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Chapter 4: Übermensch
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Old School, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Honesty and Honor
Identity and Belonging
The Power of Literature
Competition, Masculinity, and Pride
Education, Failure, and Growth
Summary
Analysis
“Who is John Galt?” is the first line of Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged, which the narrator discovers when he borrows the book from the library a few days later. But, he realizes, he can’t get into Atlas Shrugged, and when he returns to The Fountainhead, he can’t get into that either. He realizes now how much disgust Rand has for anyone who’s sick or appears weak.
The narrator’s change of heart about Rand’s work again illustrates how much the power of a work lies in a reader’s understanding of it. Because the narrator realizes how much he disagrees with many of Rand’s values, he no longer feels the same connection with her work and it no longer feels empowering.
Themes
The narrator also notes that Rand’s characters’ lives involve no children, relatives, or even friends. He remembers Grandjohn and Patty staying with him in the infirmary and his gratitude toward them. He sees that his parents—his mother, who died, and his father, who was devastated by grief—are probably prime examples of the weak people Rand criticized. And even though the narrator spent much of his life ashamed of his family and hiding them in vague hints, he is still offended by Rand’s view.
This is the first instance in which the narrator admits how much he hides his family life because he is ashamed of them. This ties together his desire to belong and his dishonesty, as he feels that only through these calculated hints—even if they aren’t explicit lies—can he find a place with the other boys. In addition, he starts to recognize that he might not need to be so ashamed of his family. While he had been swept up in Rand’s idea of how a person should act, he also realizes that being connected to one’s family and show vulnerability are valuable.
Themes
The narrator decides to reread many of Hemingway’s books and stories. He is struck by the fact that he used to read Hemingway for images of toughness, self-sufficiency, and freedom. But now, he finds that characters—like Jake Barnes, whom Rand had called a “wretched eunuch”—are vulnerable and resilient, but not weak. The characters, like Hemingway himself, are men who suffer from nervousness, fear, and instability, and who make mistakes. He realizes that Hemingway knew readers would see him in his protagonists, and the stories take on a new sense of intimacy and truth.
The narrator’s evolved perspective on Hemingway underscores how the unique attitudes and experiences that a reader brings to the table can dramatically impact their perception of a given literary work. Coming off of Rand’s harsh attitudes towards Hemingway’s work, the narrator acknowledges that characters like Jake Barnes are vulnerable, but it makes him more empathetic to them rather than less. It also shows the narrator the value of writing something truthful and inspired by one’s own life, which foreshadows his own decision to try and be more truthful about his own life in writing.
Themes
The narrator looks up to Hemingway so much that he begins to copy out his stories to feel what it might be like to write something great. Then, one evening, the headmaster announces that Ernest Hemingway will be the next visiting writer, arriving in May. The room immediately goes nuts, and the narrator feels sure that he is going to win the competition this time.
Here, the narrator wants the feeling of writing something as great as Hemingway did—another suggestion that he’s more interested in the accolades that accompany good writing more so than the writing itself. The narrator’s return to Hemingway also sets up the context of the importance of this particular competition. Winning this contest would be the point of greatest pride for the narrator because of his desire to emulate Hemingway and prove himself a great writer as well.
Themes
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