Triumph of Virtue and Defeat of Vice in ‘The Foyuntainhead’
The major theme of Rand’s fiction is the primacy of the individual. In each of her novels an exceptionally talented and individualistic protagonist battles the forces of collectivism and mediocrity which are threatening to destroy the world. The Fountainhead is the fullest explication of the primacy of the individual. It ends with the triumph of integrity and individualism. In The Fountainhead Rand describes the growth of the protagonist Roark’s career by comparing it to a stream that develops underground, quietly and unobserved, but then bursts forth, bubbling to the surface until it builds into a huge torrent. Atlas Shrugged, which is told in the form of an action thriller with violent scenes, also dramatizes the same philosophy. Rand’s other novels Anthem and We the Living also depicts what happens when the state is given more importance than the individual. As Rand’s goal in writing romantic fiction is to portray the ideal man and thereby illustrate desirable human behavior, she parallels the lesson by illustrating through her villains the kind of behavior which is repulsive in society. She creates two kinds of negative characters: those who are weak or ignorant and thereby impede their own progress and those who actively choose to do evil. The arch-villains in her novels are individuals who seek power and use this power to harm others and in the process harm themselves too. In order to attain their goals they treat other men like sacrificial animals. In the climax of all her novels the leading characters and the values by which they stand are at stake. According to the logic of the basic values the characters have chosen they are victorious or defeated.
Character describes the enduring traits or peculiar qualities which constitute a person’s individuality. There is something lasting about a person of character. It does not change with the seasons. It is the distinguishing mark which endures till the end of life. The quality of a person’s life is not determined by his heredity or social environment, but by his personal character. There are many such characters in literature whose personal character leads them to their fate. This is especially true in the case of ‘King Lear’. Lear is an emotional, eccentric and powerful king at the beginning of the play. He wants his daughters to flatter him with affection and is rewarded by the false affection of two of his daughters. Lear has to face the consequence of his own actions which comes from his character. His emotional nature does not help him in overcoming the situation and he goes mad. The same theme of the personal traits of the character influencing the outcome of his life is found in the novel The Fountainhead.
In The Fountainhead there are four major characters- Howard Roark, Ellsworth Toohey, Peter Keating and Gail Wynand. Each of these characters represents the different types of people in society and has been set as a contrast to Howard Roark, who is Rand’s image of an ideal man. Roark is one who lives for himself and his creativity, indifferent to other people’s opinions of him. Gail Wynand is a man who rises from poverty into an extremely rich and powerful position, but uses his talent only to control others, which leads to his downfall. He realizes too late that a ruler is a ruler only as long as he pleases the ruled. Keating wants to achieve great fame and fortune and for this he uses every method he can. He does not hesitate to take credit for other people’s work if it helps him in attaining his goal. As he does not rise by his own talent, his prosperity is short-lived. Lastly there is Ellsworth Toohey who is the arch-villain of Rand’s novel. His ambition is to destroy all that is great in mankind and teach that self-sacrifice is the greatest virtue and finally to rule the world of mediocre people. The novelist has named the four parts of the novel after the character who reveals his true nature in those chapters. In spite of this Roark remains a fundamental presence in all these parts.
Each of these four characters is one of a kind. They stand out distinctly and one character can never become the other character however hard they try. Ayn Rand brought out the traits of each of them in her journals and worked on them before she started writing her novels. Each one of her them is an interesting case to study
Through her book The Fountainhead Rand seeks to answer many of the philosophical questions which were raised by her generation. The most important question of all concerns the relation between morals and practical success. Another question concerns the role of the productive and the parasitical elements in society. Similarly there is a battle of sorts between collectivism and individualism represented by the characters Ellsworth Toohey and Howard Roark respectively. She also tries to assess how far social circumstances can determine a person’s character. To all these questions her answer comes in the form of the progress of the life and career of her protagonist Howard Roark.
Through Roark’s life Rand proves to her readers the relation between morals and practical success in a person’s life. Many people believe that in order to be successful in life one must betray one’s moral principles. Often one finds that one must conform to the practices followed at one’s work place even though they may be unethical. If one does not, there is a chance of losing the job or becoming a failure in some respect. Through her novel Rand proves this view to be wrong. She has portrayed Roark as both a moral and practical man. Roark is a moral man in the sense that he leads his life entirely committed to his own mind. He would not cheat, steal, lie or bribe others in order to be successful. It is his own thinking which guides him through his life and not other people’s opinions. Every decision is made through the factual evidence of his own eyes and not through hearsay or the judgement of others. Roark’s buildings, his success, his happiness, are the result of his living by his own thinking. In order to be truly successful one must not betray one’s mind or judgement. If one surrenders one’s mind to others and becomes a slave to them no success or happiness is possible. Roark achieves his success and happiness purely because of not surrendering his thinking to other’s control. Thus by his life Rand proves that moral virtue is not a hindrance but a necessity for success in life.
Rand admires all the creative thinkers and innovators of the past. She felt that a creative mind is sacred and that very few people possess it. In her fiction she illustrates the opposition these great men faced, their struggle to develop those new ideas and also the trouble they had from the conservative society which rejected them. She exposed her opinions on this issue through Roark’s courtroom address in the Cortlandt Trial. In the end he proves that the creators have the right to destroy their creation if they find that society does not accept it as it is. In her notes on The Fountainhead in her journals she makes an interesting insight into Roark’s character:
How he feels is entirely a matter of his own, which cannot be influenced by anything or anyone on the outside. His feeling is a steady unruffled flame… a profound joy of living and of knowing his power, a joy hat is not even conscious of being joy, because it is steady, natural and unchangeable. If outside life brings him disappointment- well it is merely a detail of the battle. He will have to struggle harder- that’s all…He is in conflict with the world in every possible way- and at complete peace with himself. (Harriman 133)
The fact that Roark’s independence from all the others and his relying on his own independent judgement is seen in every word he speaks and every decision in his life. For example, when Keating asks Roark’s advice before deciding on his future, Roark tells him that he should never ask another man for advice. One should know what one wants. With this declaration he reveals his independence from others. In the same way when the whole society turns against Henry Cameron, Roark can recognize the worth of Henry Cameron despite his lack of worldly success. He goes to work with him because the opportunity to work with a man of principles makes him happy. While every other architect likes to work only with those who are very successful and popular, Roark does not give any importance to these things. The quality of a man’s work is the only thing of value to him. In the same way what attracts him to Mike is that he has the capacity to recognize quality in others.
Roark devotes his life to gaining experience and knowledge by working. He tells Keating that the major concern of his life is “My work done my way.”(FH 362) He has the capacity to build and create. So he can deal effectively with nature and survive independently. He finds no need to control or conquer others. He knows the value of his own work and does not need other’s evaluations. This is not a quality which he develops because of the society in which he lives. Though Roark, Keating and Toohey live in the same society they have different perception on every matter. Thus Rand answers the questions that society influences the values and character of a person.
The central concern of the book is with the role of values in a person’s life. A person’s values are those things or persons which he gives importance to – the things which make his life meaningful and purposeful. In Roark’s life the most valuable thing is his love for designing buildings; the most valuable person in his his life is Dominique Francon, whom he loves, and Gail Wynand, his dearest friend. These things and people are of value to Roark because he has chosen them based on his own judgement. Roark has not chosen architecture because his mother told him to take it up. He also chose Dominique not in order to impress others. But this is clearly the case with Keating who deserts Catherine Halsey, whom he loves and marries Dominique because everyone would look up to him with respect and envy if he becomes her husband.
Roark’s determination becomes evident right at the beginning when Henry Cameron describes the future that awaits Roark. He tells that the world will try to crush his integrity. Even though he will build beautiful buildings no one will appreciate them. He will not get any contracts because he is totally different from others who build conventional buildings. They will get all the major projects. Unable to bare the pressure says Cameron, Roark will cry like a child. Finally Cameron asks him if he wants such a future and Roark says that he wants it. Not only that, he says it will be something more than what he deserves. This shows the strength of Roark’s character. Rand mentions right at the beginning that he will be able to bare all the pressure which society puts on him. In spite of this his self assurance never deserts him.
One thing which helps Roark’s become successful is that he does not hesitate from doing or saying what he thinks is right. He does not think whether others would blame him later. For instance when he is working as the firm of John Eric Snyte, their client Austen Heller says that their drawing has come close to what he had in mind that he does not like it completely. This is because Snyte had taken Roark’s design and modified it according to his taste. Roark immediately takes a pencil and draws over the neatly finished design and this original design emerges. This is something which none of Snyte’s employees would have dared to do. He does not like his employees interfering when he is speaking to the client. Roark’s action enrages him and he promptly fires him. Austen Heller is pleased by Roark’s design and gives the contract to Roark to build independently. With the advance which Austen pays, Roark opens his own office. To Roark the loss of a job or client means nothing as long as his designs are uncorrupted. If he had not taken the bold step he would not have got the opportunity to becomes Heller’s friend and open his own office. This habit of doing what he thinks is right attracts his friends and also which brings success. Later in story Roark takes immediate action when he sees that he has been betrayed. Thus he blows up the building of Cortlandt Homes when he saw that the building varied from his design. During the construction of his house Heller studies not only Roark’s building but also Roark’s personality to find out what makes him so. Rand writes:
With in a week, Heller knew that he had found the best friend he would never have; and he knew that the friendship came from Roark’s fundamental indifference. In the deeper reality of Roark’s existence there was no consciousness of Heller, no need for Heller, no appeal, no demand. Heller felt a line drawn, which he could not touch; beyond that line, Roark asked nothing of him and granted him nothing. (FH135)
When the Austen house is completed the society fails to recognize the beauty of the house. This is typical of all conservative societies which ignore anything different from the existing standard. But this does not affect Roark at all. He is satisfied that he completed building the house as he had wanted it. Thus Rand emphasizes that Roark draws happiness only from doing his work well and not from what other people think about his work. Though the majority of the people do not appreciate the worth of Roark, there are some people who recognize it. They are the clients Roark works for. If someone comes and asks him to design their building in some historical style, Roark patiently explains to them why that style won’t suit their building. When they don’t agree to his ideas Roark’s lets go of the contract even though it would be a heavy loss of business for him. When he must decide between compromising his design and losing the contract he courageously opts to preserve the integrity of his design. He sticks to his decision and never regrets for his actions later. Writes Rand:
If he chooses the harder way, it is not through stupidity, stubbornness or a desire to be a martyr; it is merely because he knows he can make his way in the manner he pleases and will make it and because he prefers his manner of making it. He has a tremendous, unshatterable conviction that he can and will force men to accept him; not beg and cheat them into it. He will take the place he wants, not receive it from others. (Harriman 95)
In another contract for a bank building the customer asks him to make a slight change stating that they want a Greek style entrance which would give the building the appearance of financial institution. Roark does not agree to this though after remaining months without work this was the only means of survival for him. Roark could not agree to make even a slight change in the design. He places more importance on his design than on client. This reminds on of Roark’s statement to the Dean that he does not intend to build in order to have clients, but he intends to have clients in order to build. In this incident Roark reveals the extent of his strength and the ability to stand by his values. One of the board members of the bank argues that Roark’s view is wrong and that in practical life one cannot be so consistent. They give him an ultimatum, “Yes or no Mr. Roark?” After a moment Roark says “No”. The members are unable to understand his reasons and they ask him why he has to be so selfless about his work. Taking his drawings he answers, “That was the most selfish thing you’ve ever seen a man do” (FH 378). The board members are astonished by his response. Just as they do not understand why Roark behaves this way, Roark too does not understand why they are not able to see the point which is very clear to him. So by giving Roark a very different type of personality Rand gives him a totally different destiny. Roark prefers ‘The Road Not Taken’ and that makes all the difference. Rand comments about Roark’s attitude in her journal as follows:
His complete selfishness is as natural to him as breathing. He did not acquire it. He did not come to it through any logical deductions. He was born with it. He never questions it because even the possibility of questioning it never occurs to him. It is an axiom to him as much as the fact of his being a life is an axiom. (Harriman93)
Even while enduring such hardships as closing down his office and working in a granite quarry Roark does not undergo the pain of suffering. “He does not suffer because he does not believe in suffering” (FH 105) writes Rand. He faces opposition not only from his enemies, but also from the girl he loves, Dominique Francon. She decides to test his strength by driving away his clients to Peter Keating. She thinks that the world won’t accept his buildings and so he will be ruined in a few years. So she decides that if he does not get any clients he won’t build anything and give up architecture. She makes her intentions clear to him and Roark understands her need and does not stop her. She also writes scathing criticism of his buildings in her newspaper column in The Banner.
Roark comes under the open attack of society when he faces the Stoddard Temple Trial. He has been convicted because he has cheated his clients by building something which can hardly be called a Temple. The starting point and the schemer behind the whole drama is Ellsworth Toohey. Even before he had met Roark for once he has decided that Roark must not be allowed to succeed in the world. So he asked his blind follower who is also a millionaire, Hopton Stoddard to build a Temple of the human spirit and also select Roark as architect for it. He knows that Roark will make the most beautiful structure and also that society won’t like it until Toohey praises the temple in his article. Even before the construction begins Toohey has charted out the plan of how he will attack Roark when it is completed. As pre-planned Toohey makes Stoddard sue Roark for breach of contract. At the trial Roark does not defend his building as he had done earlier. This is because in the earlier instances people had opposed him before the construction was completed. In this case, he has realized what he wanted to do. So it does not matter whatever happens to the building now. Many of the architects who testify against him are Toohey’s followers and they attack him vigorously saying that what he designs cannot be even called as architecture. After each of these witnesses completed his testimony, Roark says that he has no questions. This is because he holds no value for other people’s opinions on his work. Hence he finds no need to defend himself or oppose their view. His only defense at the trial is a set of photographs of the temple. Rand says that Roark’s attitude incites hatred from the audience who had come to watch him suffer. She writes:
Roark sat alone at the defense table. The crowd had stared at him and had given up angrily, finding no satisfaction. He did not look crushed and he did not look defiant. He looked impersonal and calm. He was not a public figure in a public place; he was like a man alone in his own room, listening to the radio. (FH 348)
Just as Roark does not even think of other men and is able to ignore the reaction of the whole crowd which stares at him full of hatred, he also does not like to co-operate with other men or give them any part in his work. Once he is invited to be one of the eight architects to design the buildings for an exhibition. He tells them that he would design all the buildings alone, but he will not co-operate with others in doing it. He explains:
No work is ever done collectively, by a majority decision. Every creative job is achieved under the guidance of a single individual thought. An architect requires a great many men to erect his building. He does not ask them to vote on his design… an architect uses steel, glass, concrete produced by others… what he does with them is his own individual product and his individual property. This is the only pattern for cooperation among men. (FH682)
By not collaborating with others Roark preserves his freedom from them. Wynand tries to buy Roark’s integrity by telling him that he will give the contract to build his house to Roark only if he agrees to become Wynand’s personal architect and design all his future buildings in whichever style Wynand dictates. He also tells that if Roark refuses, Wynand will ruin him. Roark draws a sketch of a traditional house and asks Wynand if this is what he wants. Wynand is shocked by his response and says he does not want it. Then Roark tells him not to make any more suggestions to him. Wynand sees that Roark has successfully resisted Wynand’s attempt to corrupt him. Roark gets a contract to design a resort for people of low income. The builders had planned to have the project fail in order to get the insurance money. So they had selected Roark as the worst architect they could find. Roark as usual gives his best to that work and the project becomes a huge success. People liked the way Roark had given them privacy and security at such a low rate. Slowly people have started liking his buildings and recognizing his talent. Rand shows by this time that in spite of all that Toohey does to crush Roark, he continues to get buildings to design though they are fewer in number
Roark not only builds such beautiful buildings, but also his very presence inspires people. For instance, a young man who has just completed his college education feels dejected that in the world of work he will have to give up his principles in order to survive. At the sight of the Monadnock Valley, he regains his spirit and gets the courage to face a lifetime. He thinks that in this messy world perfection is impossible. It was a time when all business establishments were collapsing due to the economic depression. When the young man sees such beautiful buildings which cost so little he thinks that the world is not doomed, but man continues to achieve great things in his life. He also hopes to do something great in his life.
All his life Roark does not want others to take any part in his work of designing. But Roark agrees to work on many of the drawings of Keating and allows him to take credit for the job. He does not feel jealous that Keating will become famous by using his talent. He tells Keating that he does it because he cannot see another mediocre building being errected. He thinks of each of his projects as a puzzle which he wants to solve. Roark gets the pure joy of designing his buildings by solving many architectural problems to make the buildings economical, airy, beautiful, and functional. In his courtroom address he makes explicit the difference between the creators and the second-handers:
Nothing is given to man on earth. Everything he needs has to be produced and here man faces the basic alternative: He can survive in only one of two ways – by the independent work of his own mind or as a parasite fed by the minds of others… The parasite lives second hand. He needs others. Others become his prime motive… The basic need of the second-hander is to secure his ties with men in order to be fed. He places relations first. He declares that man exists in order to serve others. He preaches altruism. (FH628)
Rand does not provide the personal history of the protagonist Howard Roark while she gives detailed descriptions of the personal histories of Wynand, Toohey, and Keating. Nothing is mentioned about Roark’s parents or his upbringing. Rand wants to tell her readers that personal background has nothing to do with a person’s genius or the principles of his life. He has no history because he does not change. He is the same person that he was before. His lack of family makes him independent from the influence of others. The only thing of importance in his life is the buildings he constructs.
Another aspect of Roark’s character concerns his relation with other men. Rand says that spiritually he is unconscious of the existence of other men. “An entity such as “others” does not exist in the roots of his consciousness. Thus the aim of his life – and the desires in life lie within him alone”. (Harriman 223) What others have done before him or what others want him to do have no meaning for him. His happiness depends entirely on his own achievement. Since he has such an exalted conception of man he always does the maximum in his capacity to achieve his goal. In Rand’s opinion:
He does not love all men abstractedly and indiscriminately…Men have to earn his love. And what he respects and appreciates in men is the same kind of spiritual independence as his own. But when he likes a man, he likes him for that man’s own sake; not for what he, Roark, can get from that man, not for what that man can give him…He will not sacrifice himself for others; neither will he sacrifice them for himself. He will not let others enslave him; neither will he enslave them. He does not exist for the sake of others; neither does he expect them to exist for his sake. (Harriman 224)
Roark’s bombing of the Cortlandt building is the first time Roark reacts to the forces which oppose him. He has not reacted to any of Toohey’s provocations before. When he does react he does it by taking firm action which allows no room for argument. Any other person in his place would have filed a lawsuit against those who were responsible for the building. Here when Roark reaches the limit of tolerance he decides to destroy the thing which he has created without harming any other person. He does this without consulting anyone. But Roark had not reacted in this manner when the Stoddard Temple is reconstructed into a home for the under privileged children under the guidance of Toohey. It was because Roark had finished constructing the structure which he had in mind. But in the Cortlandt building many other architects add features which they felt important and his design is altered beyond recognition, which he finds impossible to tolerate and so dynamites it.
At the trial of the Cortlandt case Roark does not have an attorney to represent him. He also does not call any witness. But he gives a lengthy speech on his right to destroy the thing which he created for defending himself. He describes creators as the great men who help the world through their creation. These people are always opposed by the majority. When they were creating they did not think of serving their fellow-men, but only of the product of their minds. He says in the courtroom address:
I do not recognize anyone’s right to one minute of my life. Nor to any part of my energy. Nor to any achievement of mine. No matter who makes the claim, how large their number or how great their need.
I wish to come here and say that I am a man who does not exist for others.
It had to be said. The world is perishing from an orgy of self- sacrificing. (FH628)
In Roark’s speech there is no plea for mercy and no regret for his action: Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. Their goals differ, but they had this in common; that the step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed and the response they received- hatred. The great creators – the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors – stood alone against the men of their time. Every great new thought was opposed. Every great new invention was denounced… But the men of unborrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered and they paid. But they won. (FH 621)
When he completed his speech there were no more arguments on whether he might be wrong. The jury declares that Roark is not guilty. Thus he is free again to build as he pleases. He also gets to build the Cortlandt again when his former client buys the contract and gives it to him. Wynand too gives him the contract to build a huge skyscraper in Manhattan. Thus Roark gets back all he desired in his life. The last image of the novel shows Roark standing on top of his skyscraper triumphantly. Rand raises Roark to the status of a superhero by making him stand apart from the mediocrity of the world below him. The novel ends by showing that Roark has survived unchanged till the end. He still holds the same principles which he held at the beginning of the novel. The world still remains the same. Toohey is not razed out of existence, he is shown planning another strategy to rise to power. But he is utterly defeated in his attempt to make Roark a failure. Rand does not seek to reform the world in her book. She does not want to change the mindset of the people. She only wants to encourage those people who hold ideas similar to hers. Roark is shown succeeding in defending his own ideas. He is an inspiration for the many millions of readers who think that a good man of principles cannot survive in this world. The Fountainhead asserts that individuality is far more important than collectivism. The individual creators are the fountainhead of civilization. The desire to assert one’s self is the greatest virtue a person can possess.
