The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

First published: 1943

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Parable

Time of plot: 1922-1930’s

Locale: New York City

Principal characters

• Howard Roark, an architect
• Peter Keating, an architect
• Ellsworth Toohey, a writer and social reformer
• Catherine Halsey, Keating’s girlfriend and Toohey’s niece
• Guy Francon, the principal partner of the firm where Keating works
• Dominique Francon, his daughter
• Gail Wynand, a newspaper publisher

The Story:

Howard Roark is expelled from architectural school because he has no respect for copying the past. Peter Keating, one of the favorite students at the school, frequently persuades Roark to help him with his assignments. Roark decides to go to New York City to work for Henry Cameron, a once-respected but now renegade architect who shares Roark’s ideals. Keating takes a job with the firm of Guy Francon, a powerful and influential architect who believes in copying classic buildings. After Cameron’s business fails, Keating hires Roark, but the job does not last long. Francon fires Roark for his failure to draft an adaptation of one of Cameron’s buildings; Roark continues to refuse to copy others’ work.

Dominique Francon, Guy’s daughter, visits the office. Her beauty immediately impresses Keating, and he remains interested in her even after discovering that she wrote a newspaper column in Gail Wynand’s Banner in which she criticized one of his building designs. They later begin dating. Keating’s longtime girlfriend, Catherine Halsey, announces that she wants to get married immediately; however, she agrees to wait. Keating knows that Halsey is the niece of Ellsworth Toohey, a Banner columnist who writes about architecture and many other topics. He refuses to use his relationship with Halsey to gain influence with Toohey.

Roark takes a job with another firm but learns that his designs will be combined with those of others. His employer uses most of Roark’s drawing in a draft presented to one client, who says that it is the best of many designs that he saw but that it is somehow wrong. Roark seizes the drawing and marks over it, restoring his original work. The client hires Roark, inspiring Roark to start his own firm.

In an attempt to cement his position, Keating attempts to blackmail Lucius Heyer, Francon’s partner, who does almost no work in the firm and is not respected by the employees. Heyer dies, leaving Keating his share in the firm because Keating once was kind to him. Keating wins a worldwide design contest, after getting Roark’s assistance. He attempts to bribe Roark to remain silent about working on the design, but Roark says that Keating will be doing him a favor by not mentioning his assistance.

Roark’s business fails because he is too selective in accepting commissions; he prefers not to work at all rather than to design buildings he does not believe in. He takes a job in a granite quarry owned by Guy Francon. Dominique sees him working in the quarry and is struck by his beauty and by the way he approaches his work. She purposely damages a piece of marble in her house and has him assess the damage. She then hires him to come back and repair the damage; however, he sends another worker. Later, he returns and rapes her. Soon thereafter, Roark receives a letter of inquiry from Roger Enright about designing a house, whereupon he leaves the quarry job.

Toohey writes a favorable column about Keating’s work and asks to meet him, and then he suggests that Keating head a group of young architects. He also acknowledges Keating’s engagement to Halsey. Dominique tells Keating that she no longer wants to see him because he is the best of what there is, and she does not approve of perfection. She sees plans for the Enright house, not knowing it is Roark’s work or even that Roark is an architect, and tells Toohey that the man who designed it should not allow it to be built because it will not be appreciated. Roark agrees to go to a party because he knows that Dominique will be there and will not expect to see him. They pretend not to know each other. Afterward, she writes a column disparaging the Enright house, having found out that it is his design. She also persuades a potential client not to hire him. She goes to Roark’s office and tells him that she will continue to try to destroy him. She wants him to own her, however, and she tells him that she will come to him every time she beats him. She continues to denigrate his work in her newspaper columns, and she persuades clients to use Keating instead.

Toohey convinces multimillionaire Hopton Stoddard to let Roark design an interdenominational temple for him and to give Roark a completely free hand in the design. Stoddard, a traditionalist, does not see the building until it is completed; he then refuses to open it. Stoddard sees it as inappropriate for a temple, in part because of the nude statue of Dominique that Roark commissions for it. Toohey persuades Stoddard to sue Roark; Toohey’s plan all along was to destroy Roark’s reputation. Stoddard wins the lawsuit, and Dominique is fired for testifying at the trial that the building should be destroyed, not because it is faulty but because it is too good.

Keating proposes marriage to Halsey, but Dominique proposes to him later that day and he accepts. Dominique tells Roark that she believes that he will be destroyed because he is too near perfection and that she will destroy herself before she is destroyed by others. About a year later, she agrees to sleep with the newspaper publisher Gail Wynand to get a commission for her husband, Keating. She and Wynand take a trip to Wynand’s yacht, but they begin talking before they sleep together. They discover that they have similar ideas and agree to be married.

Toohey assembles mediocre workers in various professions and promotes their work because he believes in the value of the average. Keating’s business declines. When he complains that Toohey promoted another architect, Toohey claims that Keating and the others are interchangeable. Desperate for work, Keating hires Roark to design a low-income housing project so that Keating can submit the plans to the government. Roark undertakes the project for the challenge; he knows that with his reputation he can never land a government contract. He makes Keating agree to construct the buildings exactly as designed.

Wynand and Dominique recognize the new project as Roark’s work. Wynand and Roark become friends, and they take a trip on Wynand’s yacht. When they return, Roark sees that other architects have been brought onto the housing project. When he sees that the buildings are different from his plans, he dynamites them, with Dominique’s help. Wynand does everything he can to help Roark at his criminal trial, even though he knows that Roark’s victory will cost him Dominique. Toohey manages to get a column opposing Roark into print. Wynand fires him, prompting a strike at the paper.

Dominique arranges for news of the affair between her and Roark to become public, and Wynand agrees to file for divorce. Roark wins his acquittal. Wynand closes the newspaper and then hires Roark to design a building for him; Wynand does this to symbolize his new freedom from trying to please people with his publications. Roark and Dominique marry.

Bibliography

Baker, James T. Ayn Rand. Boston: Twayne, 1987. An objective study of Rand’s career. Includes brief descriptions and analyses of her major works of fiction and drama. One chapter succinctly describes the main themes and ideas expressed in her written work.

Branden, Barbara. The Passion of Ayn Rand. Garden City, N.J.: Doubleday, 1986. Branden’s biography of Rand is based partly on her own association with Rand, including the extensive interviews she conducted with Rand while preparing the biographical sketch published in Who Is Ayn Rand? (below), and partly on interviews with more than two hundred people who discussed their relationships with Rand. Branden appears to have done substantial research in available documentary materials, but the absence of footnotes makes it impossible to pinpoint her sources of information.

Branden, Nathaniel, and Barbara Branden. Who Is Ayn Rand? New York: Random House, 1962. The Brandens were Rand’s closest associates in the Objectivist movement until Rand broke with them in 1968. Barbara Branden’s biographical essay is based upon information provided by Rand herself and thus reflects the version of her life that she wanted to present to the world. Nathaniel Branden’s contributions include an examination of Rand’s literary methodology, an analysis of the significance of her ideas for psychology, and the essay “The Moral Revolution in Atlas Shrugged.”

Den Uyl, Douglas J.“The Fountainhead”: An American Novel. New York: Twayne, 1999. Analysis of the novel within the context of Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism. Discusses the novel’s Socratic roots, Rand’s concern with the power of individualism and self-examination, and how each character represents a philosophical ideal or failing.

Gladstein, Mimi Reisel. The New Ayn Rand Companion. Rev. and expanded edition. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1999. Provides biographical information, a summary of Rand’s fiction and nonfiction, information about her characters, criticism of her writing, and a comprehensive bibliography. This revised edition contains updated biographical data and newly discovered writings published after her death.

Gladstein, Mimi Reisel, and Chris Matthew Sciabarra, eds. Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999. Collection of essays examining Rand’s life and work from a feminist perspective. Includes pieces by feminist writers Susan Brownmiller and Camille Paglia.

Mayhew, Robert, ed. Essays on Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead.” Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2007. Among other topics, the essays examine the history, publication, and critical reception of the novel; its film adaptation; the meaning of the rape scene and the dynamiting; and the novel’s Aristotlean philosophy, depiction of the ideal man, and humor.

Peikoff, Leonard. Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1991. Based on the author’s lectures on Rand’s philosophy, which were authorized by Rand. Understanding Rand’s philosophy is vital to understanding The Fountainhead.

Rand, Ayn. For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand. New York: Random House, 1961. Provides Rand’s introduction to her philosophy. Separate chapters on individual works of fiction give excerpts from those works that illustrate her philosophy.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Philosophy: Who Needs It? Indianapolis, Ind.: Bobbs-Merrill, 1982. Essays range in content from the basics of Rand’s philosophy to its applications in social policy. Most were written between 1970 and 1975 and reflect contemporary events, her philosophy, and thoughts on her fiction.