy that she presented in her novel “Atlas Shrugged”. Objectivism offers an alternative to the ideas which dominate today’s culture and universities. Objectivism is a complete, systematic, integrated system of thought. As such it requires in-depth study. Below is a quote from the newsletter “The Objectivist” that Ayn Rand began in 1962. Translated once for a reporter Ayn stated her philosophy simply as: 1. “Wishing won’t make it so.” 2. “You can’t eat your cake and have it, too.” 3. “Man is an end in himself.” 4. “Give me liberty or give me death.” These are all things that we have all heard and/or said at least once in our lives. Rand was a passionate individualist. Her philosophy of Objectivism rejects the ethics of self-sacrifice. She urged men to hold themselves and their lives as their highest values, and to live by the code of the free individual: self-reliance, integrity
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Approximate Word count = 1143
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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