Sunday, October 6, 2013
The House of Terror
Over the past few months I have discussed the idea that their is a beast within society that causes people to defy nature itself. I speculated that societies strive towards perfectionism and hatred for failure resulted in the robotic, gloomy society to be created; however, I believe I identified the root of the issue. It seems as if the society that Rand has illustrated to her reader is similar to a House of Terror. Every soul on her planet falls under one common denominator. This denominator, marked as one of fear, is the source of every singular conflict that Rand has discussed thus far.
Furthermore, I have also mentioned that in the battle between society and nature, nature conquers all; however, I believe I was naive when writing that particular entry. Fear, in fact, has made society divert from nature and love. People are acting alien because there fear is holding their bodies in a state of paralysis.
I have come to realize that in this novel, fear is not only a universal constant but a tool for characterization. Rand defines her characters by how they define fear, how they are able to compensate for it, and how they are able to either conquer it or let it consume them. I realized that this week that all of these fears have lead towards a ‘perfect society’ in which failure is not an option; but, Rand furthermore dives into her discussion about the anxiety that is present in every single character that she has introduced.
Rand compares two opposite fears: the fear of standing still vs the fear of change. She mentions how people cannot stand to be present in the moment, for example, when Dagny panics when her train stops moving. She is terrified to see her perspective world halt in a sudden moment. On the other hand, Rand also describes fear of change through James when he begs for stability and falls to his knees just at the idea of uncontrolled change.
No matter what the numerator, I have realized, that a denominator of fear will always be present in this society whether it be fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of the unknown, or even fear of ourselves.
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What I have loved about your blog posts is that you always identify motifs and create your own metaphors and similes with the book.
ReplyDeleteI agree that fear is a huge factor to acknowledge in this novel. Everybody has thier own personal fears, and it is what drives them to do certain things. It is important to remember that everybody has fears, no matter how strong they seem to us. Some people are better at hiding them than others, but they will always reside in every person. The factor of fear creates the realization that no matter how hard a person can try to be perfect, nobody is. Everyone has flaws, and most of the time these flaws seem to be tied to their fears. Therefore, even the obnoxious John Galt is not perfect.
When you say that "the denominator of fear will always be present in this society" I have to say- it will always be present in every society. Your post reminded me of "Lord of the Flies" with your acknowledgment of the "beast within society". In fact, the way the people in this novel act is very much like the boys in "Lord of the Flies". They are driven by fear and how they handle it (and as you say- how they define it).
Fear has shown itself to be a common denominator in the society Rand creates. I think you describe it perfectly; each person is characterized by his or her fear. This is actually what I love about the book. Dagny obtains a fear of failure for her company, that her brother takes credit for, but she has a much greater fear. Although she says she is fine on her own, she definitely is not and has proved this. This is shown in her love life. She was afraid of losing Francisco, because she did love him. She was then interested in Rearden and only left him because she found John Galt. The situation with John Galt is very interesting because I never expected it, but she finally found the person she has been looking for. This fear was finally diminished and I was so happy. Rearden is the only character in which I cant pinpoint his fear, but he has some fear. I agree with you completely.
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