Barbara Branden’s biography The Passion of Ayn Rand provided
the source material for the article about some familiar features from
There are many more examples of characteristics,
viewpoints and experiences that Ayn Rand shares with other people, including me,
to be found in this book.
Some more basic elements of Ayn Rand’s personality
There is little evidence that Ayn Rand possessed a sense
of humour. She may not have had much common sense either. This is very
reminiscent of Elizabeth Taylor’s character Angel.
She needed to control others.
She could be selfish and thoughtless, for example when
she uprooted her husband from a life he loved and that suited him perfectly
because she wanted to move to New York. This is very like what Angel did to her
mother.
Just like Angel, Ayn Rand lacked introspection and showed
no humility.
Ayn Rand considered herself to be the supreme authority
on what had worth and what did not and what was right and what was wrong; she judged
people by her own standards and was contemptuous and intolerant of and
dismissive towards people who didn’t make the grade.
Where she saw no unusual intelligence – nor the capacity
for dedicated productive work that she believed to be its consequence – she saw
no value.
She had little understanding of family ties, emotional
connections and people’s feelings. Very few people mattered to her in a
personal way. To the end of her life, she dismissed anyone who had a deep need
for the company of other people as being essentially without value.
Ayn Rand was passionately anti mysticism and pro reason.
