The Fountainhead P. 534-572

The dinner with the three of them all together and talking seemed almost to have two currents flowing in it. There was the surface current in which Gail and Roark seemed to bond and behave almost like brothers in the same cause, and then another undercurrent that would not be put into words between Roark and Dominique. There is no eruption and Gail continues to go unaware of the fact that Roark and Dominique are in love. One theme is brought up as they sit and talk over dinner, that seems to be quite relevant to everyone at the table. It was Gail who brought up the consistency of one’s feelings, “A feeling which changes never existed in the first place” (Rand, 540). And reflecting on the characters that Ayn Rand shows to have integrity all have that element in common, no matter if they’re a sculptor, architect, or construction worker. All the other characters, the ones that seem to reflect the opinions of those they’re around, as Dominique had shown Peter he did, are unhappy because of this lack of principles they held. On the note of the story, Gail and Howard begin to meet regularly and this connection between them puts strain on Dominique, watching the two become close. Gail does one thing for Howard and does not tell him about it, he tells Ellsworth not to write of Howard Roark, “Not a word. Not ever again” (Rand, 546). This shows how his individual desires are beginning to take over his desire for power through the Banner, and how his is symbolic of an inner change that has been happening since he met Dominique, but has sped its change since meeting Roark.
Peter Keating is feeling time pass him by, that it is all coming undone. His business is not as prosperous as it once was, his mother has come back to live with him, and he isn’t mentioned by Ellsworth in his column any more. To try and seal his career for the rest of his life, he wants one more project, the Cortlandt project, which was an attempt to make a very cheap housing for the underprivileged and poor. Keating tired to see if Ellsworth could get him the project, but he told him that he could not, but if he could make a good plan he could get it on his own. This change of help from Ellsworth shows how once someone’s usefulness to him, which is still not one hundred percent clear, is through, he discards them and moves on to someone else. Knowing that this was out of his reach, he took the plans and made an appoint to meet with someone who he had not seen in a very long time, Howard Roark. This shows Peters conflict not to be against society, but to fit in with it and become what he thinks they all want him to be. One other note of significance is that Peter goes out on his own to paint, something briefly mentioned in the beginning by Peter, “At one time he had wanted to be an artist. It was his mother who had chosen a better field in which to exercise his talent for drawing” (Rand 31), and he was now going back to it on his own time as a form of release for himself. The drawing were not good by his own standards, but it’s the beginning of an attempt at Peter to recover the self he had lost long ago as a child.