The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
[2008-03-04]
So this is a classic novel that was written earlier in the 20th century (1943 to be precise). I had heard of this book when I was in high school, but I find it surprising that not too many other people have heard of it. In any case, it’s one of those books that seems to have turned into a modern classic (as opposed to more traditional classics like Shakespeare, etc).
In its time, this book had a tremendous impact. In fact, it continues to have an impact today as it has elements of Rand’s Objectivism, which has definitely had its fair share of social influence. Basically it is the ultimate in capitalism. It states the the ultimate good is to pursue what makes one happy. Sound familiar? As I said, it’s influenced much of modern thinking.
Interestingly enough, I actually don’t completely agree with this. As a Christian, the ultimate aim in life is not to please oneself. It is because of this that the whole Objectivist movement is said to be anti-Christian. Whatever the case, I wanted to check out this book to see how it was. And I figured that if I couldn’t stand reading something like this without changing, then my faith is pretty baseless. Still, I need to be rather careful about it as it’s been said to be dangerous stuff.
Here are a couple of sites that I’ve checked out to make sure that I get different sides to this argument (rather than just Rand’s side):
[2008-03-17]
Alright so I actually just finished the first third of the novel. And…I didn’t write much about it.
[2008-03-24]
Okay now I will definitely write some about it! Because I’m almost halfway through!
The book focuses mainly on a man by the name of Howard Roark. He is an aspiring architect, and the story starts with him getting expelled from his architecture school (before he can graduate) because his designs and work are too different compared to what the teachers are expecting/wanting/demanding of him. He is creating modern buildings while they want him to do things like the “classics” (i.e. Roman, Greek, etc.).
This is all in sharp contrast to Peter Keating, a boy who goes to the same school as Roark but who is everything that Roark is not. He is successful, head of his class, friends with many there, and almost the epitome of the kind of architect that the school wants to churn out.
However, whenever Keating and Roark interact it definitely seems as if Keating is unsure of himself. He knows that Roark sees people and things completely differently than he does. In fact, to Keating it seems as if it would not even matter to Roark if anything else existed. And yet, it’s not that Roark is very mean or disgruntled. It’s just that he seems to honestly not care. Even more than being unsure of himself, though, Peter has an air of deference because he can see that Roark is someone who stands absolutely for what is correct in his mind. Roark makes buildings that have no extraneous feature, and he can do them no other way. In fact, he will not do them any other way. The dichotomy is all the more interesting as Roark boards with Peter and his mother. Peter’s mother adores him, but it is to Howard that Peter asks whether he should take a scholarship to a prestigious school or a well-paying job offer.
After Howard begrudgingly advises Peter to take the job, they both start to go their separate ways. Peter starts and connives his way to move up the ladder at his new company, eventually becoming a partner. He tricks and is able to get others to get out of the way of his desire to be on top.
Roark, however, begins a long and difficult journey. He tries to study under Cameron, a like-minded formerly popular architect who many have said is long over the hill. His journey only gets more difficult from there. He ends up having to actually work for Peter in the office…to be continued when I have more time.
[2008-04-03]
Alright so Roark studies under Cameron and develops a somewhat tenuous relationship with him. Cameron likes him, but he sees (from his own life) that the world will not be accepting of him. Ultimately, though, they fight together to survive. They fail. Cameron has to close and has Roark go out on his own. They do maintain a relationship of sorts until Cameron eventually dies.
Starting on his own after Cameron Roark decides that he needs to make money so he goes to work for Peter Keating as a minor draftsman who just does sketches rather than designing. Keating has by this time been able to push people out of his way to become somewhat important in his firm. While purposefully demeaning Roark in public, Keating actually seeks his approval for projects. Eventually Keating’s partner Guy Francon tries to give Roark a designing project because the client wants it in the style of one of Cameron’s buildings. However, he asks Roark to change his style. Since Roark will not, he eventually ends up quitting over the matter.
On his own once again, Roark seeks employment at an endless number of firms. They all reject him until finally John Erik Snyte decides to hire him. Snyte has 5 architects of differing styles, and Roark becomes his “modernist” architect. What happens is that Snyte will collaborate all of their individual takes on a particular project to end up in something that ends up being a little of each and none of them at all. A client (Austen Heller) eventually comes in who is not happy with this, and Roark makes the bold move of marking up the drawings for Heller in front of Snyte. This gets him fired but it also gets Heller to offer Roark alone the commission. And off Roark goes to start his own office. (Heller actually becomes a constant encouragement and defender throughout the rest of the novel.)
Roark is reunited with his old friend Mike, who he met while working for Keating. Mike is a construction man, and he finds that he likes Roark (who he calls “Red”) because he is unlike other architects that he’s known. That is, Roark will be willing to get down and dirty. He’s worked in different construction positions ranging from welding to building to electrician.
The house is completed and that leads to other attempts at commissions. None of them truly jump start Roark as a standalone architect, though. Eventually he fails completely and has to close shop. After this failure and the realization that the world cannot accept his buildings, he goes to work for a quarry. He doesn’t want to design anything if the designs can’t be completely what he wants. For that he should definitely be admired. He sees it as his integrity. And even more than that, he doesn’t see any other possibility. In that way, he’s blameless.
Throughout this struggle that Roark is going through, the story of Peter Keating is also unfolding. His is one in which he knows that he wants to reach the top of society. That is, he wants fame and riches. He is willing to pander, but he ultimately wants to push everyone out of his way. He’ll do anything that he can to get to the top. He has a strange relationship with Catherine, the niece of Ellsworth Toohey. Theirs is one in which he ignores her and doesn’t treat her that great. That is he doesn’t spend that much time with her or pay attention to his needs. But when he’s with her, he seems to feel some sort of love for her. And she is willing to do anything for him. It’s a very strange relationship.
Even while Keating is actually engaged to Catherine, he pursues Guy Francon’s daughter Dominique. Dominique is a beautiful girl who has a complete mind of her own. She’ll do things just because they’re different and amuse her. She is perceptive and piercing in situations. She doesn’t truly like Keating, but she entertains him just because it amuses her.
We learn about Ellsworth Toohey. He write One Small Voice for The Banner and is supposed to be an expert on architecture. But really he’s more than that. He’s a socialist who is just trying anyway that he can to attain power so that he can rule over the people. He will cause people to be stupider just so that they will want him to rule over them. He creates groups and councils, but refuses to sit as head even though he is in actuality the head of all of them. He’s physically diminutive, but apparently his intellect is astounding. He’s one of the antitheses to Howard Roark.
Anyways Keating then proceeds to enter into a worldwide competition for the Cosmo-Slotnick building. It’s supposed to be some kind of a movie theater/entertainment center. Guy pushes Keating to enter it and try to win worldwide fame. Although Keating completes some preliminary sketches, he eventually goes to Roark to find out what he thinks of them. While Roark is not doing all that well, he still ends up helping Keating.
Keating’s submission, in very large part Roark’s doing, ends up winning the competition. And while Keating is hailed around the world, Roark is falling more and more into failure. While he’ll have slight success every now and again, ultimately he ends up busting and having to close shop.
Roark, after being disenfranchised with the world that he knows, ends up going to a rock quarry to live a life of physical labor. He figures that honest work, though terribly tiresome, is far better than having to submit his will to those around him. He doesn’t want to design buildings that are created based on what fickle people want. He wants to create buildings that are a testament to themselves.
At the quarry he first meets and encounters Dominique Francon, daughter of Guy. Their interaction is all from afar, but Dominique still feels strongly attached to him. They have a couple of encounters, and she has him personally fix something in her house. Although nothing happens then, later on he comes back. They have passionate sex, which Dominique much later in the novel indicates as a rape. However, it seems as if it was invited and oddly welcomed by Dominique. In any case, she at that point loses her virginity to him.
Soon after a very rich man named Roger Enright, who is known for doing things his own way, goes to Roark to have him build an apartment complex. Roark goes and is forever done with the quarry. So even when Dominique goes backs, she cannot find him. She knows nothing about him (not even his name).
Roark successfully completes the Enright House, which garners for himself some small praise and another proponent in Roger Enright. Soon thereafter he encounters Dominique at a part. She sees his work and so begins a strange relationship where Dominique and Ellsworth start to crusade against all that Roark does. They do this, however, for different reasons. She to not allow the public to see Roark’s glorious works, and he to defeat an enemy. This is also when Dominique starts to get involved with Roark. That is, they have passionate relations every time she feels like she has defeated him. Whether she takes away a superb client or gets people to oppose him, she goes to him each time to in some way make up for it by giving up herself to him. It’s all rather intriguing stuff.
Anyways thereafter there’s a battle of sorts between Roark and the strange partnership of Toohey and Dominique. He tries to get jobs, and they try their best to stifle any opportunity that he has. Sometimes he wins, and sometimes they win. But throughout it all he’s steadfast in his belief that he’s right.
Eventually Toohey convinces his rich and weak friend Hopton Stoddard to hire Roark to build him an ultimate temple that will give credit to all of the religions of the world that Stoddard adores. Roark at this time also hires Stephen Mallory, a strange character who earlier tried to shoot Toohey (but was horribly unsuccessful), to design a statue for this Stoddard Temple. He decides to create a sculpture of a naked Dominique because he says that is the ultimate picture of heroic man. That is, it’s the ultimate in man’s greatness.
Toohey manipulates Stoddard to sue Roark over the supposed terrible work that he did on his temple (even though Roark was supposed to be able to do whatever he wanted with the architecture). Dominique gives an impassioned speech on the stand about how the people don’t deserve Roark’s work (which oddly enough sides with the prosecution even though it is also on Roark’s side). Roark loses the case and is ordered to pay Stoddard back for the damages done. When Toohey meets Howard after the trial he asks Howard what he thinks of him to which Howard famously replies, “I don’t think of you”.
Back to Peter Keating. He goes to Katie, whom he was engaged to months before and says that they are going to be married the next day. That same night Dominique Francon goes to Peter and offers to marry him (although she also tells him that he shouldn’t do it). He accepts (it’s only an offer that is good that one time) and they drive off to be married. That, of course, means that Peter leaves Katie waiting for him since she expects that he’s going to go get her so that they could be married.
We then begin to learn about Gail Wynand. We learn about his difficult childhood in Hell’s Kitchen (a rough and tumble part of town). We learn that he is resilient and a fighter in the utmost (including a scene as a child where he actually does beat up a couple of other boys in his gang leading to him taking over the gang). He’s now the majority stock holder in and the man in charge of a newspaper called The New York Banner (or as is more frequently reference The Banner). He believes that he controls what the public likes and dislikes. He is often described as being born in the wrong time period because he has a sort of royalty about him.
So even though the Depression hits and many people are out of work, Wynand decides that he wants to do a huge housing project. All of the architects obviously want the work, and Toohey tries to help Keating get the job by sending the statue of Dominique from the Stoddard Temple over to Wynand. It turns out that Wynand is somewhat of a purveyor of fine art. Toohey approaches Wynand (Toohey, by the way, has a running column in The Banner about architecture) and tells him that he can meet Dominique, who the statue was made of. Wynand at first thinks that Toohey had bought and appreciated the statue simply because it’s wonderful art, but is glad to find that he only did all of that because he thought that Wynand, a playboy, would want to sleep with the woman that the statue was based on. Wynand’s love for art is his personal sanctuary where he does not allow anyone to enter. In his home in the city he has a floor dedicated to it where nobody is allowed to go.
So Wynand meets with Dominique, asks her to go on a sailing trip with him in return for giving Keating the housing project. She agrees because she sees plainly that Wynand is the man that is ultimately at odds with Roark, not Keating. Wynand presents the offer to Keating at dinner (similar to the more recent Indecent Proposal), and Keating very begrudgingly agrees to it.
On the trip, Wynand asks Dominique to marry him, and she agrees to leave Keating and do that. Meanwhile, Roark is struggling but still finding enough jobs to get by. Eventually he lands a job at a place called Monodnack Valley. He turns out to do an excellent job, and the truth comes out later that the board had chosen Roark because they wanted him to fail (as well as the whole project because it was all some sort of fraud).
Wynand, seeing all of the buildings that Roark has done, loves his work as he loves his art work, and he hires Roark to build him a home. They become great friends even though Wynand knows nothing about Roark and Dominique’s past relationship.
Meanwhile, Peter Keating is struggling and falling deeper and deeper from the glories of his earlier days. Toohey is not helping him at all. Peter goes to beg Toohey for help, and Toohey agrees that he can try to get him a job called Cortlandt Homes. It’s a housing project that has some very strict cost requirements that nobody else has been able to meet. Keating makes an attempt but is unable to satisfy the requirements. So he goes to Roark. Roark, as was his nature, helps Keating but forces him to agree that the entire thing will be built exactly as Roark designs it. That is the only requirement that Roark has of Keating. And Keating agrees.
After finishing, Roark ends up going on a sailing trip with Wynand. On the trip there is a pretty memorable scene where Roark describes how there are people in the world that are “second-handers” and those that are essentially originals. A second-hander is one who feeds and thrives on others. He does things that are influenced by the thoughts, opinions, and and ideology of other people (hence second hand). And then he says that Wynand was not born to be a second-hander. When he comes back it turns out that all of those people that are working with Keating (because other people got appointed to positions of power and councils, etc) all tried to put their own mark on the project by changing things. Keating tried to stop them but was unable to. Roark, seeing that all was ruined, creates a plan to blow up the whole project with dynamite! His rationale is that if it’s not going to be done right, then it shouldn’t be done at all.
The whole country against him for what he has done to a building project, Wynand tries his best to stand by Roark. He thinks that because he controls the public opinion, he can turn things around. Unfortunately he finds out that he doesn’t control the public opinion nearly as much as he thinks that he does. The Banner falls harder and harder, and Toohey is on the side happily waiting for a chance to take it over from Wynand. Everyone is telling Wynand to just give in and stop siding with Roark, but he doesn’t want to. Eventually because of mounting pressure he does do just that. And that is where he is lost. He realizes that in truth he is a second-hander, and he cannot live up to the man that Roark supposedly is, a man of purity, honor, and firm belief in self.
[2008-04-23]
Finished with the book.
Roark is vindicated before the jury. It’s interesting because Rand seems to want to create a dichotomy between the trials of the Stoddard Temple and Cortlandt Homes. Whereas Roark definitively lost concerning the Stoddard Temple, he was triumphant with Cortlandt Homes. The rest of the novel is tied up rather quickly with Dominique leaving Wynand for Roark as publicly as possible, Wynand closing shop at The Banner much to the dismay of Toohey, and Wynand contracting Roark as an architect for his building. They are never reconciled, and Wynand knows that he cannot face Roark again as a friend. The ending scene has Dominique (by now Mrs. Roark) rising on the scaffolding of the Wynand Building (which is to be the largest skyscraper in the city) and seeing Howard Roark, Architect standing there strongly profiled on the top level of the building.
Closing Thoughts
This novel was definitely interesting. That much can be said about it. It had a story that really was just a cover for some deep and interesting thoughts on a bit of ideology. Namely that which has since been termed as Objectivism.
Rand’s philosophy, in general, elevates man to heroic status. In economics, she advocates laissez-faire capitalism. In ethics, she preaches that man should be wholly self-interested. As a result of this self-interest, altruism is denounced as not being the ultimate good, but the ultimate evil. In politics, individualism is emphasized. In science that there is always in fact an absolute objective action occurring. And amidst it all, religion is denounced as being something that only imbeciles would believe. She is able to incorporate all kinds of soliloquies into her book that allow her free reign to describe her ideology. Her ideas are strangely appealing in a sort of hedonistic sort of way. She appeals to the ideal that man can be ultimate and strong. But ultimately she falls short because she doesn’t see that this can never be. That man is in fact sinful by nature and has already lost the battle against self before it seems like it’s begun. Man is not heroic. We are only saved by grace.
I liked the book, but reader beware lest thee be swayed.