The Fountainhead



Howard Roark, The Hero of the story, is an architect whose style tends toward being "modernistic." Problem is, everyone else where he lives likes to recycle old styles, so Howard is more of an acquired taste in the art world, where only a few folks (who become his Nakama, more or less) appreciate him.

The Architectural establishment all damn Roark for being insufficiently humble enough to "realize" that no one will ever approach the glories of the past. No one cares that Roark's buildings are actually pleasant to live in; no, people don't want to live in houses, they want big flashy facades with lavish ballrooms so they can entertain their friends and impress them.

And so begins architecture as a metaphor for the content of people's selves. Those that build houses for the purposes of showing off and impressing friends do not have any content of their own in their soul; they live second-hand, dependent on other people for their psychological sense of self.

For more information on Objectivist ideas, please see Objectivism.

The Book Provides Examples Of:
"Dominique revels in how shocked people who hold her in awe would be to hear the words "I've been raped." Rand describes her fantasizing about throwing the incident in the faces of such people: "She wanted to scream it to the hearing of all" (221). Wendy McElroy, Looking Through A Paradigm Darkly"
 * A Shared Suffering: Howard's few close friends are other artists who aren't appreciated by society.
 * American Newspapers: The Banner, owned by Gail Wynand and employer of Ellsworth Toohey and Dominique Francon.
 * A Man Is Not a Virgin: Toohey, Wynand, Keating, and Roark to name a few. When they want some poontang, they get some poontang. Especially Wynand.
 * Artist Disillusionment: happens to most of the artistic characters at one point or another.
 * Anguished Declaration of Love: Howard does his version of this after he finds out who Dominique's second husband is going to be.
 * Anti-Villain: Gail Wynand. Peter Keating too, if you would even consider him a villain.
 * Arc Words:
 * Later in the book, the word "bromide" becomes one. Howard Roark's name might also be used this way in places.
 * "Second-hander" is an increasingly important arc word as the book progresses.
 * Asskicking Equals Authority: How "Stretch" Wynand gains control of his gang.
 * Author Avatar: Dominique Francon is essentially Ayn Rand in a bad mood (by Rand's own admission).
 * Badass: Howard Roark will never back down. Never. True to this trait, he . THEN, he  . He doesn't even care that  ! And it turns out he freaking  ! Plus, so many his lines are just SO badass.
 * Badass Boast: Gail Wynand does this when he starts his
 * Batman Gambit: Toohey's recommending Roark for the Stoddard Temple is the start of his campaign to discredit Roark.
 * Bittersweet Ending:
 * Blondes Are Evil and Defrosting Ice Queen: Dominique (although Dominique isn't exactly 'evil,' she's more extremely pessimistic).
 * Boring Invincible Hero: A common criticism of Howard Roark.
 * Break the Cutie: Catherine Halsey. Elsworth Toohey, her uncle, accepted custody of her specifically so he could do it.
 * Break the Haughty: Howard Roark and Dominique Francon try to break each other early in their relationship.
 * Broken Pedestal: Howard's first boss
 * Bromance: Roark and Wynand, Roark and Mallory, Mike and Mallory. All of these can possibly be interpreted as Ho Yay by at least some readers. The author may not have intended this, but Roark and Wynand's Bromance comes across has pretty, ahem, subtexty (admittedly, this is a subjective judgement). Roark and Steve Mallory is total hurt/comfort material. Even the Objectivist scholar Chris Matthew Sciabarra devoted a chapter in his "Ayn Rand, Homosexuality and Human Liberation" to "Male Bonding in the Randian Novel."
 * Character Filibuster: Roark's defense speech. Also when Toohey gets his nine page monologue on altruism, however its more of an anti-author filibuster because it goes against her philosophy.
 * Conspicuous Consumption: Deconstructed. The book in effect argues that Conspicuous Consumption is a form of selflessness because it is premised on the belief that one's primary value is how other people think of oneself, thus rendering one a psychological parasite.
 * Deconstruction: Each of the four main male characters (Roark, Wynand, Toohey and Keating) are embodiments of a specific code of ethics. The three who embody moral codes Rand disagrees with are deconstructions of their respective morality. Peter Keating, described by Rand's notes as "the man who couldn't be, and doesn't know it" embodies altruistic morality from a subservient perspective, i.e. he exists for other people. As such he is a pathetic wreck that has no will of his own, is easily manipulated by others (especially his mother) and repressed his talent at art in favor of being a more 'socially acceptable' architect. Ellsworth Toohey, "the man who couldn't be, and knows it" is a deconstruction of altruism from a 'dominant' perspective. He sees himself as a 'collector of souls' who has no interest in anything but controlling other people and uses altruistic morality to do so. Because he, like Keating, derives his psychological sustenance/identity from power over others, he too is 'selfless' (as Rand uses the term). Gail Wynand, "the man who could have been", is a deconstruction of the popular interpretation of Frederich Neitzsche's "Overman" morality; he seeks power over others but in doing so ends up controlled by them. He realizes he is indeed just as much of a psychological parasite as Ellsworth Toohey.
 * Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Roark threatens to end relationships with those whom offer him money without doing work.
 * Easy Evangelism: A concerted media campaign turns the public against Roark; but a speech from him gets them on his side.
 * Everyone Went to School Together: well, Howard and Peter did.
 * Evil Counterpart: The real 'counterpart' is Gail Wynand - he was a highly creative, talented man, who chooses the second-hander path out of cynicism.
 * Expy: Howard Roark, for Frank Lloyd Wright.
 * Fallen Hero: Gail Wynand, who tried to be a hero, but was beaten.
 * Foreshadowing: Howard Roark, when discussing some realizations about second-handers with Gail Wynand, leaves off one most egregious:
 * Foil: Peter Keating represents a person who was not talented, and instead of recognizing it and living his life in line with his true interests and abilities, tried to achieve more than he deserved by living off of others.
 * For the Evulz: Ellsworth Toohey's motivation. Along with the wish for power.
 * Gender Blender Name: Gail Wynand is a man. Yes, really.
 * Glurge: In-universe example. Everything written by Alvah Scarrett. Deconstructed; a morality based upon sickeningly-sweet pity means that no one has any reason to truly want a world where people do not suffer (because without sufferring to soothe, one cannot be moral).
 * Hannibal Lecture: Toohey gives quite a few.
 * Heel Face Turn:
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Ironic, considering that sacrifice is noted as usually being stupid in the book, but in order to gain some self-respect and assist Roark, ..
 * Idiot Ball: Absolutely no one suspects Dominique's affair with Roark, even after she poses nude for a statue in one of his buildings.
 * I Love You Because I Can't Control You: Arguably this describes Wynand's feelings for Roark (feelings which Rand herself described as "romantic" in one of her journals).
 * Insult Backfire: For columns (and testimony in court) that are supposed to damn the hell out of Roark's work, you can figure out that Dominique actually likes it. During her court testimony against Roark's buildings, she actually says she doesn't want to save people from the building, but the building from people.
 * It Amused Me: The reason Gail Wynand breaks men of integrity. Also, to prove to himself that he wasn't wrong when he decided that humanity was contemptible.
 * Jerkass: Peter Keating, his mother, Catherine Halsey (the only girl he ever truly loved), Ellsworth Toohey, Gail Wynand, and Dominique Francon all demonstrate this at various times. Henry Cameron does this in order to
 * Jade-Colored Glasses: Dominique has a very extreme case of this. She still believes in her ideals, but it is because she believes in them that she is so completely disgusted with the entire world around her. Indeed, at one point in the book, she agrees with Gail Wynand's statement that "one cannot love humanity without hating most of humankind" (or words to that effect).
 * Love Martyr: Howard, of all people. Dominique not only deliberately screws with his career, she runs off and marries other guys TWICE, and he still just quietly waits around for her to come to her senses. Dominique attempts to be one in her own twisted way, but it just doesn't work.
 * Masochism Tango: Once married to Wynand, Dominique does her level best to make him suffer. She only quits when he explains that he loves her too much to actually be bothered by it.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Toohey is the worst example. Peter Keating's mother is almost as bad.
 * Mills and Boon Prose: The "rape" scene. Hoo boy... the participants genitals aren't even mentioned! There is some Values Dissonance involved here, as this book was written in The Forties and Ayn Rand had to submit to the editorial standards and practices of the time.
 * My Beloved Smother: Peter Keating's mother.
 * My Girl Is Not a Slut: Subverted by Dominique. After Dominique's "rape" at the hands of Howard Roark, she contemplates how horrified everyone would be that their imperious Ice Queen Dominique was "violated." She, however, gleefully fantasizes about the look of shock in their eyes as she proudly announces news of her ravishment.


 * Name's the Same: Catherine Halsey
 * Nepotism: Peter throws over the fiancee he truly loves when his boss's daughter proposes marriage to him, deciding he'd rather boost his career. It works.
 * Not Good with People: Most of the heroic characters, except for Austen Heller.
 * Obi Wan: Henry Cameron to Howard Roark, and Lucius Heyer to Peter Keating, in a very different way.
 * Peer Pressure Makes You Evil: okay, not exactly evil, but conforming to what the world wants doesn't work out for Peter Keating so well.
 * Rape Is Love: The only thing more controversial than the philosophical content of this novel is whether or not Roark literally raped Dominique. It was clearly a "Bodice-ripper" style sex scene, and Dominique does describe the encounter as "rape" several times. However, not only were they clearly playing the "yes means no" coy courtship game beforehand, but Dominique described the sex as "rape" as part of a fantasy where she shocked everyone by publically announcing "I've been raped!" Saying "I've had really rough bodice-ripping ravishment-sex" probably wouldn't cause the desired effect. In short, Your Mileage May Vary.
 * Many interesting essays have been written about the fact that Ayn Rand's ideal man is, by her definition, a rapist. Of course, there are also many who interpret such scenes rather differently. See Alternative Character Interpretation on the YMMV tab.
 * Reactionary Fantasy: Lampshaded by Gail Wynand, whose tabloid trash newspaper specializes in peddling these to a public that simultaneously wants all the sick details and the ability to claim moral outrage.
 * Rebellious Spirit: Roark
 * Redheaded Hero: Howard
 * Scary Shiny Glasses: Ellsworth Toohey does this once near the end of the book. It's described in a very sinister way.
 * Secret Test of Character: Invoked and then rejected. Wynand offers to let Roark build him the house of his dreams, but only if the latter agrees to become the former's personal architect. Roark would have no input into the designs and would have to execute whatever crummy design Wynand has in mind. After Roark tells him to shove his offer somewhere painful, Wynand backs down, but explicitly says the offer was not a Secret Test of Character. He badly wanted Roark to give in, because Wynand enjoys making talented, idealistic people betray their principles.
 * Self-Made Man
 * Shown Their Work: The American architectural community (or at least the more conservative element of it) during the 1920s-1940s was stuck in a classicist rut--this is why guys like Frank Lloyd Wright were so groundbreaking. Rand portrays the profession and the world of architecture criticism during this period accurately.
 * Single-Target Sexuality: Howard never shows any sexual interest in anyone but Dominique, period.
 * This would have been averted in a scene ultimately cut from the novel, in which Roark has a relationship with an actress named Vesta Dunning before meeting Dominique.
 * Sissy Villain / Smug Snake: Ellsworth Toohey
 * Sleeper Hit: Rand had a devil of a time getting this book published. A reviewer at a publishing house fell in love with it and convinced his bosses to publish the book. They didn't do much advertising, and the book sold largely through word of mouth.
 * Stealth Insult: Ellsworth Toohey recommending Howard Roark as an architect to Hopton Stoddard.
 * Springtime for Hitler: How Roark's business makes a comeback.
 * There Are No Therapists: Dominique clearly needs one. Wynand is in quite dire need of one also; when the book begins, he starts every day by putting a gun to his head on the off chance he cares enough to pull the trigger.
 * Train Station Goodbye
 * Triang Relations: Howard + Dominique + whomever Dominique marries
 * True Art Is Incomprehensible: Mocked.
 * Tsundere: Dominique and Howard Roark take this to some pretty extreme levels.
 * Ubermensch: Roark
 * Unholy Matrimony: Dominique and Gail getting married originally comes off as this.
 * Woman in Black: Dominique marries Gail a black dress.

The Film Provides Examples Of:
"Toohey: "I've just told you how I've ruined your business and your life. We're completely alone here. Why don't you tell me plainly what you think about me?" Roark: "But I don't think about you.""
 * Adaptation Distillation: The plot is streamlined down from the novel and extraneous characters are dropped.
 * Artist Disillusionment: Ayn Rand didn't like the movie, even though the screenplay was almost completely done by her.
 * Character Filibuster: as in the novel. Ayn Rand insisted that it be given verbatim as she wrote it. The resulting scene is around six minutes of pure monologue.
 * Driven to Suicide:
 * Executive Meddling: Largely subverted.
 * Little Black Dress
 * Melodrama
 * Mood Whiplash: The ending.
 * Only a Model
 * Pretty in Mink: Dominique's black dress and matching cape have white ermine trim.
 * Romance on the Set
 * Shut UP, Hannibal:


 * Visual Innuendo: When Toohey is showing examples of Peter Keating's work. Each and every building features a nice, tall tower.