About This Quote
Ayn Rand says that the idea of beauty, like a slab of magnificent marble, has crushed all possible refinement and vitality from the psychology of love. In other words, if something is beautiful, it has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. It has no sense of humor, no compassion, no humor, no empathy, and no emotion. In other words, so-called beauty is nothing more than a blob on the wall. In her essay on this subject, Rand states that the only thing people want from beauty is to be different from everyone else.
But when everyone is different it means that you have no real friends because everyone’s life is so completely different from yours. You can’t relate to them or help them if they need it because your problems are completely different from theirs. Rand also criticized the idea of beauty in her fiction under the name “Alisa Fleming” in a short story called “The Anthem.” In this story, Alisa Fleming goes to a shop and buys a ring for herself with great care and attention to detail. She really looks at it and admires its beauty before putting it on her finger with great pleasure.
The ring is perfect in every way and she loves it dearly. One day, someone she loves very much gives her a very similar ring which she approves of immediately. After wearing it for some time she realizes that she doesn’t really like it after all and forgets about it until one day her husband asks her to wear the ring with him on his deathbed (he dies three days later).
She then decides that she really wants to give up the ring when he asks for it back but only when he tells her to take the ring off instead when he dies since he doesn’t want to go without it anymore. She does as he says and his last words are: “you cannot give me back my wifely ring — you — you — you — you — you — I — love — you — I — love — you!”
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