He looked at the granite. To be cut, he thought, and made into walls. He looked at a tree. To be split and made into rafters. He looked at a streak of rust on the stone and thought of iron ore under the ground. To be melted and to emerge as girders against the sky. These rocks, he thought, are waiting for me; waiting for the drill, the dynamite and my voice; waiting to be split, ripped, pounded, reborn; waiting for the shape my hands will give them.
This passage from Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead vividly portrays a vision of transformation and creation, emphasizing the human capacity to reshape the world through effort and intention. The protagonist views the raw materials of nature—granite, wood, iron ore—not merely for what they are, but for what they can become through his actions. This mindset reflects creativity as an act of will, seeing potential where others might see only inert substance.
The...
