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.

The Fountainhead P. 503-534

Howard is kept busy with his work in the beginning of this section. He is building a resort in a place called Monadnock Valley, and spends eighteen months building it. There are no ad’s or advertisements for the resort as its opening approaches, as the people who hired him set it up to fail, selling 200% of shares of the resort. Their plain fails, as the resort becomes greatly successful and its popularity makes it end up being booked a year in advance. While Howard did not care for what reason he got the commission, it does show the fight between him and a society that, this time, literally and directly set out to fail. With this commission though, his popularity spreads, because now people had heard his name, and “the simple fact that Roark had built a place which made money for owners who didn’t want to make money” (Rand, 513) caused him to get many small commissions that kept him busy. This struggle with society is not as important as his complete disregard for it; so long as he is allowed to do what he wants, he does not care.
Gail Wynand, the now wife of Dominique, meets with Roark to discuss him building a home for him, “because I’m very desperately in love with my wife” (Rand, 519). This brings out several conflicts all at the same time. Wynand afterward researches Roark, and discovers what his paper had done to his Stoddard Temple, and is torn between what he desires, and what is expected of the owner of the Banner paper. Howard is conflicted between his love for Dominique and his love for building, but being a man who truly loves to build at any cost, is able to push that out of his mind and accept the commission as he would have for anyone else agreeing to his terms. These conflicts in a way bring Wynand and Roark into conflict, as Wynand tried to bribe Roark, by telling him that, in exchange for this commission, he must become the Banner’s architect, and that would require making things the ways others would require. Roark tells him he’d accept, if he’d take his personal house made of the same butchered forms of art, and Gail admits defeat, knowing that Roark’s integrity cannot be budged.
The section ends setting up for more conflicts between desires and roles of society, as Gail invites Roark to dinner with him and Dominique, “I know she hasn’t been kind to you in the past – I read what she wrote about you. But it’s so long ago. I hope it doesn’t matter now” (Rand, 534). The conflict will be if Dominique feels the same way and if Roark was telling the truth when he replied it didn’t. Dominique is also only aware that Gail wishes to build a house, and does not know that he has picked an architect yet, or that it is Howard.

The Fountainhead P. 466-502

Ellsworth, Gus Web and others who think like them were at the meeting of many the American Writers guild. There they listen to the play of Ike, a writer of no talent who wrote a play with plots and goals that are horrendous and gruesome to the individual as they preach about equality in such a sense that it becomes disgusting. The writer critic Fougler tells him that he will produce the play, “because it is – as you put it – crap” (Rand, 469). They find joy not in promoting those of greatness, but promoting those who show no talent, so that they feel fulfillment in their own ego, as well as keep down others of actual great talent. By doing this they keep down those of greatness who would be truly happy doing what they love no matter what. Ellsworth and his friends all seem to not have joy other than suppressing those who are happy or elevating those that are miserable, just as they did as to Peter Keating as he dropped in on them.
The Wedding of Dominique and Wayward commences during this part of the play. Gail wanted it to be as brief as possible, with the single court judge and have the news dribble out. Dominique, in her attempt to torture him and herself by making it a public wedding and seeing if they can endure it. Going against his paper and everything it represents, Gail, banned the Banner from writing more than two lines on the last page of the newspaper.
Gail and Dominique continue to bond and openly express their way that they really feel. Gail mentions people like Dwight Carson as “the man I bought” (Rand, 496), because of his integrity for preaching the individual. After throwing enough money at him, Wayward made him write about the glory of society as a whole; not because he held personal convictions on that, but simply because it proved that he had the power to break the will of someone who had once shown integrity. He also mentioned his love for Dominique, which sounded as more of a selfish obsession where, “I love you so much that nothing can matter to me – not even you…Only my love – not your answer” (Rand, 502). This degree of affection, or rather obsession, and disregard for anyone’s opinion of it, even the target, shows a great degree of individualistic belief and personal fulfillment without care of the rest of the world that the author is trying to contrast with the preaching of loving every man as a brother that Ellsworth has so often preached and people like Peter Keating gobble up.

Fountainhead P. 418-466

Dominique and Keating begin to understand one another, and Keating begins to understand, in an instant, that Dominique is understood by Peter Keating, and understands that she is just showing the people around them how they are all void of ideas by simply agreeing with them. This understanding brings them closer, but is shattered in an instant by the arrival of Ellsworth, who informs Keating that he may be able to gain the large commission of Stoneridge from Wayward in exchange for letting Dominique go away with him for a week on his yacht.
Wayward does not seem to follow his usual routine with Dominique, but seems to fall in love with her. He even states outright to her, “I love you” (Rand, 448). Keating accepts a bribe of the Stoneridge commission, and then $250,000 from Wayward in exchange for divorcing Dominique. After a brief moment of rejecting the offer, Keating greedily accepts it.
Roark just slips by doing little jobs here and there. It seems to be that he’s hit a low in his career after the Stoddard Temple incident. He only shows up when Dominique finds him as he is redoing a house and she tells him of her marrying Wayward. This news actually triggers a physical response of shock and horror from Roark, even if for only a moment.

The Fountainhead P. 293-418

The Fountainhead P. 293-390

Roark is given a Commission of the Stoddard Temple, a temple for an old man with a heavy conscience who thinks a temple to god will elevate his sin. He ends up choosing Roark out of everyone else because it is advised to him by his close friend who he adores and obeys with the fanaticism of a religion, Ellsworth Toohey. Ellsworth does this, and lays the framework so that Roark will build the temple without Stoddard ever seeing it and making it publicly known to be a gift to god by man. Roark hires Steven Mallory, the man who attempted to kill Ellsworth, to make a statue for the temple, a statue of Dominique nude as the centerpiece of the temple. At first Mallory thought that Roark was like everyone else and was just doing this to destroy him a little more an amuse himself, but he sees in Roark what he saw in himself in the love for work. It also showed the hate of what society can do to people like him when he sees, “a small plaster plaque, the kind sold in cheap gift shops… A few lines, the structure of a few muscles showed a magnificent talent that could not be hidden…the rest was a deliberate attempt to be obvious…Mallory saw Roark’s hand begin to shake…the plaque shot across the room and burst to pieces against the wall. It was the only time anyone had ever seen Roark murderously angry” (Rand, 329). It showed both the appreciation that Roark had for someone with the ability to make something beautiful of their own principles like he did, and the hate he had for society making it so that they might have to bend to survive in it. Then, when Stoddard finally sees the temple, he is distraught by how, “Instead of a moos of deferential sorrow, befitting a place where on contemplates eternity and realizes the insignificance of man, this building has a quality of loose, orgiastic elation” (Rand, 339). Roark was sued to pay to reconstruct his great work of the Stoddard Temple to a home for subnormal Children. Prominent architects are chosen to reconstruct it and Roark’s career is afterward tossed greatly into the mud by this very public affair, the attacks by Ellsworth in the newspaper, The Banner, and the depression that hits America, causing a universal decline in the overall economy, including construction of new buildings.
Ellsworth’s past is revealed. It is told that he was a sickly child, who used his mind to get what he wanted and do what he wanted. He played of the emotions and secret fears and pains of those around him. His aunt commented that, “you’re a maggot, Elsie, you feed on sores… ‘Then I’ll never starve’, he answered” (Rand, 297), showing that his way of living and the demeanor that he always displays and uses had not changed from when he was a child. The one thing that essentially summed up the motive of Ellsworth was a lesson in religion that abruptly ended his devotion to it, “the teacher had been elaboration upon the text: ‘what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?’ Ellsworth asked: “then in order to be truly wealthy, a man should collect souls?’” (Rand, 298). Toohey has used his compassion and his ability to show people what they need, and make them do as he has pleased all along, but it is never noticed by his victims, who always believe that it is their own idea and will to do things, and Toohey just reassured them on their course of action.
Dominique and Roark part after the Stoddard temple incident, because of the pain it inflicted on Dominique, who could feel the pain that Roark could not in what they were doing to him. She decided to test herself by putting herself through her own punishment; she quickly ends up marrying Peter Keating, making Catherine disappear as a distant memory. Keating is overjoyed after the initial shock of this actually happening, but cannot place that feeling of uncertainty he has about the reasons for the marriage.

Fountainhead xmas post 1

In this portion of the book, P. 265-293, Roark is given much publicity from the construction of the Enright house. That commission that he was almost awarded by Joel Sutton was deterred by the zealous attacks of Dominique by her articles in the Banner. As the articles and the outward attacks on Roark grow, they also develop a personal and intimate relationship, like that when they were at the quarry, only on a more frequent basis. Roark is denied many commissions by Dominique’s attacks on him in his banner, which also had an undercurrent of praise unnoticed by the public, but observed with Roark and people like Ellsworth.
For every commission that Roark was denied, Keating is awarded by the good word of Dominique. This use of her charm to help the partner of her father is seen as baffling by both Keating and Guy Francon. The true intention of Dominique in solely hurting and condemning Roark is unknown to them, just like the rest of the mainstream culture of the world.
Ellsworth is seen as thinking he is exhibiting control over Dominique in his ability to observe her affection of Roark, and thinks that it is him who planted these seeds of hate for Roark and the public attacks on him. He is still unaware of the previous relationship of Roark and Dominique so he was miscalculated in such an assumption.
While she is not mentioned in this portion, I think that it is important that Catherine, Keating’s true love, is ignored as Dominique is publicly praising and worshiping him.

The Fountainhead, 233-265

Roark gains commissions again and begins to make progress as an architect. He has his Enright House with a lot of publicity and allows him an opening to another commission with Joel Sutton, who ends with telling him that he wants him to build it, “just about almost, that is, I’ll give you a ring in a few days and we’ll have a dogfight over the contract!” (Rand, 260). He also runs into Dominique Francon again, and acts as though nothing has happened, “He knew that his absence bound her to him in a manner more complete and humiliating than his presence could enforce…she would be ready either to kill him or to come to him of her own free will. The two acts would be equal in her mind” (Rand, 252). They both seem to acknowledge this aspect in their thoughts in the book, but both refuse to speak of it to each other or to anyone else. They also help portray the mentality of Roark, by having Keating and Ellsworth discuss him briefly over tea where Keating mentions, “[Roark]’d walk over corpses. Any and all of them. All of us. But he’d be an architect” (Rand, 238), helping enforce the image that nothing and no one is more important to Roark than architecture.
Keating also progresses in this section to become closer friends with Ellsworth Toohey, and goes to meet Catherine and him over tea. He does and the day appears to be normal and routine, but in the thoughts of Keating, the beauty of what he and Catherine seems to be tainted by the presence of Ellsworth, despite his affection for him when Catherine is not around. He also builds a house for Lois Cook, who in a short passage sums up the conflict and closest thing to the source of distaste that society feels toward Roark, “They all work so hard and struggle and surer, trying to achieve beauty, trying to surpass one another in beauty. Let’s surpass them all! Let’s throw their sweat in their face. Let’s destroy them at one stroke. Let’s be gods. Let’s be ugly” (Rand, 241).
The only other key that seemed to be important was that, while Ellsworth seems to be like Keating and the conformers to society, he talks to Dominique and expresses that he understood what was unspoken between her and Roark, and that despite his ability to see the world the way they do, lives the way people like Keating do. “If you can see what you’re talking about, you can’t be what you are… Ellsworth, I think you’re a much worse person than I thought you were” (Rand, 264). It is interesting to see how his understanding of people like Roark but his attachment to people like Keating means, and I am interested to find that out.