The Fountainhead

The Fountainhead is a 1943 novel by Ayn Rand (ISBN 0452283760). The book was Rand's first major success and its royalties and movie rights made Rand famous and financially secure. The book was rejected by 12 publishers before a young editor at the Bobbs-Merrill Company publishing house wired to the head office, "If this is not the book for you, then I am not the editor for you". The Fountainhead was made into a Hollywood film in 1949, with screenplay by Rand herself.

The novel

Major characters

The major characters in the novel all represent different types of people, and essentially exist to contrast Howard Roark, who is Rand's image of the perfect man (and, to a lesser extent, contrast Toohey, who is shown as the absolute evil.) Roark is the man who was 'as man should be,' who lives for him self and his own creative power, indifferent to the opinions of others. Dominique Francon is presented as the prefect mistress for Roark, but over the course of the novel has to learn not to fear society and to not let their flaws hinder one's integrity. Gail Wynand is the 'man who could have been,' who rises from the poverty of his youth into an extremely rich and powerful position, but, in jealousy of his former 'superiors,' uses his superfluous talent not to create for himself, but to control others, which leads to his own demise. Peter Keating is 'the man who couldn't be, and doesn't know it,' who wants to achieve as well as make a name for himself, but lives off the support and condolence of others, which is what leads to his demise. Ellsworth Toohey, presented as the complete antithesis of Roark, is 'the man who couldn't be, and knows it, who, pessimistic about his talent when he was young, sets out to destroy others through guilt and altruism, because he knows that this is the only way he can accomplish anything. The novel is split into four sections, named after Keating, Toohey, Wynand, and Roark; each section (though the plot is completely coherent) is named after the character which fully shows his own nature in each one. The last one, in which Roark achieves his final victory, is named after him.

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Howard Roark

Howard Roark is the hero of the novel, whom Rand portrays as a paragon of Objectivist ideals (though, when the novel was published, she was not yet known as a philosopher and the term Objectivism had not yet been coined.) He is an aspiring architect with a unique, uncompromising creative vision, which contrasts sharply with the staid and uninspired conventions of the architectural establishment. Roark takes pleasure in the act of creation, but is constantly opposed by "the hostility of second-hand souls" and those unwilling or afraid to recognize his creative ability. Roark serves as the basic mold from which the protagonists of Rand's other great novel, Atlas Shrugged, are cast.

Related Topics:
Objectivist - Architect - Atlas Shrugged

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Dominique Francon

Dominique Francon is the heroine of the novel, described by Rand as "the woman for a man like Howard Roark." She is the daughter of a highly successful but creatively inhibited architect, and it is only through Roark that her love of power, pleasure, and self-dominance meets a worthy equal. She is the daughter of Guy Francon, who fears his daughter and is Peter Keating's esteemed boss.

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Gail Wynand

Gail Wynand is a powerful newspaper mogul who rose from a destitute childhood in the ghettoes of New York City to control the city's print media. While Wynand shares many of the character qualities of Roark, his success is dependent on public opinion, a flaw which eventually leads to his destruction. Rand describes Wynand as "a man who could have been."

Related Topics:
Newspaper - Ghetto - New York City

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Peter Keating

Peter Keating is also an aspiring architect, but is everything that Roark is not. Keating's creative abilities are miserably inadequate, but his willingness to build what others wish him leads to temporary success. He is subservient to the wills of others - Dominique Francon's father, the architectural establishment, his mother, even Roark himself. Keating is "a man who never could be, but doesn't know it," according to Rand.

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Ellsworth Toohey

Rand describes Toohey as "a man who never could be, and knows it." Toohey is an architectural critic for Wynand's paper who uses his influence over the masses to hinder Howard Roark. Toohey is an unabashed collectivist, who styles himself as representative of the will of the masses. Having no true genius that such innovators as Roark possess, he makes himself excellent by manipulating the masses to believe that mediocrity is excellent. Toohey serves as the primary villain in the novel, and the gravest enemy of Objectivist ideals. Toohey is also the only character in the novel to have political goals. He is attempting to establish a Communist dictatorship in America by altering people?s view of excellence; to destroy that which is great and spread the word that altruism is the ultimate ideal. This is put forward in one of his most memorable quotes: ?Don?t set out to raze all shrines ? you?ll frighten man. Enshrine mediocrity, and your shrines are razed.? It is in this that makes Ellsworth Toohey Ayn Rand?s most evil villain; unlike the characters in Atlas Shrugged, who are really just blindly following Toohey?s religion, Toohey knows exactly what he is doing ? and why.

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Plot synopsis

Howard Roark and Peter Keating attend the same prestigious architectural school. Howard had wanted to be an architect since he was ten, because 'he doesn't believe in God,' i.e. wants to create and produce in the real, living world, as he understands it. Peter decided to become an architect out of pressure from his mother, though he originally wanted to be a painter. Keating graduates at the top of his class (with scornful assistance from Roark) and becomes a prominent partner at the firm of Guy Francon, Dominique's father. He realizes that he owes much of his success to Howard, and this causes him to resent him. Roark, however, is expelled from the school for refusing to allow the curriculum to dictate how he should create, and refusing to sacrifice effectiveness for the sake of tradition. Roark finds refuge with Henry Cameron, an architect who shares Roark's vision but whose formerly successful career has been destroyed by his own unwillingness to compromise.

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Peter then gradually rises up the company ladder by sacrificing others. While Keating and Francon find great success for a time reproducing classic architecture, Roark labors in Cameron's dying firm. Cameron, defeated by society, soon dies; he tells Roark that there's 'something' he should find, that Roark's the answer to everything, and that all the problems in the world are represented by Gail Wynand. Despite some initial commissions, Roark is unable to sustain his own firm, which he began after odd jobs as a draftsman, and eventually takes a job at a granite quarry. It is here that he catches the eye of Dominique Francon whose father owns the quarry (she was hiding from the rest of society by staying there) and has been impressed with the buildings Roark has created, even though she did not yet know that he was the architect. Dominique maneuvers Roark to her house, and allows Roark to rape her (this scene has been described as "rape by engraved invitation" and explained by Rand as "wishful thinking" http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/kelly1.html, see also rape fantasy), beginning their love affair. Roark soon receives an important commission and returns to New York.

Related Topics:
Classic - Architecture - Rape - Rape fantasy

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Keating has fallen in love with a plain young woman, but his mother convinces him to submit to Guy Francon's desire for Keating and Dominique to fall in love. Dominique convinces Keating to marry her rather than the woman he truly loves, as a way of testing Roark and to show him what she feels is the equivalent of what he's doing - giving herself to an unworthy world like Roark does with his buildings. In addition, Dominique embarks on a quest to hinder Roark's professional career, because she feels that the world is unworthy of Roark's creations.

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In the meantime, through the machinations of Ellsworth Toohey (who happens to be the uncle of Keating's former love, Catherine, who Toohey eventually guilts into submission,) Roark receives a commission to build a temple to the human spirit. Roark creates a building with a nude statue of Dominique as its centerpiece, aware that he is falling into a trap. Toohey convinces Roark's client (as he originally planned) that the building is in bad taste and poorly designed, and Roark is sued for damages. Roark proudly refuses to offer any defense, because he thinks that no defense would be effective if the judge can't understand the beauty of the building in the first place, and the money he loses in the suit is used to destroy the artistic integrity of his building. Toohey did this because Roark was building a name for him self, and wanted him destroyed.

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Again through the work of Toohey, Dominique and Gail Wynand meet, and Wynand falls in love with her, because she represents the egotistical image of humanity that he never really achieved for himself. Dominique, in an effort to further test Roark and to punish Keating, divorces Keating and marries Wynand. Wynand happens across photographs of the temple in its original form, and is aghast when he learns that his own newspaper played a crucial role in the building's destruction. Eventually, Roark meets Wynand, and the two men become friends, although Wynand is unaware of Roark's relationship with Dominique. Wynand sees in Roark a man that truly loves his work and thus can't be destroyed by Wynand's money or apparent cultural influence. Wynand, who is constantly trying to isolate Dominique from his work and the rest of society, does the same to Roark but fails completely, and becomes obsessed with the two.

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The climax of the novel is precipated by Keating's desperate request for Roark's help in designing a major housing project that he has been commissioned to build; Roark agrees to design the building, but on the condition that Keating not allow any changes to the design to take place. Keating makes a valiant effort, but is unable to prevent his associates from altering Roark's design, and the building is not built according to Roark's wishes. Roark, in a calculated move, blows up the building. Dominique, who aided in the plan, is seriously wounded in the explosion.

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With Roark soon to stand trial for the crime, Wynand insists that his papers defend Roark to the fullest. However, Toohey's influence prevails, and the popularity of Wynand's papers plunges precipitously. Eventually, Wynand allows his partners to override his insistences by joining the public opinion that Roark is a criminal, a move he realizes is suicidal for his pride and personal integrity, and his papers regain a portion of their popularity. Thus, Wynand realizes that control over others is inconsistent and without value. Following Wynand's betrayal of Roark, Dominique finally accepts the parameters of her love for Roark, earns a respect for his indifference to who sees his work and what is thought about it, and leaves Wynand.

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Roark, at his trial, expounds at length about why he acted as he did, essentially speaking as Rand's voice. Roark is acquitted. The novel ends with Roark and Dominique married, and Roark accepting a final commission from Wynand to build a skyscraper (in the final scene, he is overviewing its construction proudly,) as a monument to who Roark is and who Wynand could have been, had he not built his life around power over others.

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