THE FOUNTAINHEAD

by Ayn Rand

Summary and Analysis of Part I, Chapters 1-5

Chapter 1
Howard Roark stands naked at the edge of a granite cliff overlooking a lake. He sees himself as part
of the harmonious view and thinks about what he will have to do that day. He also sees each thing as
the building material it provides, waiting for him. He dives into the lake as usual, ever since he arrived
at the Stanton Institute of Technology. This is his last swim because he has been expelled. As Roark
walks through the town of Stanton, he passes placards celebrating the graduation of the class of '22.
On the porch of his boardinghouse, Roark meets his landlady, Mrs. Keating, who tries to commiserate
with him over his expulsion. She comments that he will have to give up architecture and become
some kind of clerk. She also tells him that the dean wants to see him. Mrs. Keating then rhapsodizes
about her son Petey, who is graduating today from Stanton. Insisting that she does not like to brag,
she declares that "if that boy isn't the greatest architect of this U.S.A., his mother will want to know
the reason why!"
Roark goes upstairs to start packing, but he gets distracted while putting away his architectural
drawings. He suddenly has an idea how to fix a drawing that he has never been happy with, so he sits
down to work. A bit later Mrs. Keating comes in and is shocked to discover that he has not left. He
washes his face and departs despite her protestations that he cannot go to see the dean dressed as
he is.
Roark walks one last time into the Institute, built to resemble a medieval fortress. He enters the
dean's office, which resembles a chapel. The dean tells Roark about the vote to expel him on no
apparent ground. Roark learns that the dean abstained from the vote and that several of his teachers
had ardently defended him--but Professor Peterkin, Roark's design professor, had insisted that he
would resign if Roark were not expelled.
The dean encourages Roark to explain why he refuses to fulfill his assignments and design buildings in
classical, time-tested styles. He suggests that after a year Roark could reapply to the school and finish
his education, but Roark defends his decision to design things in his own way--whether he was
supposed to design a medieval church or a gothic cathedral. He tells the dean that he has nothing
more to learn from the school, so he has no intention of returning.
Roark explains his architectural philosophy: "the purpose, the site, the material determine the shape"
of a building. He states simply that the days of classical design are over. He intends to have his own
clients so that he may build as he sees fit. The dean becomes so angry that he tells Roark that the
committee was right to expel him. Roark leaves the office, almost immediately forgetting their
conversation, distracted by another image of a drawing with his signature shining in the corner.
Chapter 2
Guy Francon, the Institute's most successful graduate, is giving the graduation oration. He speaks
about "the three eternal entities: Truth, Love and Beauty," wishes the graduates "rich, active
careers," and cautions them against originality for originality's sake. A list of Guy Francon's honors,
titles, and awards substantiates his position as the leading architect of the day, and as he walks to the
hall for the graduation ceremony, he remembers that he designed this room twenty years before.
At the ceremony the narrative turns to Peter Keating, a startlingly handsome boy who is graduating
first in his class. Peter is immensely pleased with his success, moreso because he is aware that he
was almost bested by a boy named Shlinker. Along with his diploma, Peter is awarded a four-year
scholarship to the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. As professors and classmates crowd around him to
offer their congratulations, Guy Francon himself shakes Peter's hand and reminds Peter that he has a
job in Francon's firm if he wants it. Peter's feelings continue to alternate between a glowing sense of
his own accomplishments and vague unease at the possibility that others are more deserving than he.
He gets some relief from remembering that Roark has been expelled, although this thought also
brings guilty feelings, for Roark has always been perfectly kind to Peter, even helping him with his
drafting exercises. But Peter is quick to shake off such reflections.
At the class banquet, Peter Keating gives a speech where he echoes the ideas expressed earlier by
Francon. On his way out, several boys from his class stop Keating and tell him that they will pick him
up in a few hours for a real celebratory dinner in Boston. Keating heads home to see his mother, and
as he walks he thinks about what she had to sacrifice to help him make his way. Without him to think
about, Mrs. Keating would never have taken in boarders. As he thinks about his childhood, Peter
remembers that he once thought of being an artist, but his mother had suggested architecture
instead.
Keating seeks Roark sitting on the front porch and is happy to see him, for he wants Roark's advice.
When he sees Peter, Roark congratulates him, and Peter becomes a bit embarrassed when he realizes
that his mother has been going on about him. He hesitatingly asks Roark's advice about choosing
between the scholarship and Guy Francon's job offer. Roark's immediate response is that Peter should
never ask anyone for advice; he needs to decide for himself. Before Peter can press him for an
answer, Mrs. Keating sees them on the porch and insists they come inside and have the cookies and
hot chocolate that she has prepared in honor of Peter.
Once inside, Mrs. Keating asks Peter what they were discussing, and Peter begins pressing Roark to
answer his question. Peter offers reasons for both courses of action, hoping to elicit some response
from Roark, but he is distracted when his mother offers to leave the room so they can have this
important discussion in peace. Though he wishes he could agree that she should leave the room,
instead Peter asks her what she thinks he should do.
Mrs. Keating tells Peter that he might as well move to Paris to study, but of course Guy Francon will
have to take someone else to fill the job--he will probably take Shlinker. This possibility upsets Peter,
who turns once again to Roark for guidance. Reclining on the couch, Roark finally comments that the
job with Francon is the lesser of two evils because at least Peter will be building something rather
than spending four more years drawing imitations of the Parthenon. He casually mentions that Peter
sometimes does good work and that four years in Paris would probably ruin him. Peter is very pleased
by this compliment and becomes much more relaxed now that Roark has given him this advice.
As Mrs. Keating goes to get their food, Peter asks Howard about his plans. Roark tells him he is
moving to New York to work for Henry Cameron. Peter is horrified, insisting that Roark is making a
terrible mistake, for Cameron is considered totally washed up. Roark insists that his future lies with
Cameron, but when Peter asks what Cameron said to him, Roark comments that he never met him.
Just then Peter is distracted by a car horn, and he rushes upstairs to change, assuring his mother that
he will just be going into Boston with some friends and will return later to celebrate his decision to
work for Francon. As Peter hurriedly throws on his clothes, he suddenly decides to wire a girl named
Katie about his decision to move to New York. That night as he rides into Boston, Peter envisions his
future, certain that a great destiny lies before him.
Chapter 3
Peter arrives at Francon & Heyer for his first day of work, aware of how much he has to learn about
life in New York. Peter is immensely struck by the rich, beautiful design of the building with everything
done in the classical style. Immediately the head draftsman directs him to put on the uniform grey
smock of the draftsmen and sets him to work expanding someone else's design. Peter wonders how
he ever thought he could become an architect, but he shortly looks around the room and feels
reassured by the flawed appearances of the men around him.
Peter takes another look at the design, sees where he went wrong, and begins to work with much
more confidence. By lunchtime Peter has begun to feel more friendly towards the other draftsmen,
and he learns from a tall blond boy that Francon no longer does any of the designs for the firm.
Everything important is handled by a man named Stengel.
Later that afternoon, after Guy Francon arrives in the office, Stengel sends Peter up to show him
some plans. As Peter approaches Francon's desk, he is struck by the shiny, reflective quality of the
office. Francon chats with him, calling him Kitterage and complaining about his hangover from too
much champagne the night before. When Peter tells him that Stengel sent him up, Francon becomes
irritated and confides in Peter that Stengel takes too much pride in the fact that he is a good designer.
He continues to complain that Stengel does not realize what hard work it is to go to parties and
secure commissions for the firm. Peter suggests a slogan that would make an appropriate comment at
a party, and Francon is so pleased with it that he openly writes it down.
When Francon finally looks at the plans, Peter Keating realizes he is barely taking them in. Peter
tactfully suggests that a change should be made in the design, implying that Stengel needs to be
taken down a notch or two. Francon is clearly pleased by his attitude and approves of his suggestions,
sending him away with a piece of sartorial advice. As he makes his way back to the drafting room,
Peter sees an associate ushering in a client, and for a moment he imagines that the associate is
rolling out a red carpet, bowing to her, and fanning her all at the same time.
The narrator next describes the Frink National Bank Building, an architectural monument to classical
design down to its marble exterior, which has turned a moldy green in the New York City air, and then
turns to the Dana Building, devoid of ornament or column, which few people ever noticed, though the
people who worked inside it claimed that it was the most perfectly designed building in the world. This
building was the brainchild of Henry Cameron, who had ruled the New York architecture scene in the
1880s. He had been able to pick and choose his commissions, and no one had dared disagree with his
designs. This all changed in 1893 with the opening of the Columbian Exposition of Chicago. The
Columbian Exposition housed a city of classical replicas from Greece and Rome, and it proved so
popular that from that day forth all anyone wanted in an architectural design was as many columns
and friezes as could be squeezed onto an exterior.
Thus, Henry Cameron was ruined. As his clients disappeared, he was forced to move his office again
and again, looking for cheaper rent. He had chosen this last location because it was the only building
that he could afford where he could glimpse the Dana Building from the window.
Henry Cameron's difficulties had been exacerbated by his arrogant, dictatorial manner even toward
customers. As his commissions decreased, he began to drink, and he eventually ruined his reputation
completely. Roark enters this office and tells a downtrodden-looking man that he wants to see
Cameron about a job. Surprised, the man walks into Cameron's office and repeats the request.
Roark eventually notices a picture of a skyscraper on the wall. After Roark repeats his request for a
job, Cameron rants at him, accusing Roark of trying to make a fool of him. Finally Roark takes some
of his drawings out and puts them on Cameron's desk. Cameron continues to rant, but now he asks
Roark more pointed questions about his goals. Finally it seems that he will send Roark away until, out
of the blue, he tells Roark to show up at 9:00 the next day, working at fifteen dollars a week.
Chapter 4
In his office, Francon shows Keating an extremely favorable review of a recent building designed by
the firm. The review was written by Ellsworth Toohey for a magazine called New Frontiers, which had
made an uncontested claim to represent the "intellectual vanguard" of the country. Toohey had made
a name for himself as a generally vicious reviewer. As Peter reads the review, it becomes apparent
that the building Toohey praises is the one that Peter critiqued on his first day of work, and the design
element Toohey favors most is the very one suggested by Peter. As Peter watches Francon smile over
the article, he thinks about the information he has gathered about the firm and Francon. He is
particularly interested in the fact that Francon married his wife for her money and that she
subsequently died, leaving her fortune to her nineteen-year-old daughter. Peter has also learned that
Francon's partner seems to do little for the firm besides provide old money connections.
Peter has also made a great deal of progress in establishing himself with the rest of the firm. The
other draftsmen love him, and he is especially good friends with Tim Davis, the tall, blond boy he
noticed on his first day. Davis is extremely upset because he must stay late, so Peter offers to
secretly take his place.
When Peter leaves that night, he is extremely happy. He realizes that he wishes he had someone to
celebrate his success with, and then he remembers Catherine Halsey, the girl he wired the night of his
graduation but has not thought about since then. On a whim, Peter hops on a bus to Greenwich
Village to see her.
Peter had seen a lot of Catherine when he was in school, but his relationship with her had never
progressed beyond occasional dates and kisses. She was neither beautiful nor vivacious, but he has
been drawn to her--and she never minds when he neglects her for weeks. Catherine moved to New
York after her mother died to live with her uncle. Peter does not think twice about dropping by
unannounced--he knows she will not mind.
When Keating arrives she is as expected, and he feels happier than he has in a long time. They talk
about old times, and then Peter turns the conversation to his new life in the city. She admits that she
is "crazy about" him. Peter begins to tell her how wonderful it is to be at Francon & Heyer, but
somehow he winds up telling her that Francon does not design anything anymore--and that Peter is
going to make Tim Davis obsolete and take his job. He tries to stop himself from saying these things,
but somehow he cannot.
Peter asks Catherine about her life in New York, and she tells him that her uncle has been immensely
kind to her since she came to live with him. Her uncle is terribly brilliant but poor because he does not
care about money. She also thinks she should not go to college, which greatly upsets Peter. Peter
eventually realizes that her uncle is Ellsworth Toohey. He tells Catherine that she cannot introduce
him to her uncle because he desperately wants to meet him and he would never use Catherine like
that. She is a little confused by his reaction, but he tells her that he will need to use many people and
wants to make sure he will never use her among them. Catherine makes dinner for Peter, and when
he leaves he tells her he will come again the next day.
One evening, Henry Cameron tells Roark to come to see him. When Roark goes into Cameron's office,
the other draftsmen decide that Cameron must be firing Roark, whom none of them likes very much.
In fact, Cameron tells Roark that he is fired, being too good to throw his life away in this manner.
Roark listens to him impassively and firmly disagrees. Cameron fervently tries to persuade Roark to
give up his ideal of architecture, to compromise--to work for someone successful.
When nothing seems to be working, Cameron describes the many humiliations he has had to endure
in exquisite detail. When Cameron is finished, he says, "That's your future, Howard Roark. Now, do
you want it?" Roark replies, simply, "Yes." Cameron is overwhelmed, even confused. After a time he
tells Cameron to go home because he has been working too hard. He says that tomorrow he will show
Roark how to improve the plans for the house.
Chapter 5
A year has gone by since Peter Keating's graduation from the Institute, and he is now seen as the
"crown prince without portfolio" of Francon & Heyer. Even Heyer, who barely recognizes many of the
employees, has taken a liking to Peter since they spent a long evening discussing old porcelain. Peter
had learned of Heyer's hobby and spent an evening at the library reading up on it before he knew he
would be seeing him. Peter had also begun to do most of Tim Davis's work--so much so, in fact, that
draftsmen often brought him projects that had been assigned to Tim. Tim had begun showing up late
for work. Soon Tim loses his job, and Peter is promoted. Peter commiserates with Tim and even finds
him another job. He takes great pleasure in the fact that he had "influenced the course of a human
being, had thrown him off one path and pushed him into another."
Peter had not gone to see Catherine the day after his first New York visit. He sees her occasionally,
but he stops speaking to her about his career. He tries to speak to Roark, but his efforts fail. He visits
him twice, and both times he goes away confident that he is much more successful than Roark, but
something about Roark's confidence is still very troubling.
On the morning after a night of heavy drinking Peter wakes up at Francon's apartment. They were at
a party together the previous night. Peter tells Francon about a meeting he has arranged with a
prospective client, but his hangover prevents him from remembering why she is important. Francon
explains that she belongs to an important family, and as he goes into greater detail, Peter considers
how he will deal with Stengel. Peter knows that Stengel has been planning to leave Francon and set
up shop on his own.
Two days later, Peter escorts Mrs. Dunlap, the possible client, through an art exhibit. When they talk
about her new home, Peter frankly tells her that Stengel does all the real designing at the firm and
that Stengel wants to start his own shop but needs financial backers. Peter suggests she have lunch
with Stengel, and she agrees. When Peter tells Stengel, he looks at him derisively but agrees to the
lunch. Stengel leaves the firm based on that commission, and Francon is furious, but he does not
learn of Peter's role in Stengel's betrayal. He immediately appoints Peter to be chief designer.
The first time Keating must actually design something, he stares at the blank paper in horror. He
hears voices in his head--Guy Francon, Ellsworth Toohey--and forces himself to begin drawing. After
days of labor, totally uncertain of his success or failure, he telephones Henry Cameron and asks to
speak to Roark. He takes the drawings to Roark's rooms and asks for help. Roark transforms the
plans in a few moments, but he refuses to help with the facade, saying only that Peter should strip it
of ornamentation as much as possible. Peter feels grateful as they shake hands but "hurt and angry"
as he departs. When he shows the redone drawings to Francon, he is extremely pleased, commenting,
"it's just what I had in mind."
Some time later, in his office, Cameron sits before his desk, at which a letter is informing him that his
plans for the Security Trust Company have not been accepted. For three months Cameron has been
counting on this commission, telling the landlord he could not pay the rent, letting go of a draftsman,
and keeping Roark and himself in the office until dawn. During these last two years, Roark has
learned to accept Cameron's sporadic disappearances. Eventually he would show up at the office,
having finally become so drunk that he was not ashamed. Roark had also become used to telling his
landlady that he could not pay the rent. One night Peter Keating had come to his rooms and insisted
on giving him fifty dollars. Roark had taken it gratefully, but he tried to give it back when Keating
attempted to convince him to leave Cameron and come to work at Francon's company.
Roark remembers the night when Cameron walked into the drafting room holding the letter. He also is
surprised to see a copy of the New York Banner, a trashy but popular paper, on Cameron's desk.
Cameron explains that he sees a kind of symbolism in this newspaper. If this is what people like to
read, then the rejection of their kind of architecture can come as no surprise. He tells Roark that he is
giving up, sorry only that he could not last long enough to see Roark set up on his own. Roark assures
Cameron that he will live to see him succeed, and Cameron tells Roark that he believes Roark will face
all of their enemies and figure out "what the answer is to be."
Analysis
Architecture is the foundational metaphor of the novel. Each time a person or place is brought into the
reader's focus, the narrator strips it down to its structure--its architecture--though other metaphors
might be used to establish this structure. For example, when the narrator introduces important
characters, the text provides a vivid, stripped-down description of each one's face, and this
description provides immediate insight into the substance of the character. For example, Roark's face
is
like a law of nature . . . It had high cheekbones over gaunt, hollow cheeks; gray eyes, cold and
steady; a contemptuous mouth, shut tight, the mouth of an executioner or a saint.
This description contrasts sharply with Peter Keating's introduction:
his eyes were dark, alert, intelligent. His mouth, a small upturned crescent faultlessly traced, was
gentle and generous, and warm with the faint promise of a smile . . . He held his head in the manner
of one who takes his beauty for granted, but knows that others do not.
With these descriptions, Rand begins to establish a moral "geometry" for the novel. Peter Keating's
appearance of generosity and warmth, for instance, masks conceit and selfishness. In other words,
the appearance of good qualities is not to be trusted; the shape of the face is betrayed by the
foundational principles around which it is constituted. Likewise, Roark may look cold and hard, but he
is honest to his very bones.
Even so, Roark is clearly supposed to be unlikable as a protagonist. Rand does not try to evoke much
sympathy for him, for Roark too often works against his own interests. Rather, Rand portrays Roark
as a true hero whom most people will misunderstand, since he is superior to ordinary human beings.
In the first chapter of The Fountainhead, Roark encounters the first of numerous obstacles, being
expelled from the Stanton Institute of Technology. He has been expelled not because of any poor
conduct or criminal act, but simply because he has remained true to his principles. When Roark goes
to see the dean, he refuses to be cowed by the man's arrogant manner or bullying arguments.
Instead, Roark in his own arrogant way (but without rudeness) stands up to the dean.
Similarly, when Peter Keating asks Roark for advice, Roark honestly tells Peter that he should never
ask another man for advice. With this declaration he reveals his independence from others. His theory
of architecture further reveals his independence from social convention: "I set my own standards. I
inherit nothing. I stand at the end of no tradition. I may, perhaps, stand at the beginning of one." If
other, weaker architects follow in his footsteps, their doing so apparently would prove their inability to
think and act for themselves.
Roark's status as a hero is confirmed, however, by his relationship to Henry Cameron. Roark
recognizes Cameron's worth despite Cameron's low social status and lack of worldly success. He goes
to work for Cameron rather than for a more successful firm not because Roark is a martyr to virtue,
but because Roark receives true joy from working in this manner and with this man. Roark might
even be excused from accusations of hubris in light of his dedication to Cameron. When Cameron
confesses the extent of his suffering and despair, Roark both acknowledges Cameron's pain and
believably argues that he is willing to risk it. Roark says: "I shall consider it an honor I shall not have
deserved."
Cameron ultimately proclaims not only that Roark represents a heroic ideal but also that Roark will
actually try to reclaim their society from the degradation of the current form of architecture. He sets
Roark up in opposition not just to the kind of buildings constructed by Guy Francon, but also to a way
of life defined in Gail Wynand's Banner--in which, as the dean says, "each man collaborates with all
the others and subordinates himself to the standards of the majority." Roark's standards are his own
and are to be accepted or denied by the free assent of others.
Rand also constantly provides descriptions of buildings, clearly defining the moral content of each kind
of architecture through Howard Roark's eyes. Roark tells the dean:
Here are my rules: what can be done with one substance must never be done with another. No two
materials are alike. No two sites on earth are alike. No two buildings have the same purpose. The
purpose, the site, the material determine the shape. Nothing can be reasonable or beautiful unless it's
made by one central idea.
That is, in a diverse world, each thing should be considered different from each other thing, even if
one might be able to see patterns among similar things. Even to one who knows nothing about
architecture, Roark's theory of building seems right, especially when contrasted with the narrator's
descriptions of less thoughtfully designed buildings like the one which houses Guy Francon's office:
[The door] was a miniature Doric portico, every inch of it scaled down to the exact proportions
decreed by the artists who had worn flowing Grecian tunics: Between the marble perfection of the
columns a revolving door sparkled with nickel-plate, reflecting the streaks of automobiles flying past.
Keating walked . . . through the lustrous lobby, to an elevator of gilt and red lacquer that brought him
. . . to a mahogany door.
In comparison with the clarity and integrity of Roark's ideas, this mixing of styles, substances, and
eras appears muddled and ugly because it is inappropriate to the goals of those who are to use and
enjoy the building. The architectural corruption of so many buildings represents, more broadly, the
spiritual corruption of this world, in which thoughts and actions are so often inappropriate to people's
actual goals.
This first section of the novel also introduces the theme of free will. The ideal of freedom from
coercion is a central principle of the novel. It takes form as the ability to make independent choices.
Roark never asks people for advice, not because there is no one he respects but because he believes
that each person is best fitted for making decisions for himself. If each person's experience and goals
are different, there is a natural limit to the advice that anyone can offer. Roark looks down on Peter
Keating in that Peter cannot make a decision for himself. Moreover, the negatively portrayed
characters in the novel are all easily manipulated by each other. Mrs. Keating manipulates Peter into
working for Francon by telling him that Shlinker will be chosen to replace him. Peter manipulates Guy
Francon into altering the plans of a building by implying that Stengel needs to be taken down a notch.
Peter also manipulates Heyer by pretending to share a passion for porcelain.
This contrast between those who are free leaders and those who are weak followers becomes figured
in the relationship between creator and client. The dean tells Roark that he will need to design
buildings to please his clients. This idea relegates architecture to an inferior position as something
instrumental for others rather than something instrumental for oneself or (what would be even better)
something beautiful for oneself. Great painters are not supposed to paint to please their clients, Roark
would insist. Roark corrects the dean, explaining that if he is to have clients, he will engage them so
as to build as he sees fit--he and his clients will freely agree to a certain design. The dean considers
this an abomination, indicating the different views of architecture and the profession of architect. The
dean's view is the more popular one; on his first day in Guy Francon's office, Peter sees a client being
shown into an office, and he imagines that the associate is "bowing to the ground . . . waving a fan
over her head." In Roark's eyes, this improper relationship between artist and audience enacts the
corruption of Francon's outlook.
The idea of an overall social and moral corruption around Roark begins to escalate even in the first
few chapters. Peter Keating and Guy Francon engage in bouts of excessive drinking, suggesting an
obsession with decadence and a lack of respect for themselves or others--note that there is a moral
center even in individualism. Like Francon, Peter Keating is not truly an architect; he succeeds in the
firm because of his ability to manipulate people and to feed egos, as well as his sharp sense of whom
to align himself with. It becomes clearer that Peter does not take pleasure in destroying other
people's lives but in controlling them. He tells Catherine about taking over Tim Davis's work at the
office and expresses jubilation over the fact that Tim will soon be made irrelevant. He is a social villain
in the novel because if the best thing is to be free, the worst thing to do to another is to try to take
away one's freedom. Fulfilling one's potential is limited, from a social perspective, from inhibiting
others' ability to fulfill their own potential. But it remains unclear whether a fully free individualist
could choose not to be bound by that social ethic. Anyway, Keating demonstrates that there is some
good in him--and that he might be able to save himself--when he refuses to use Catherine for the
sake of an introduction to her uncle.

Summary and Analysis of Part I, Chapters 6-10

Chapter 6
In January 1925 Ellsworth Toohey publishes Sermons in Stone, a history of architecture for the
common man. Toohey argues that "architecture was truly the greatest of the arts, because it was
anonymous." Thus, no one should know the names of architects because no one person creates
anything important or lasting. The best architects represent the vision of the masses, and the people
are the ultimate determiners of taste. Francon is praised for his dedication to classicism, and Henry
Cameron is described as deserving oblivion. His book is a stupendous hit.
Cameron retires three years after Roark came to work for him. Cameron had begun to drink openly,
and one day he collapsed. At home in bed, Cameron directs Roark to close the office, burn all the
papers, and deliver the picture on the wall to him. He also tries to write Roark a recommendation
letter for a job, but Roark refuses it.
Peter Keating meanwhile was at Francon's firm for three years, and he was the picture of a successful
man. He dressed well, lived in a fashionable apartment, and even appeared on the society page. He
was no longer afraid of designing. He had learned that as long as a building looked impressive, his
clients were satisfied. Mrs. Keating came to live with him in New York and tended to criticize him. At
her prompting, Peter unsuccessfully tried to arrange an introduction to Francon's daughter. Peter was
relieved because he thought it likely that Francon's daughter was as ugly as he was.
Peter decides to see Catherine. At her home, he finds her on the floor in front of a typewriter with
papers all around her, working on her uncle's fan mail and correspondence. She sits on his lap, and
they speak about his career, but soon Catherine is going on about her uncle again and about all of the
good that he does. Peter still wants to meet him, but Catherine thinks the time is not yet right.
They go for a walk and then sit on a bench. Catherine says she loves him, and they agree that they
are engaged but will not tell anyone yet. She tells him that her uncle probably will disapprove, not
believing in marriage.
Chapter 7
As soon as Peter reads of Cameron's retirement, he asks Francon for approval to hire Roark. Francon
seems surprised that Peter wants Roark so badly, so Peter quickly moderates his enthusiasm, claiming
that he wants to hire Roark primarily because of their long friendship. That night, Peter visits Roark in
his room and tries to make small talk, but Roark immediately asks him, "how much?" Peter drops the
facade and responds that the pay would be sixty-five dollars per week. Roark agrees almost
immediately on the condition that he will do no designing but simply will draft structural plans. Peter
happily concurs.
Before leaving, Peter tries to get Roark to admit that this change will help his career, but Roark
refuses to allow him to insult Cameron, barely restraining his fury. Conciliatory, Peter invites Roark to
go for a drink, but Roark refuses. Angry now, Peter asks Roark why he has to be so inhuman all the
time--why he cannot just be a regular person. Finally Roark tells him to be satisfied with his
agreement to work for Francon and to go home.
In the drafting room, Roark sometimes can hardly stand doing his job. It is painful to look at the plans
he constructs, knowing how much better they could be. He has no friends, but at least some of the
draftsmen respect him. Every so often Peter asks to see him, and every time Roark goes, but he
knows what will happen. On these nights Peter shows him a design and tentatively asks for his
thoughts. Roark can never resist trying to make the building better. Sometimes he works all night and
cannot stop himself. Sometimes Peter's plans would be plainer and cleaner than usual, and Roark
would tell Peter that he was improving, which would give Peter a deep, quiet joy. But later Peter
would bark commands at him in the drafting room. Roark always did as Peter asked, but Peter
somehow wanted him to explode and put a stop to it. Roark never did.
Roark was happiest when he was sent to inspect building sites. One day, walking through the
structure of beams that would become an apartment hotel, Roark sees an extremely ugly man
bending conduits around the beams. He tells him that he is wasting his time; just run the conduits
straight through holes in the beams. The man jeers at him, telling him it cannot be done, but Roark
takes the blowtorch from him and does it himself. The man is extremely impressed, and Roark tells
him calmly that he has worked as "an electrician, and a plumber, and a rivet catcher, and many other
things." He tells the man to do it that way from now on, and the man agrees. From then on, the man
always says hello to Roark, and one day he asks him to share a beer after work. The man's name is
Mike, and he lives by working on various building sites. He is exceptionally good (despite Roark's easy
solution to his problem), and he likes and respects other people who are exceptionally good at theirs.
Over their first beer, he tells Roark that the only architect he ever really respected was the obscure
Henry Cameron. With respect for Cameron in common, they become friends.
Chapter 8
In May, Peter went to Washington to supervise the construction of a project. One day, Roark is
working in the drafting room when Francon calls Roark into the office and tells him that they have a
commission for a building. The owner wants the building to look like the Dana Building designed by
Cameron. He wants to give Roark a chance to submit a drawing, but he cautions him that it also
needs to have some classical elements. Roark begs Francon to let him submit a drawing of the kind of
building Cameron would have designed. Francon is furious, and when Roark refuses to take Francon's
offer, Francon fires him. That night Roark meets Mike at a speakeasy and tells him what happened.
He says, simply, that he will find another employer and continue on his own way.
When Peter returns from Washington, Francon describes how Gail Wynand, the newspaper magnate,
stole a girl from him. He also casually mentions firing Roark. Peter hears the story and understands,
saying, "I can just see it."
Roark does nothing for several days but finally makes a list of the architects he could stand to work
for. As he goes to look for a job, office after office turns him away, sometimes sympathetically,
sometimes disdainfully. Once in a while he goes to visit Cameron, and Cameron offers to recommend
him in a letter, but Roark keeps refusing.
In November he reads an article by Gordon L. Prescott arguing that young architects need to be
supported in order to get anywhere. Hopeful for the first time, he gathers his sketches and goes to
Prescott's office. Prescott's secretary has him come back the next week, then keeps him waiting for
over two hours.
When Prescott does see him, he flips through his drawings, lecturing him about the nature of good
design. Finally, he tells him his work is "very interesting. But not practical. Not mature. Unfocused and
undisciplined. Adolescent. Originality for originality's sake. Not at all in the spirit of the present day."
He shows Roark a drawing by a young architect he recently hired for twenty-five dollars per week--"a
potential genius." Then he dismisses him.
Roark walks home. He considers that everyone in the city believes he will never build again. He
shrugs and continues to walk, his shadow looming behind him.
Chapter 9
At another interview in John Erik Snyte's office, Roark watches as Snyte looks through his designs.
Snyte hires him on the spot and asks him to start work that night. Almost immediately, Roark is at a
drafting table with a pencil in his hand and his tools around him. Snyte was a successful architect who
considered Francon "an impractical idealist." His design method involved hiring specialists, each of
whom designed in a different style. Every time he got a commission he would have a contest: each
associate would submit a drawing, he would pick the best, and he would modify it using the best
elements of the other drawings. Roark would be his modernistic designer. Roark is content but not
happy.
Suddenly all building in New York is halted by a strike in the building-trades union. Francon is
especially furious because the strike started at one of his projects. Keating is also disturbed, and he
calls Katie, but he does not want to hear any more about her uncle or the fact that Ellsworth Toohey
will speak at a prominent event supporting the strikers.
After dinner Peter goes to Catherine's door. He realizes angrily that she must be at the meeting where
her uncle is speaking. He walks to the meeting hall and sees an exhausted Catherine handing out
pamphlets at the entrance. When she sees him, she smiles happily, but Peter is furious. She insists
that she had to go for her uncle.
Austen Heller begins to speak, and Peter listens to him because he is famous. Heller, from an old
British family, is the lead columnist for a widely respected independent newspaper that is the
strongest opposition to the Wynand publications. Heller is opposed to "all forms of compulsion, private
or public, in heaven or on earth," and that is what he is speaking about. In his speech, Heller alludes
to Wynand himself, and Catherine becomes afraid, for she knows that Wynand will take out his anger
on her uncle. Peter's head has begun to ache, and before he realizes what is happening, the room
falls silent and the monitor announces Ellsworth Toohey to head-splitting applause.
As Toohey begins to speak, Peter realizes that his voice is like music, so beautiful that Peter thinks he
does not need to understand the words. He feels mesmerized as Toohey speaks of the need to
organize. Slowly, Peter begins to feel afraid. They leave and decide to get something to drink.
Catherine comments that she will miss her uncle's speech--but she wants to be with Peter more than
anything. Days later, Peter hears that Wynand gave Toohey a raise he tried to refuse.
The strike is settled, and construction resumes. Peter Keating is worked off his feet as orders pour in.
When they complete the Ainsworth residence, the Ainsworths throw a reception to which Francon and
Keating are invited. Peter is especially pleased that Heyer is not on the guest list, and Mrs. Ainsworth
comments that she thought Peter was a partner in the firm.
The next day Peter is confused by Francon's nervous irritation, but he quickly forgets it in his own
happiness. As he walks towards the firm's library, he sees a young woman at the reception desk.
Looking at her, Peter thinks that "he understood for the first time what it was that artists spoke about
when they spoke of beauty." She is Dominique Francon, his boss's daughter. The clerk asks him if he
has read the morning's Banner and points out an article she wrote. Her column, "Your House," had
been "confined to home decoration, but . . . ventured occasionally into architectural criticism." Today's
column is a heavily ironic and ultimately vitriolic description of the Ainsworth residence designed by
Peter Keating. At first Peter is both angry and amused, but almost immediately he forgets the article
and can think of nothing but the girl. He grabs three drawings as an excuse, and he walks towards
Francon's office. Outside the office he hears Francon raging and his daughter merely laughing, "a
sound so gay and so cold" that he becomes a little afraid of her. He walks back down the stairs,
certain that they will soon meet again but aware that it would probably be best if they never met
again.
Chapter 10
Ralston Holcombe walks down a New York street. He is a large, formidable figure. He is the president
of the Architects' Guild of America, and unlike so many of his colleagues, he does not believe that
architecture should be an homage to the past. He insists that architects should always build "in the
spirit of their own time." What distinguishes him from men like Cameron and Roark is that Halcombe
believes that the style that best suits his time is the Renaissance. He has no truck with modern
architecture, for "men who wanted to break with all the past were lazy ignoramuses, and . . . one
could not put originality above Beauty."
Halcombe is also very socially important, and he and his wife host parties that everyone in the
architecture world attends religiously. One afternoon Keating attends one of these parties, a little
bored but aware that it is a social necessity. Keating goes through the necessary motions of speaking
to the host and hostess, and suddenly he spots Dominique across the room. Francon cannot avoid
introducing Peter to her. She immediately confronts Peter about the fact that he asked to be
introduced to her. She teases him about the position he now is in, wanting to be nice to her without
being an obvious hypocrite. Peter tries to flatter her, insisting that he wanted to meet her for her own
sake, accidentally bringing up her newspaper column. She apologizes for the Ainsworth column,
calling him a "victim of one of [her] rare moments of honesty."
Peter and Dominique continue their banter, neither giving much ground. She calls Wynand "an
exquisite bastard" but admits she has never met him, while she admires Toohey as the most
"complete" man she has ever met. Peter begins to understand that Dominique almost never means
what she says. She tells him directly that she hates people telling her what they think she wants to
hear, even if it is what she wants to hear. As their conversation becomes more successful, they are
interrupted by Gordon Prescott, who tries to flirt with Dominique. She uses Peter to get rid of him,
which makes Peter extremely happy, but almost immediately she walks away from him to say hello to
Eugene Pettingill, the "most unattractive septuagenarian present."
Peter sees Dominique once more at the door as she leaves. She proactively rebuffs his offer of a ride.
Francon is extremely surprised by how much Peter likes his daughter, and he wonders aloud whether
Peter might actually succeed with her. She was an utter terror growing up--and still is. He essentially
tells Peter that Peter has her father's blessing.
Snyte explains to his associates that Austen Heller himself has given them a commission, so they
need to do their very best--but all he knows is that Heller said "he wanted a building he could love."
Later that day they all go to see the site, and they see "a cliff rising in broken ledges from the ground
to the end in a straight, brutal, naked drop over the sea, a vertical shaft of rock forming a cross with
the long, pale horizontal of the sea."
While the four other associates immediately go to work, Roark returns to the site many times. When
he is finally finished with his design, it seems that
The house on the sketches had been designed not by Roark, but by the cliff on which it stood. It was
as if the cliff had grown and completed itself and proclaimed the purpose for which it had been
waiting.
Snyte picks Roark's design, but he alters the material from granite to red brick, changes the windows,
and makes numerous other modifications that are torture for Roark to see.
When Heller arrives, Snyte takes him into the drafting room to see the finished watercolors of the
design. Heller looks at it for a while but says, "It's so near somehow . . . but it's not right." Roark
suddenly grabs the sketch and begins to jab at it with a pencil as Snyte gasps in horror. Snyte tries to
wrench the sketch away, but Heller stops him. When Roark steps back, he has transformed the sketch
into his original design. Snyte screams at him that he is fired, and Heller responds by saying that
"We're both fired." Heller takes Roark out to lunch and then offers Roark the commission. He makes
out a check for five hundred dollars to "Howard Roark, Architect."
Analysis
In this section it is important to keep one's sight on the development of Peter Keating and Howard
Roark despite various digressions. Peter Keating continues to be corrupted by his environment and his
choices. He has acquired all the trappings of success, yet these trappings take him further and further
away from a unified identity. The narrator informs us that Peter "looked like the picture of a
successful young man in advertisements for high-priced razors or medium-priced cars." In other
words, Peter Keating's attempts to distinguish himself leave him looking more and more like everyone
else. Keating's actions reveal evidence of further decay, for while Keating finally tells Catherine he
wants to marry her, he also recognizes the practicality of a marriage with Guy Francon's daughter. He
is relieved to put off the possibility of such an alliance, but he in no way determines that it is
impossible.
One of the most important events of this section is the introduction of Ellsworth Toohey as a hugely
influential character. Toohey's alliances were made clear by his praise of Francon's and Keating's
building. He places himself even more firmly against Howard Roark when he writes that Henry
Cameron has been "relegated . . . to a well-deserved oblivion." In Sermons in Stone, Toohey also
seems to support an idea of design that would tend toward the mediocre rather than the original,
similar to the ideas espoused by the dean at the Stanton Institute. Toohey is Roark's enemy because
his popularity and his clear dislike for modernism may well make it impossible for Roark to succeed as
an architect. Yet, Toohey's history and motives remain a complete mystery at this point in the novel.
Another complex and difficult character introduced in this section is Guy Francon's daughter,
Dominique. In some ways she seems like a victim of society, being individually intelligent and clear-
sighted. In a "rare moment of honesty" she tears apart Peter Keating's design in an amusing and
eminently sensible manner. She seems to be able to recognize integrity without possessing any.
Roark's relationship with Keating continues along the path set at the Stanton Institute of Technology.
Keating both fears and loves Roark. Keating reveals his obsession for Roark when he insists on giving
him a job at Francon & Heyes. Of course, as soon as he realizes how he has exposed himself, he tells
Francon that "It's not that I really need him. But he's an old friend of mine, and out of a job, and I
thought it would be a nice thing to do for him." Keating is happiest when given evidence that he is
much more successful than Roark, but he frequently acknowledges that Roark is the better designer
by seeking Roark's help with his designs. Keating recognizes that he bullies Roark at the office in
order to make up for asking Roark's help at the end of the day. Still, this understanding suggests that
Keating's interest in Roark goes far beyond mere competitive feelings.
Keating's obsession with Roark stems from the same part of him that tries to make Roark become
angry with him. That is, he wants to understand how Roark can have no feelings for him personally
and can despise him as a designer, yet can still come to work for him and never become angry or
upset. He wants to know why Roark can be faced with the proof of another man's greater success day
after day and never be tempted to sell out.
After all of Howard Roark's apparent suffering and submission, the reader may begin to prefer Peter
Keating. How is it possible to accept a hero who does not seem human? Rand establishes Roark's
humanity, however, and justifies his continued idealism by introducing a few allies. When Roark
meets Mike, they communicate not through false ideas or fake social exchanges but through actions.
When Roark takes up the blowtorch and puts a hole through the steel girder, he shows Mike his true
identity. When Roark sees Mike's real pleasure at seeing a job well done, he recognizes someone
basically similar to himself. Their common admiration for Cameron cements the bond.

Summary and Analysis of Part I, Chapters 11-15

Chapter 11
With the money from his first commission, Howard Roark opens his own office. He is soon visited by
Peter Keating, who claims that Roark will succeed, but Roark responds with uncertainty. Keating
agrees with Roark that Roark is taking a great risk, while Roark cannot see how he could proceed in
any other way.
Cameron had looked at Roark's plans and asked that Roark bring him photographs when he opened
his office. Roark returned with them three days later, and Cameron stared for a long time at the
picture of the nameplate over the door: "Howard Roark, Architect." He told Roark it was like those
"mottoes men carved over the entrance of a castle and died for." This nameplate suggests that Roark
is now on his "way into hell."
It was hard to find a contractor who would do so much work for so small a project. Roark now visits
the site often; it is hard for him to stay away, and he spends so much time simply laying his hands on
the building that the workers comment that he is in love with it. One day he sees Mike at the building
site. Heller often visits the site as well, and as he watches Roark and the building he can barely tell
them apart. Heller built his career by resisting compulsion, and he sees in Roark "a man so
impervious to compulsion he became a kind of compulsion himself." Heller realizes that Roark might
be the best friend he would ever have, since Roark does not actually need him. (When Roark
complimented one of his articles, Heller felt that praise keenly, because there was no possibility of
self-interest or deceit.)
One day Heller asks Roark why he likes the building so much. Roark asserts that this building has
integrity, just like a person might. Every part of it is there for a purpose. Nothing is decorative or
fake; the house is a whole. Heller agrees and comments that it seems as if Roark had thought a lot
about Heller's comfort, since so many details of the house are perfect in ways that Heller only now
notices. Roark replies, however, that he "thought of the house"--"perhaps that's why [he] knew how
to be considerate of [Heller]."
The house is finished in November 1926 without fanfare but with some derision at Guild meetings.
Guy Francon predicts that Heller will flee from the house within the year. Keating nominally defends
Roark's talent, saying Roark just went too far. Others comment that Roark has no future in
architecture.
Chapter 12
Alvah Scarret, the editor-in-chief of the Wynand papers, decides that they should sponsor a
"campaign against living conditions in the slums." Such campaigns were in the papers' own interest.
Scarret puts Dominique Francon in charge of the campaign. She lives onsite in an East Side tenement
for two weeks and then writes a series of brilliant articles. She also describes this experience at a
dinner party and a meeting of social workers, where she talks about healthy men who do not work
and families with enough money to pay their rent but who waste money on luxuries.
Scarret tells her he will start a department regarding women's welfare. He wants to put her in charge
of it, but she refuses. Scarret insists that no one else could do the job, but she surprises him with the
text of the speech she has just given (casting blame on the slum residents). He immediately calls the
paper to cut the article about her speech to the social workers. She adds that she would never want a
job that she loved because she would have to depend on someone to be able to keep it. The whole
world is a net, she says, and everyone is pressed together in a web of dependence, but she wants no
part of it. She wants perfection or nothing, and since she cannot reach perfection, she chooses
nothing. Similarly, she once bought a statue from a museum because she loved it, brought it home,
and threw it down an elevator shaft so that no one else could ever see it. Alvah is horrified at her
counterproductive individualism.
Guy Francon remembers his daughter's youth--a day when she triumphantly jumped a hedge. He
cautiously thinks about Keating and wonders, hopefully, whether Keating might be exactly who
Dominique needs. Francon arranges for the two to meet again at lunch. The arrangements work out,
but Peter can tell that his existence is of absolutely no consequence to Dominique, and he finds
himself despising her. Still, after lunch she invites him to take her to the theater that night, and she
seems to genuinely like him when he replies that he will take her in spite of the fact that he knows
she does not want to go.
Back at the office, Peter and Guy discuss Dominique. Peter thinks he is making progress. Guy is
positive she remains a virgin, which seems abnormal to him for a girl of twenty-four. Weeks later, at
home, Peter's mother asks him about Dominique--they have seen quite a lot of one another.
Somehow he feels more rejected by her acceptance of his invitations than by her refusals. Catherine
knocks; Peter has not seen her for over a month. She tells Mrs. Keating that they are engaged and
tells Peter she wants to get married as soon as possible, even tomorrow. Smiling, Peter tells her that
of course they can get married tomorrow. Catherine now says that earlier that night she felt a horrible
foreboding that they would never get married and that she would never escape from her uncle. She
got up and fled straight to Peter. Peter tells her he will come and get her in the morning and they will
get a marriage license.
As soon as she leaves, Peter becomes defensive, prepared for his mother's criticism. Mrs. Keating
outlines how he will ruin his career by marrying Catherine. By the time she is finished, Peter is
terrified that she is right--if he marries Catherine he will wind up a nobody. Still, he has enough
strength to insist that he loves her. Mrs. Keating relents a little and suggests that he simply wait a
few months until Heyer retires and Francon makes him a partner. Peter goes to bed uncertain.
The next morning at Catherine's door he confesses that it might be good to wait a few weeks. He tells
Catherine that Francon's partner is going to retire at any moment and that he is certain that Francon
will make him a partner, while Francon has a strange idea that Peter Keating might marry his
daughter, so if he married Catherine instead, Francon might react strangely. Catherine immediately
agrees that they should wait and even confesses that she was thinking the same thing. They part, and
both have an uneasy feeling that they should have gone through with it, but they shake it off.
Chapter 13
One day when the Heller House is almost finished, a young man approaches Roark and offers him
another commission for a gas station. In December, both projects are finished, and Roark spends
days alone at the office waiting for someone to come. Heller tries to encourage him to seek
commissions, but Roark insists that he simply is incapable of handling people. He explains that he's
"waiting . . . for [his] kind of people." He knows that thousands of people drive by the odd Heller
House, and he just needs one of them to order another project. They agree that Roark seems not to
need other people, but Roark does not understand why Heller thinks it strange. Heller adds that Roark
is the "coldest man" he knows, "but also the most life-giving."
Mrs. Wilmot comes one day to ask Roark to build her a country house; she adores Austen Heller. All
her friends say she is cultured. She says that she wants a house in the Tudor style because her
personality is "Elizabethan." Roark explains that he cannot build in that style. He shows her some
pictures of Heller's house. She is shocked that he is refusing her commission. He tries to explain, but
he realizes that he is merely talking to a shell of a person filled up with undigested books and others'
opinions.
In March, Robert L. Mundy (sent by Heller) asks Roark to recreate the "big house" in the small town
where he grew up, because it is a symbol of all the obstacles he overcame in his life. Roark tries to
convince him to build a different kind of house, but eventually the man leaves, puzzled by Roark's
refusal. When Roark tells Heller what happened, he is not surprised, but he is concerned that Roark is
running out of money and refuses to compromise.
In April, Mr. Nathaniel Janss comes to see Roark because Austen Heller insisted on it. Roark eagerly
argues for his way of thinking, and by the end of their conversation Janss is willing to give Roark a
chance. Two weeks later, Roark submits his designs and comes to speak to the board. As soon as he
sees them, he knows that he has lost. A few days later he receives a rejection letter from Mr. Janss,
and Roark can tell that Janss is too ashamed to face him.
Finally, John Fargo asks him to design a department store that is bigger and better than any the city
has ever seen. Businesses have begun to leave their neighborhood out of the belief that the "city's
retail business was shifting uptown." Fargo wants to protect his old neighborhood. While Roark is
working on the Fargo commission, Mr. Whitford Sanborn approaches Roark with a new commission.
Years ago, Sanborn had an office building designed by Henry Cameron, and now he will trust Roark.
As the project proceeds, Mrs. Sanborn objects at every turn. Finally Roark gets Mr. Sanborn to
approve the plans, but he then has difficulty securing an architect. Mrs. Sanborn begins to insist on
certain changes, and costs slowly mount. One day Roark has a new plan for the east wing, but Mr.
Sanborn refuses to change it, insisting it will be too expensive. Roark offers to pay for it himself, even
though the cost is more than his entire commission. Mr. Sanborn feels very guilty and wants to pay
for it, but Mrs. Sanborn refuses. When the house is finished, Mr. Sanborn loves it, but Mrs. Sanborn
and their daughter refuse to live in it. Too exhausted to argue, Mr. Sanborn leaves the house
unfurnished and takes his family to Florida. At the last minute, their son insists that he loves it and
will live nowhere else, and they furnish three rooms. That summer an unfair item is printed in the
bulletin of the Architects' Guild, stating that a house built by Roark was found by the family to be
entirely uninhabitable.
Chapter 14
Heyer absolutely refuses to retire despite his recent stroke. Keating begins treating him with much
less respect. When Heyer complains to Francon, Francon simply comments that Heyer obviously
needs to retire since he is starting to imagine things.
Cosmo-Slotnick Pictures announces a worldwide contest to design a ten-million-dollar building to
house its new movie studio. Francon encourages Peter to enter, telling him that he will share the
billing with the firm, and if he wins, Francon will give him a fifth of the prize money.
Peter works feverishly on his designs and shows them to Roark. He casually asks Roark about his
entry for the contest, but Roark replies that he does not enter contests. Peter asks Roark for some
comments anyway, and wordlessly, Roark quickly corrects it, making tremendous changes. Peter is
immensely impressed. Roark insists that while he can fix someone else's designs, he could never
create a "popular" design himself. He grows angrier as he works, then sends Peter home. Peter
recopies the drawings and submits them.
Roark has received no more commissions. He has paid his rent on the office for the next thirty days,
and after that he may have to close. The Fargo store is a failure, for one new store cannot save a
district. In the Guild Bulletin, Athelstan Beasely, considered a great wit in the profession, has written
an article making fun of Roark's entire career.
Roark reads an article about a millionaire, Roger Enright, who is building a new kind of housing
development and has rejected several prominent architects. He sends a submission, but after meeting
with Enright's secretary, Roark is peremptorily sent away. The next month, one more month's rent
paid, Roark is asked to submit drawings for the new Manhattan Bank Building. He has been
recommended by Richard Sanborn, Mr. Sanborn's son.
Henry Cameron has a relapse, and the doctor tells him he does not have much time left. He sends for
Roark, who comes immediately and stays for three days. On the third day, Cameron rambles about
Roark's future. He whispers, "Do you remember the day when I tried to fire you? . . . Forget what I
said then. . . . It was worth it." Cameron dies half an hour later.
Peter sees Catherine frequently, though they have not announced their engagement. He tells her they
should wait until after the competition to announce their engagement. Peter also sees Dominique
Francon frequently, and he finds himself drawn to her though he wishes he were not. It frustrates him
that she does not seem attracted to him, yet one night they are at a ball, and when Peter touches her
more than usual, she seems to understand. That night, when Peter takes her home, she is unusually
silent in the cab. She lets him come up to her apartment. He tells her that she is beautiful and that he
loves her. He kisses her, but it feels like kissing a plastic doll. He draws away, confused. She tells him
that she is "an utterly frigid woman." Peter, still confused, asks her to marry him, insisting that she
will change. She tells him that if she ever "want[s] to punish herself for something terrible," she could
marry him. When he leaves he despises her with all his heart, but he knows that if tomorrow someone
offered him ownership of the firm in trade for marrying Dominique, he would do it.
Chapter 15
Peter is absolutely terrified that he will lose the competition and that Francon will give someone else
Heyer's partnership. He remembers what Francon told him about Heyer's bad reputation, and he goes
through the office files until he finds a letter about a payment of twenty thousand dollars to Heyer for
a building that should not have cost so much money. Peter Keating realizes that the letter was sent
earlier in the year that Heyer had started his porcelain collection. Keating takes the letter and goes to
Heyer's house. After he is shown in, he shows Heyer the letter and tells him that if he does not retire,
he will give the letter to the Guild, which will take away his license--it will be in all the papers, and
Heyer might even go to jail. Heyer cannot seem to understand; he says over and over that Peter will
not and cannot do that. But Peter continues to speak forcefully, insisting that Heyer must retire.
Suddenly, Heyer has an attack and dies. For a moment Peter feels horror. He rushes out and calls for
the butler.
A few days later, Peter is still in shock. He is ashamed to learn that Heyer left him two hundred
thousand dollars, plus his interest in the firm and his porcelain collection. Peter tells his mother and
then goes to a speakeasy. That night he tries to convince himself that everyone is selfish, so he has
nothing to be ashamed of. His questions disappear the next morning when he learns that he has won
the Cosmo-Slotnick competition. Suddenly Peter is overwhelmed by phone calls, telegrams,
interviews, and public events. He finds time to see Catherine once, and even with her he cannot stop
thinking of his new fame. He also sees Dominique once before she leaves, and he is irritated by her
refusal to acknowledge his success.
It spoils Peter’s triumph that people actually talk about his design, for whenever they speak about
"simplicity . . . clean ruthless efficiency," he thinks of Howard Roark. One day he realizes that he is
afraid of Roark and that he knows what to do. He immediately goes to Roark's office.
Roark has spent his days waiting for the phone to ring about getting a commission for the Manhattan
Bank Building. His rent is two months overdue, and he has received a final notice from the telephone
company, but for now the phone is still on. Peter asks Howard about the state of his business. Unable
to hold himself back, he berates Howard, trying to convince him that he must best his principles, and
if he does, he will be worked off his feet. He insists that he says these things against his own interest
in order to help Howard.
When he is done, Roark says they will never talk about this again, and he asks him what he wanted to
say about the competition. Peter assumes a planned air of friendliness and he tells him that he wants
to give Roark credit for helping him, but he knows that Roark would not want that, so he at least
wants to give him some of the money. He writes him a check for five hundred dollars. Calmly, Roark
takes it, writes on the back "pay to the order of Peter Keating," and tells Peter it is a bribe to never
mention his involvement in the building. Peter is furious, and he begins to shout at Roark about how
he thinks he is better than everyone else but is really nobody. After a few moments, he stops,
ashamed. Roark calms him down, and Peter promises to tear up the check. Finally, he leaves.
That Monday the telephone rings, and Mr. Weidler tells Roark to come to his office to discuss the Bank
project. Thrilled, Roark goes immediately. But when he arrives, the chairman of the board tells him
that the Commission is his--so long as he is willing to accept a minor alteration to the facade. They
show him a mock-up, not something he would be expected to follow, just a suggestion, and he
realizes that they want him to design a classical facade. After attempting to convince them to change
their minds, he tells them that he cannot accept the commission. He leaves, goes to his office to pack
up his things, and goes to Mike's house. He tells Mike what happened and asks him for help finding a
job in the building trades. Mike is furious and tries to talk him out of it, insisting that he will give him
financial backing for a while longer, but Roark refuses. He explains that he will save his money and
start over. Finally Mike says that he could not bear to get him a job in town, but if Roark is willing, his
friend at a granite quarry in Connecticut could get Roark a job.
Two days later Roark takes a train out of the city. As he departs, he watches the skyline of the city
and thinks about how he could change it. A light shines from a restaurant where Peter Keating is
attending a party held in his honor to celebrate his becoming a partner at the firm now called Francon
and Keating.
Analysis
Throughout this section of the novel, Roark achieves what seem like small but important victories.
Each time Roark gets a commission, a reader could hope that the public will no longer fail to recognize
his talent. If Roark sees his buildings as acts of independence, then men on the other side (such as
Guy Francon, Peter Keating, and perhaps Ellsworth Toohey) see them as acts of terror threatening to
undermine the "proper" architectural order. By placing these two groups in such direct opposition,
Rand makes clear that Roark's kind of architecture is not just a different version of the kind practiced
by Francon, Keating, and other popular architects--it is of a different order altogether. Francon's kind
of building can survive only so long as the public fails to recognize the superiority of Roark's work.
Every time Roark puts up a building, Francon fears that people will see the different qualities of
buildings as what they are--if so, anyone who recognizes the beauty of a Roark building (or a
Cameron building) would look at Francon's kind of building with disgust. Luckily for Francon, Ellsworth
Toohey knows that the people will only change their minds if they are told to change their minds.
Francon's type of architecture survives because the common person cannot see a new building as
beautiful until someone suggests to him that it is beautiful. (Note here the difference between
conventional and inherent beauty.)
Two exceptions to this rule, of course, are Mike and Austen Heller. They are almost unique
themselves, for they represent other possible models of independent men. Roark's securing such
allies helps us understand how Roark continues to struggle. Roark must hold on to the idea that there
are other people in the world like Mike and Austen Heller and that they need only see one of his
buildings to come over to him. At the same time, Mike and Austen Heller are clearly inferior to Roark.
They are allies, but they are not equals. Austen Heller repeatedly tries to get Roark to accept
commissions he knows he will not accept, and when Roark once again experiences tremendous
failure, Mike wants him to allow either him or Heller to support him financially.
Thus, among Rand's wide range of characters weak and strong, Roark stands alone as her ideal man.
He has no real competition. Projecting her ideal of independence, Rand does not allow for the
possibility that Roark might develop or change over the course of the novel. This kind of
independence, however, is very troublesome in an alien world. Moreover, this kind of stubborn
independence requires a hubris that Rand might also be presenting as a tragic flaw. The refusal to
change in the face of compelling reasons, even more radically the refusal to change on the basis of
truth, makes a person a prisoner of himself rather than of external forces. This kind of independence
is far from, for example, Ralph Waldo Emerson's, who wrote derisively of a "foolish consistency" being
a constraint on "little minds."
Nevertheless, by the end of this section it is clear that the focus of this story is not what happens to
Roark as he tries to survive in this less than ideal world, but what happens to the people around
Roark as he exerts the force of his will on an imperfect world.
One such character who will play an important role later is Dominique Francon. Dominique has not yet
met Roark and does not yet know of him. But as Dominique begins to reveal the philosophy that
guides her life, it becomes more and more necessary that she and Roark will be drawn together.
Dominique Francon tells Alvah Scarret that if she liked her job and was afraid to lose it,
I'd have to depend on the whole world. Everything has strings leading to everything else. We're all so
tied together. We're all in a net, the net is waiting and we're pushed into it by one single desire. You
want a thing and it's precious to you. Do you know who is standing ready to tear it out of your hands?
... Someone is ready, and you're afraid of them all ... I take the only desire one can really permit
oneself. Freedom, Alvah, freedom ... To ask nothing. To expect nothing. To depend on nothing.
She recognizes a stark ideal of freedom and condemns the network of people that forces dependence
or outright coercion. Yet, she lacks Roark's strength and passion, so she is unable to overcome this
net. Her response--to embrace nothing, to reject everything--is morally vacant. Even so, Dominique's
refusal to accept anything less than perfection shares important elements with Roark's philosophy.
Dominique Francon and Howard Roark are also connected through their relationships with Peter
Keating. Keating's attraction to Dominique is similar to his attraction to Roark. Both are almost
entirely one-directional; Roark and Dominique tolerate Keating without taking any pleasure in his
company. Keating is fascinated by their certainty, their independence, and their lack of admiration for
him. Of course, Keating is also fascinated by Dominique Francon's beauty, but in some ways that
beauty is attractive like Roark's talent. Keating wants to conquer Dominique; he wants her to admit
that she is not superior to him and that there is something wrong with her because she is not
attracted to him. But when Dominique admits there is something wrong with her--that she is probably
frigid, so Keating should not take it personally--he still feels rejected. Dominique represents
something that Keating cannot have, no matter how successful or how rich he becomes, and Keating
cannot stand the idea that there is anything he cannot have.
Similarly, Keating sees Roark as someone whom he can never beat, for Roark will never give him the
compliment of competing with him. Keating desperately wants Roark to admit that there is something
wrong with him because he is unable to compromise his aesthetics the way that Keating has done; he
also wants Roark to admit that Keating is the superior architect because the public thinks so. After
Keating wins the Cosmo-Slotnick award and goes to Roark's office, he tells him: "Look at me!
Remember how we started? Then look at us now ... Just drop the fool delusion that you're better than
everybody else--and go to work." When Roark coldly rejects his offer of payment for his help on the
building and tells him he would never want anyone to know he had helped, Keating screams, "Who do
you think you are? ... You don't even have the wits to know you're a flop, an incompetent, a beggar, a
failure, a failure, a failure! ... I have the whole world with me!" Keating continues to suffer from the
same fatal flaw that revealed his character at the beginning of the novel: unlike Roark, Keating cannot
stand up and say that he is successful because he knows he has accomplished something great. He
relies entirely upon the opinions of others, clinging to the idea that numbers are the only thing that
can substantiate greatness. Of course, if Keating truly believed this, he would not fear Roark; his fear
and hatred demonstrate that Peter Keating actually has the capacity to recognize greatness as
something beyond the numbers, even though he does not have the personal means to stand up for it.
Throughout this section of the novel, Keating's character continues to deteriorate. Keating's love for
Catherine provided the reader with a rare opportunity to sympathize with and root for Keating. Now,
Keating's inability to withstand his mother's manipulation and cleave to Catherine suggests he will
lose the only good and true part of his life. Catherine's fear of Toohey also foreshadows the imminent
disclosure of flaws in his character. Keating's total corruption is symbolized by his involvement in the
death of Francis Heyer. Thus far Keating's manipulations have let others no worse off than they were
(Tim Davis) or even improved their situation (Stengel). He benefited himself and took pleasure in the
act of control. When Keating goes to Heyer, he knows that he is not manipulating Heyer but is forcing
him to do what Keating wants. Now, Keating's actions have left the social realm and become
objectively criminal. He blackmails Heyer, which results in Heyer's death.
Some critics are disturbed by Rand's championing of the supremacy of individual action. They see
little difference between Roark and Keating, for both act entirely to serve their own ends. But while
Roark may demonstrate a certain kind of selfishness, the depiction of Keating makes it clear that
Rand's moral code does not allow people to use others to get what they want. Roark does not
manipulate others; he simply refuses to bend to their will. When Keating's actions result in Heyer's
death, he has clearly crossed a point of no return. Keating seems beyond saving, and the reader can
only hope that someone will stop him from continuing his energetic but immoral rise to success. In
this sense, Roark's inner moral constraints are a healthy product of his freedom in a selfishness
rightly understood.
As Peter Keating's career suddenly accelerates, Howard Roark's achievements are stripped of their
meaning. By the end of Part I, his life appears almost hopeless. Peter Keating's multiple rewards after
Heyer's death seem to determine that this world is utterly corrupt and that Roark's ideals can never
overcome a reign of bitter selfishness and speciousness. Yet, the tiniest element of hope remains in
the fact that the most praised elements of Peter Keating's Cosmo-Slotnick plans are those which were
designed by Howard Roark.

Summary and Analysis of Part II, Chapters 1-5

Chapter 1
Howard Roark has been working in the granite quarry for two months. All he asks is that he think of
nothing but the granite in front of him and the tool in his hand. He likes the work, struggling with the
stone and getting exhausted every day. He stays in the village with the other workers and eats with
them, but he is apart from them. Sometimes he enjoys lying in the grass as he studies the colors and
shapes around him. All the while, however, he suffers from thinking about all the buildings he could
be building--all the work he could be doing.
Meanwhile, Dominique Francon is spending her summer vacation alone in her father's mansion three
miles from the granite quarry. The quarry is owned by Guy Francon. The only other people at the
mansion are the caretaker and his wife. Dominique enjoys the solitude and the knowledge that the
people who provide her comforts make themselves invisible. When she sees another person, she has
"the sensation of a defiled pleasure." She takes long walks and horseback rides and enjoys listening to
the sound of the blasting in the quarry because it is "the sound of destruction."
One morning Dominique forces herself to take a walk to the quarry, for she takes pleasure in making
herself do things that she hates. She enjoys the painful contrast of her own cool beauty and the
misery of the workers below her. Suddenly she sees Roark and cannot stop looking at him. She knows
"it was the most beautiful face she would ever see, because it was the abstraction of strength made
visible." The foreman sees her and shows her around, but all the while she is thinking of the red-
haired man she has seen.
When Dominique returns to the mansion, she cannot stop thinking of Roark, especially his hands. She
is disgusted by her pleasure, but at the same time she enjoys how her pleasure degrades her. For two
days she makes a pretense of preparing to leave, but finally she goes back to the quarry and watches
Roark. She hopes that he has a jail record. Finally she approaches him and challenges him for staring
at her. He replies only that he stares at her "for the same reason [she's] been staring at [him]." She
orders him not to look at her anymore, and he refuses. He speaks to her coolly and respectfully.
Chapter 2
Dominique lives to stop herself from going to the quarry. Her freedom has been destroyed, for she
knows that "a continuous struggle against the compulsion of a single desire [is] compulsion also." She
goes to visit people, and one night a young poet drives her home from a party and tries to kiss her.
She flees from the car, revolted. She is confused because through many such incidents she had never
felt anything at all. She realizes that the man in the quarry wants her, and suddenly she feels power
over him.
She wants to see the man suffer for her. She chips some marble in her house, then goes to the
quarry and tells him she has a job for him. He agrees to come to her house that night, but she leaves
angry because he has acted as if there were nothing unusual about her request. Later she realizes
that his casual acceptance reveals some intimacy. When he comes that night, she realizes that "she
had expected him to seem incongruous in her house; but it was the house that seemed incongruous
around him." He goes to the fireplace and breaks the piece of marble in half, telling her, "Now it's
broken and has to be replaced." As he works, Dominique is acutely aware of the contrast between his
dusty clothes and the objects in her bedroom. He tells her that the fireplace is "atrocious" and tells
her about the different kinds and grades of marble. When he finishes, she calculates his pay, 48
cents, and gives him a dollar. He says only, "Thank you, Miss Francon," and departs. She is furious.
Dominique Francon waits feverishly for the new marble. When it comes, she sends a note to the
quarry, but that night the man who comes is "a short, squat, middle-aged Italian with bow legs, a
gold hoop in one ear and a frayed hat held respectfully in both hands." Dominique goes to the quarry
against her own aversion to going, and she asks Roark why he did not come. He asks her why it
makes any difference, and she hits his face with a tree branch and runs away.
Three days later, Roark enters her home, his clothes dusty, his face "drawn, austere in cruelty, ascetic
in passion, the cheeks sunken, the lips pulled down, set tight." He comes to Dominique, and she fights
him passionately but makes "no sound." He takes her
as an act of scorn. Not as love, but as defilement. And this made her lie still and submit. One gesture
of tenderness from him--and she would have remained cold, untouched by the thing done to her
body. But the act of a master taking shameful, contemptuous possession of her was the kind of
rapture she had wanted.
When he is done, Roark gets up and leaves. Dominique drags herself towards the bathroom for a bath
and sees herself, purple and bruised, in the mirror. She knows she will not bathe, because she wants
to keep the feeling of his body on her. She collapses on the bathroom floor and remains there until
morning.
Roark wakes up and thinks of Dominique. He knows that "had she meant less to him, he would not
have taken her as he did; had he meant less to her, she would not have fought so desperately." He
continues to think of her at the quarry, though he does not think she will come, and she does not. He
does not need to see her. He takes pleasure in knowing that she exists.
He reads in the paper that Roger Enright still has not found an architect, and he feels a stab of pain.
He is surprised when he realizes that he also thinks of Dominique Francon. A week later he finds a
letter forwarded to him through Mike from Roger Enright, stating that he would like to discuss the
house with him. He is on a train in half an hour.
Dominique thinks about Roark and is more furious in her knowledge that it is not the rape, but the
fact that she took pleasure in it, that has bothered her so much. She knows she will never forget that
he gave her "the degradation she had wanted and she hate[s] him for it." One morning she gets a
letter from Alvah Scarret asking her when she will return to New York, and she thinks about what he
would say if he knew.
After a week she realizes that she has not seen him for that long, so she rushes to the quarry. She
learns he left for New York the day before. She leaves, knowing she is safe so long as she does not
ask for his name. She has something to fight against now, and she wins so long as she never asks for
his name.
Chapter 3
Keating likes to see if he or his Cosmo-Slotnick building is mentioned in the newspapers. One day he
sees a story about a man leaving Ellsworth Toohey $100,000. Toohey immediately turned the money
over to a progressive institute of learning, commenting that he did not believe in private inheritance.
Keating is impressed because this is something he would never be able to do. He remembers that he
has not yet been able to meet Toohey.
Keating has to pick a new sculptor for the Cosmo-Slotnick building because the first sculptor, Steven
Mallory, produced "a slender naked body of a man who looked as if he could break through the steel
plate of a battleship and through any barrier whatsoever." As Keating thinks about different sculptors,
he enjoys the power he has over their fates. Suddenly, he notices an envelope on his desk. It contains
a proof copy of Mr. Toohey's column, "One Small Voice." Its title is "KEATING." Keating realizes it
gives homage to his greatness as an architect and provides a detailed analysis of the brilliance of the
Cosmo-Slotnick building. Keating notices a note at the top of the article from Toohey, asking Keating
to come by his office sometime. Immediately, Keating makes an appointment with Toohey's secretary
for the next day.
When Keating returns from lunch, a young draftsman asks him who it was who "took a shot at
Ellsworth Toohey." Shocked, Keating worries whether the column will be published the next day. In
the afternoon paper, Keating reads that the shot missed Toohey and that Toohey afterwards acted as
if nothing unusual had happened. The shooter was Stephen Mallory, who refused to give any
explanation for his actions. There was no connection between Mallory and Toohey. Toohey said he
would not press charges, but Mallory was in jail awaiting trial.
That night Keating lies awake, afraid, knowing that he never wants to learn Mallory's motive. The next
day, Toohey looks to him like "a chicken just emerging from the egg, in all the sorry fragility of
unhardened bones," but his clothes are tremendously good. Toohey's eyes "held such a wealth of
intellect and of twinkling gaiety that his glasses seemed to be worn not to protect his eyes but to
protect other men from their excessive brilliance." Toohey rhapsodizes about the beauty of the
"temple of Nike Apteros," asking Keating what he thinks of it. Keating attempts to keep up with the
conversation and feels incredibly at home with Toohey, who seems to acknowledge the falseness of
their situation. Toohey speaks again about f how great an architect Keating is and how great the
Cosmo-Slotnick building is, and suddenly Keating realizes that "Toohey knew he had not designed the
plan of the Cosmo-Slotnick Building." He is frightened because "he saw approval in Toohey's eyes."
Keating becomes afraid in the growing realization that Toohey knows that everything they are saying
is a lie.
Finally, Keating turns the conversation towards Toohey's close escape the day before. Toohey shrugs
it off but asks about Mallory. Keating gives a general and prosaic explanation for Mallory's attack, and
Toohey looks at him as though he can see his insides and is reassured. Toohey tells Keating that they
will be "great friends." He asks Keating to be the chairman of a new group of architects is forming.
Keating is extremely flattered. The conversation almost immediately turns to a young authoress in
whom Toohey has taken an interest, Lois Cook. Only as Toohey escorts Keating to the door does he
remark that Keating is engaged to his niece, Catherine. Keating tells him fervently and truthfully that
he loves Catherine, and Toohey responds lightly and a little disparagingly, commenting that Catherine
is "innocent and sweet and pretty and anemic."
Chapter 4
On a Sunday morning, Keating attempts to read Lois Cook's book Clouds and Shrouds. He enjoys it
because he is certain it is deep and meaningful--since he does not understand it. He looks at the
paper and sees a reproduction of Roark's drawing of the Enright House, "a rising mass of rock crystal.
Here was the same severe, mathematical order holding together a free, fantastic growth; straight
lines and clean angles, space slashed with a knife, yet in a harmony of formation as delicate as the
work of a jeweler." Keating looks at Cook's book and feels that it is somehow a defense against Roark.
His mother comes in, sees the picture, and dismisses it immediately.
That night is Keating's first visit to Toohey's and Catherine's new home in a "distinguished residential
hotel." Keating notices only that it is elegant, simple, and full of books before he is distracted by
Toohey. He does "not like the way Catherine sat at the edge of a chair, hunched, her legs drawn
awkwardly together." As Toohey makes light conversation, he slyly critiques Catherine, making
Keating extremely uncomfortable. When Keating comes straight out and asks him if he approves,
Toohey replies vaguely that it is a "superfluous question." They discuss the possible marriage until
Keating comments that Catherine will have to give up her job at the Clifford Settlement House when
they are married. Catherine, suddenly lively, insists that she loves her job in the day nursery and
does not want to give it up. As she speaks eloquently about the children and her work, Keating sees
her affection for her uncle, and Toohey begins to look at her much more seriously.
When she pauses, Keating changes the subject to the Enright house. He is incredibly happy when
Toohey dismisses it. Keating tells Toohey about his past with Howard Roark, and Toohey asks him a
series of strange questions that are not about architecture at all. When Toohey asks Keating whether
Roark always wanted to be an architect, Keating tells him that Roark would "walk over corpses ... but
he'd be an architect." Toohey returns to the possible group of young architects. He tells Keating that
they are very pleased that Keating will be the chairman.
Keating takes Catherine out for a walk, but he suddenly begins to think of how ridiculous it looks to
walk hand-in-hand. He wonders whether Catherine looks a bit anemic.
Later, Keating sits in Cook's living room, exceedingly uncomfortable, as they discuss the house she
wants him to build her. He attempts to speak to her about how much he likes her books, but she
seems irritated by his attempts to suggest he understands her work. He also learns that she is
chairwoman of a group of writers started by Mr. Toohey. As they talk about Mr. Toohey, she seems to
laugh at Keating, and he becomes confused. She tells him that she wants her house "to be ugly.
Magnificently ugly." In response, Keating does not know what to do. He accepts the commission. After
a while he stops feeling strange. The drawings appear in even more publications than the Cosmo-
Slotnick house did, and people speak very respectfully of him.
Chapter 5
Dominique Francon returns to New York three days after her last visit to the quarry. She hates the
people on the streets because they might have links to Roark. She goes to the office of the Banner to
resign, but at the last minute she changes her mind. One morning Ellsworth Toohey stops by to visit
Dominique. She responds in her usual ironic way, and he tells her they will never be enemies. He sees
that the article about the Enright House is on her desk, and she tells him that the builder should have
killed himself rather than build such a perfect thing and allow it to be defiled by human beings.
At Stephen Mallory's trial the man refuses to defend himself. Ellsworth Toohey himself takes the stand
and pleads for lenience. The judge gives Mallory a two-year suspended sentence.
At the first meeting of the young architects, Peter Keating is elected chairman unanimously. Of the
group of eighteen, only Keating and Gordon L. Prescott are of any standing. Besides architects there
is a contractor, a female interior decorator, and some draftsmen. They name themselves the "Council
of American Builders," and Toohey gives a speech about the importance of architecture. He argues
that architecture is the noblest of the arts because it creates shelter for mankind. Keating listens,
enraptured and ennobled by Toohey's words.
The doorbell rings, and Dominique Francon walks in uninvited. After a nod from Toohey, she sits down
and watches. Keating feels oddly uncomfortable at Dominique's presence. After the meeting, Toohey
greets her and suggests that she join their club, but she refuses, commenting that she doesn't "hate
[him] enough to do that." She asks why they did not invite Howard Roark to the meeting, and Keating
experiences a jolt.
As Dominique leaves, Keating walks with her. He asks her what she has against their meeting, but
she refuses to discuss it. As he helps her into her cab, he tells her he will not let her get away from
him again. She turns to him, and for a moment he sees something different in her and seems to
realize that she is no longer a virgin. He asks who it was, and she replies, "A workman in a granite
quarry," which makes Keating laugh. Dominique tells Keating that she once thought she could want
him, but now she knows she never will want him--and she wants never to see him again. She adds,
"you're everything I despise in the world and I don't want to remember how much I despise it ... This
is not an insult to you, Peter ... You're not the worst of the world. You're its best. That's what's
frightening." As angry as he is, Keating cannot let her go, and he tells her, "I'll never give you up."
She accepts his words and drives away.
Analysis
Part 2 of The Fountainhead is titled "Ellsworth M. Toohey." This name immediately suggests that
Toohey will dominate this section and that Toohey's full character will be revealed. At first it is difficult
to understand how either of these things will happen, for the first section focuses predominantly on
Dominique Francon and Howard Roark. One way to explain this imbalance is to recognize Toohey as
the omnipresent observer. When Dominique and Roark meet, they are out of Toohey's range of vision,
but as soon as they come back to New York, the reader waits to see how he will discover their
relationship and how he will make use of it.
Dominique’s meeting with Roark is one of the most important scenes in the novel. Unlike August
Heller or Mike or any of Roark's other allies, Dominique recognizes Roark from the first moment she
sees him. She does not need to see his drawings or hear him talk about his work. Before she meets
Roark, Dominique appears weak and erratic. Her philosophy, as she explains it to Alvah Scarret, is
purposeless. She rejects everything in a simple attempt to be free, but her success does not matter.
When Dominique meets Roark, she feels less free because suddenly her philosophy has a purpose, a
reason to exist, namely Howard Roark.
Of course, Dominique's behavior surrounding this meeting demonstrates that she was never free to
begin with--she had only deluded herself into believing that she was free. When Dominique took
pleasure in the idea of feeling sexual desire for a quarry worker, that pleasure came both from her
sexual desire and from her belief that she was acting against the mores of her society. Thus,
Dominique was controlled by society just as she is now controlled by Roark. When Dominique does
not go to see him at the quarry, she is still performing an action dictated by his existence.
Dominique's and Roark's sexual relationship, and their first experience in particular, is one of the most
complicated symbols of the book. Rand took a great risk in choosing to give rape a positive symbolic
value. It is possible for the reader to accept it because it is only a rape in relation to the violence it
employed. Rand makes clear that the ultimate consent of both parties was at the heart of the act.
That the violence was consented to was understood by both Roark and Dominique. Dominique's
warped simplicity in degrading herself in order to prove her freedom perhaps cannot be defended, but
Roark's consent is worth further study.
After meeting Howard Roark, Dominique's vision is clearer and her philosophy more articulate. She
may be less free, but her actions are purer, and she understands them better. Now Dominique can
see Peter Keating and Ellsworth Toohey for what they are. Before she met Roark, she had believed
that she could love Peter Keating because she would get pleasure out of embracing the epitome of the
characteristics she rejects. Now Dominique understands the difference between the meager pleasure
of rejecting that which she wants or embracing that which she detests, on the one hand, and the real
pleasure of fighting to maintain her identity self in the presence of true greatness, on the other hand.
Dominique underscores her worthiness to be Roark's match when she recognizes the brilliance of
Enright House without knowing who designed it. Once again, Rand emphasizes that Roark the
architect is a natural extension of Roark the man. Somehow he has built up Dominique through their
encounters.
As Dominique's character becomes refined, Keating's slowly deteriorates. At the beginning of the
novel, Peter Keating seemed genuinely human. Despite his weaknesses, his love for Catherine Halsey
and his own sense of himself as a student, friend, and son supported the idea that he was a free self.
Now, all of the things that helped Keating understand himself are being stripped away. As Keating
gains in worldly success, he loses the confidence of believing that he could sustain himself, the person
who goes along with this new position. When Keating first meets Toohey, he is disturbed because
Toohey seems to recognize his falseness while also sanctioning it. Keating is relieved to meet Toohey
because he needs someone to form him, someone to help him be the kind of person who he is
supposed to be.
When Roark returns to New York City and resumes architecture, Keating becomes even more
vulnerable to Toohey's manipulation. Just as Dominique's vision becomes clearer around Roark,
Keating's vision deteriorates. In an interesting twist on an old metaphor, Keating is like the ivy that
must cling to something stronger and more independent than himself. Now he has Toohey to rely on,
but Keating will always be drawn to the strongest person he knows, Howard Roark.

Summary and Analysis of Part II, Chapters 6-10

Chapter 6
Roger Enright had transformed himself from a coal miner to a millionaire without any help. His fortune
is entirely his, for he does not believe in the stock market. Other wealthy people hate him for
"becoming wealthy so crudely." He hires Roark after half an hour, for he knows what he likes and
does not care about anything else.
Roark reopens his office and hires draftsmen based solely on the drawings they show him. Sometimes
Roark thinks of Dominique. He thinks he knows where to find her and that he will go to her when she
will be "ready either to kill him or to come to him of her own will."
Just before the construction of the Enright House begins, Joel Sutton approaches Roark about
designing a huge office building. A week passes, and Austen Heller forces Roark to go to one of Kiki
Holcombe's parties, telling him that Joel Sutton will be there and that it will help him get the
commission. But Roark only agrees when Austen Heller mentions that Guy Francon's daughter will be
there and that he should meet her.
At Holcombe's party, Ellsworth Toohey is teasing Kiki herself, calling her charming but then pointing
out that charm is useless. He adds that the most useless people of all are aristocrats--so Kiki decides
she does not mind being called useless. Keating basks in the glow of admiration that surrounds him
until he and Toohey come face to face--Toohey comments that everyone in the room is trying to
attach themselves to Keating except Dominique Francon. Keating approaches Dominique, but she
treats him with such frustrating disinterest that he leaves after a moment.
Roark and Heller enter the room, and Holcombe greets them. She tells Roark that she admires the
Enright House. It is not to her taste, but she considers herself very broad-minded. Roark comments
that he has never been broad-minded. Kiki takes the comment as "insolent." She takes Roark to meet
Dominique, and they speak as though they never met. Heller concludes regretfully that Dominique
does not like Roark, and then Kiki takes him away to speak to someone else. Roark and Dominique
discuss a friend of Austen Heller's, and Dominique perceives that Roark is trying to humiliate her by
forcing her to bring up their acquaintance before he does.
Suddenly John Erik Snyte interrupts them, and then Heller pulls Roark away to speak to Joel Sutton.
Joel tells Roark that Roark will get the job. Roark begins to talk about the building, but Sutton,
surprised, quickly turns the conversation elsewhere and then turns to someone else. Keating
congratulates Roark on landing Joel Sutton but makes snide comments about Roark's social graces.
Roark notices that Keating is drunk.
That night Roark meets many people who compliment him in the only ways they know how, and he
finds their compliments worse than their insults. He does not look at Dominique again, but she cannot
take her eyes off of him. After he leaves, Dominique waits a few minutes and then tries to depart. Kiki
stops her at the door and asks her what she thought of Roark. Dominique replies that she found him
"revolting" but that he is "terribly good-looking." Toohey approaches and comments that he knows
something about her now, and she responds by noting that he may be more dangerous than she
realized. As she leaves, Kiki asks Toohey what the meaning of that conversation was, and he explains
that the first time you look at someone is the only time you can really know them; the human face is
the most revealing thing in the world.
Chapter 7
The chapter begins with an excerpt from Dominique's column about the Enright House. She appears
to be insulting it but is actually calling it the most beautiful, most wonderful building in the city. Her
way of doing this is by castigating it for revealing the inferiority of everything else and everyone else
around it. Toohey walks into Dominique's office, and he comments that he and Roark will be able to
tell what she was really saying; she replies that she was writing it for everyone else. He talks about
Peter Keating--that he was an old friend of Howard Roark's--but she does not respond. He presses her
for a reaction. Toohey discusses the parallel lives of Roark and Keating, acknowledging that Roark
finds Keating's work extremely mediocre and focusing on Keating's incredible successes. Toohey adds
that Roark must have been suffering from a worse torture than the Spanish Inquisition. Dominique
finally screams at him to get out; he tells her she has revealed too much. As he leaves, he comments
that he thinks "Peter Keating is the greatest architect" they have.
That evening Joel Sutton calls Dominique and asks her if she really meant what she wrote in her
column. She invites him to lunch, where she tells him that Roark will design him a "great" building.
But minutes later she has him convinced that he cannot hire an architect whom nobody else hires--
unlike Roger Enright, he wants people to like him and agree with him. Sutton is set on hiring Peter
Keating.
Sutton calls Roark to tell him the news. He is very apologetic but disturbed that Roark does not object
or fight for the project. He had many arguments prepared, and it no longer makes sense to use them.
He feels somehow cheated by Roark's lack of resistance. Finally he tells Roark that Dominique
persuaded him to pass on Roark. Roark laughs and asks Sutton if Miss Francon told him to tell Roark
this, and Sutton admits she said that he could. Roark continues to laugh.
That night, Roark sits alone in his office, looking at a picture of the Heller House. He hears a knock on
the door, and Dominique walks in. She is wearing a severe black suit. She takes off her hat. He asks
her what she wants, forcing her to say it. She tells him:
I want to sleep with you. Now, tonight, and at any time you may care to call me. I want your naked
body, your skin, your mouth, your hands ... I want you like an animal, or a cat on a fence, or a whore
... I hate you, Roark. I hate you for what you are, for wanting you, for having to want you. I'm going
to fight you--and I'm going to destroy you ... I will hurt you through the only thing that can hurt you--
through your work. I will fight to starve you ... I have done it today--and that is why I shall sleep with
you tonight.
Roark tells her to take off her clothes, and this time her "surrender [is] more violent than her struggle
had been." Afterwards, she asks him about working in the quarry. She tells him the Enright House is
the most beautiful building in New York, but Roark cuts her off, telling her not to say something she
will regret. She tells him she still wants to destroy him, and Roark tells her that this is why he wants
her. She tries to say something else, but he cuts her off again. He tells her to go to sleep and that he
will cook her breakfast in the morning--then she can continue trying to destroy him.
Chapter 8
Toohey visits Dominique and observes that people Dominique used to snub are now happy to be
friends with her. He finds that she has secured four commissions for Peter Keating. He adds that she
is lucky that Keating is her father's partner; it appears as if she is just being a dutiful daughter. He
also notes that while Roark secured the Norris country house, overall Dominique is being very
successful. Toohey becomes much more direct, explaining that they are allies after all, for they have a
common enemy in Roark. She agrees. He tells her to be less obvious about badmouthing Roark. As
for Toohey, he hurts Roark simply by ignoring him in his columns.
Dominique asks him why he hates Roark so much. He denies that he hates Roark. They look out at
the view of the city, and Toohey says the magnificent skyline can be traced to about a dozen people in
history and that there are two possible reactions. One can love and admire these people, or one can
despise them for showing the rest of mankind how inferior they are by comparison. He notes that one
of these is the more "humanitarian" view--and he is a humanitarian himself.
Slowly Dominique gets used to her new plan of praising Keating and vilifying Roark, flirting with
disgusting men, and flattering women who are revolting. Often, late at night she goes to see Roark,
and each time they make love with the same violence and the same feeling of connection. She tells
him about the commissions she has taken from him, and he laughs at her. She is happy when she
sees that he reads her columns and knows about her insults. At the same time she wishes she has
hurt him enough to force him to avoid them. She forces him to tell her how badly he wants the
buildings she is fighting to take away from him. Sometimes he makes her wait as he finishes a
drawing, and she sits and watches him. Sometimes he comes to her apartment, and if she has guests
he makes her send them away without explanation. They are never seen together. In her apartment
they talk for hours, but they never speak of their battle. Sometimes they sit in her living room,
looking out the windows for hours. One night she tells him, "Roark, everything I've done all my life is
because it's the kind of a world that made you work in a quarry last summer."
Heller gets very angry with Dominique for being so strongly against Roark. He calls her "an
irresponsible bitch." One morning Roger Enright comes to see her and takes her to see the Enright
House. He tells her, "I can understand stupid malice. I can understand ignorant malice. I can't
understand deliberate rottenness." As they enter the building, Enright is confused by the expression
of love and awe on Dominique's face. They meet Roark, and he shows them around the building,
behaving as if he and Dominique have met only once. Dominique asks him many questions about the
building, and he answers them all. In her column she writes that the Enright House ought to be
blasted out of existence rather than be allowed to be degraded by people living in it. Roark tells
Dominique that Enright doesn't know what to make of it, and he cannot tell if it is an insult or
extravagant praise. He cautions her to stop writing such things because someone else might notice.
She laughs at him but then asks him what he thinks of Ellsworth Toohey. Roark merely scoffs.
Dominique loves meeting Roark at parties. She enjoys the stir they create as everyone watches them,
wondering if there will be an explosion. She loves how he speaks to her, politely and vaguely as if he
barely remembers who she is. At the same time she hates the people on his street, the people who
think they can speak to him, smile at him, or laugh at him. She tells him that she alone does not
degrade him through contact.
Keating is bewildered; he does not understand why Dominique Francon has suddenly devoted herself
to his career. He also thinks that he is "the only man in New York City who did not think that
Dominique Francon was in love with [Keating]." He sends her flowers but does not bother her. One
day he sees her in a restaurant and approaches. He tries to thank her, but she only assures him she
will not stop helping him; she sees no need for them to speak about anything.
Keating continues to attend meetings of the Council of American Builders and likes them although all
they do is have meetings and listen to speeches given by members and once in a while hear a speech
by Ellsworth Toohey. Toohey attends every meeting. One night, they walk home together and have a
cup of coffee in a drugstore. Toohey essentially hypnotizes Keating as he speaks of a "beautiful new
world" where everyone will "love everything, the humblest, the least, the meanest," and "the meanest
in you will be loved."
Chapter 9
We learn about Toohey's own history. He was not popular in school, but he was left alone because he
was so weak. He was very smart, and he knew how to tell people, especially teachers, exactly what
they wanted to hear. In high school he won every speech and debate contest. He began to make
friends as he learned that he could win over the misfits, the weak ones, the stupid ones, the
unsuccessful ones. They would do whatever he asked. Until he was sixteen, Ellsworth thought he
wanted to be a minister. At sixteen he discovered socialism and abandoned religion. At first his Aunt
Adeline tried to argue him out of it, but she stopped when she realized that he was unlikely to become
one of those radicals who started riots.
Toohey then went to Harvard and majored in history. He became popular at Harvard. "It became
amusing, at first, to accept 'Monk' Toohey; then it became distinctive and progressive." He spoke
about the beauty of the masses and how one must give up the ego to achieve goodness. He was very
successful with the second- and third-generation millionaires who felt "he offered them an
achievement they were capable of." Ellsworth graduated and moved to New York, his fame somewhat
preceding him. He got a master's degree at NYU and wrote his thesis on architecture. He began to
write reviews and served as a vocational advisor, at which he was thought to be a tremendous
success. Toohey almost never let a boy pursue the career he had chosen. He told boys they must
think only of what they could do for others, not what they themselves wanted to do. These boys
continued to cling to him, and some flourished; only one committed suicide.
Toohey donated money to certain charities, and when wealthy people asked his advice, he
encouraged them to give money to the same charities. He was uninterested in sex, and he thought
the family was an outdated institution. Slowly he became known as "an eminent critic of architecture."
In 1921 Catherine Halsey's father died, and she came to live with him. He had planned to have her
live separately, but when he saw her she looked oddly beautiful, so he changed his mind. In 1925
Toohey wrote Sermons in Stone and became famous. Suddenly everyone wanted to know him. Many
were surprised when Toohey agreed to write a column in the Banner. It was supposed to be about
architecture, but Toohey's contract allowed him to write anything he wished, so he wrote about
architecture only once a month. His columns "never seemed to say anything dangerously
revolutionary, and seldom anything political. It merely preached sentiments with which most people
felt an agreement: unselfishness, brotherhood, equality."
The artists and writers he organized all tended towards the extreme and the unpopular. People were
surprised and pointed out that they were all "rabid individualists." Toohey took these comments as a
joke, just as he took it as a joke when people made fun of his councils. His favorite title was
"Ellsworth Toohey, Humanitarian."
Chapter 10
At the opening of the Enright House in 1929, Roger Enright invites a few friends, unlocks the entrance
doors, and throws them open. A few press photographers are there uninvited. One, from the Banner,
takes a picture of Howard Roark standing alone across the street looking up at the building. When his
editor sees the picture, he cuts it from the paper. The Enright House is quickly filled with tenants who
want only to be comfortable. Everyone else spends three weeks insulting the house and its architect.
Toohey never mentions it in his column. Roark begins to get more commissions. He expands his office
and hires more employees simply by looking at their work. His employees love him; "they know only,
in a dim way, that it was not loyalty to him, but to the best within themselves."
Dominique stays in the city for the summer, knowing that she cannot leave because of Roark. She
goes to see all of his buildings. One night she takes the ferry to Staten Island merely for the pleasure
of returning to the city where he is. She goes immediately to his apartment for the night, desperate to
see him. On the weekends they go away together. Sometimes Dominique tries to exert her power
over him, staying away, but he spoils it by readily confessing her power over him. He tells her
everything she most wants to hear, but he does so too easily for any kind of victory.
In late June, Kent Lansing comes to see Roark. He tells him he is a member of a board that will build
a luxurious hotel on Central Park South. He wants Roark to have the commission for the Aquitania
Hotel. One morning Toohey sits in his office reading about the commission, and Dominique walks in.
He comments that this is the first time she has ever been there, and finally he asks her what she
wants. Dominque tells him that she tried desperately to take that commission away from Roark, but
he got it anyway. She admits that this makes her terrifically happy. She suggests that the world may
be different after all, but Toohey assures her it is not. He sends her out to continue battle.
That night, Toohey thinks about Hopton Stoddard, a multi-millionaire with a lot of respect for Toohey,
who was spending his old age desperately trying to find a religion that would promise him a happy
afterlife. Now, Stoddard wants to build a magnificent temple dedicated to all the world's religions, just
to hedge his bets. Toohey has been trying to get him to build a home for sub-normal children instead,
but Stoddard has thus far refused to be swayed. A few days later Toohey goes to Stoddard and tells
him he has changed his mind. He now agrees with the idea of the temple and wants to recommend an
architect. He explains that Stoddard can pick no one else but Roark, and he tells Stoddard exactly
how to persuade him. Furthermore, he outlines a plan to generate a lot of publicity, which involves
building a huge fence around the construction site and not taking it down until the building is
unveiled. Stoddard follows Toohey's directions to the letter, and a few days later Roark agrees to build
"The Stoddard Temple of the Human Spirit."
Analysis
In this section of the novel, the conflict at the root of The Fountainhead finally becomes clear. This
conflict consists of simultaneous battles, conscious and unconscious, between Howard Roark and
Ellsworth Toohey, Howard Roark and Dominique Francon, and Ellsworth Toohey and Dominique
Francon. The most interesting of these three is the fight between Toohey and Roark, for Roark does
not yet acknowledge that he sees Toohey as an adversary, much less a dangerous one. The battle
begins the moment Toohey sees Roark, and it is interesting to note that, like Dominique, Toohey does
not need to know who Roark is or what he has done to recognize his powers. Toohey clarifies this
point in his conversation with Kiki Holcombe. He tells her that one's first glance at a human face tells
us everything about that person. Kiki thinks this idea is frightening, as does Toohey. At this moment,
it might be difficult for the reader to understand why Toohey is so afraid of Roark. But by the end of
this section, Toohey's underlying motivations will be made clear.
When Toohey goes to Dominique's home, he makes his declaration of war more explicit. Dominique
tries to get him to explain why he hates Roark so much, but he will not tell her. In fact, he essentially
declares (or at least threatens) war against her as well. He admits that he does not trust her and that
they are allies only in terms of a common enemy, not because of any real agreement between them.
The first clue to Toohey's character lies not in information about him, but rather in information about
the people he surrounds himself with. The composition of the Council of American Builders is
interesting because its members are for the most part entirely unimportant and ineffective. The
people whom Toohey chooses to celebrate are Roark's polar opposites, the worst whom the world has
to offer. This makes him an enemy of elitism and elitists like Roark. Dominique is fighting Roark for a
completely different reason.
When Toohey and Keating sit in a drugstore drinking coffee, Toohey enthralls Keating and illuminates
the reader. In the world he imagines, everyone is equal because everyone is low, meager, and
debased. All people can forgive each other because all need to be forgiven. Keating longs for just such
a world because in this world, Roark would be no better than he is. Toohey believes that for this world
to exist, men like Roark must be destroyed. The chapter giving a history of Toohey's life underscores
this point, for as early as high school Toohey understood how to manipulate the weak and bitter. The
most important fact revealed in this chapter is that Toohey is a socialist. By representing socialism
through Toohey, Rand is clearly making a greater argument about the degrading effects of an
economic system that preaches equality above all else.
Ignored in this account, however, are various alternative value systems involving equality. Some
religions, such as Christianity, make all people equally humble under God even though they may differ
among themselves in other ways. A moral adherence to natural rights is another alternative; in this
view, all people have an equal claim on one another for basic needs such as survival, even while
people are considered free to achieve whatever greatness they can within that context.
In any case, if Toohey represents socialism, Roark represents capitalism, for Rand sees capitalism as
an ideal system whereby men work to their greatest capacity and are rewarded for it. Roark makes
sure that he does not go to the extreme of hurting others to achieve his success. This symbolism is
slightly confused by the necessities of the plot in The Fountainhead, since Roark does not meet simple
economic success, and his rewards come from quality instead of business savvy. Still, Rand provides
other characters who emphasize the positive nature of a capitalist system. For example, in this
section Roark gains another ally, Roger Enright, a noble character who is clearly part of Roark's rather
than Toohey's world. Other millionaires dislike Enright, and he is able to look at Roark's work and
know that he likes it without the need for validation from anyone else.
Roark and Dominique also begin their battle in this section. In order to understand this conflict, one
must consider both Dominique's philosophy and the concrete results of Dominique's actions against
Roark. Dominique tells Alvah Scarret that when she saw a statue in a museum that she thought was
beautiful, she bought it and broke it so no one else could see it. She tells him that when she loves a
book, she can never open it again because she cannot stand to think of the many unworthy people
who have read it. When Dominique discovers that the man she slept with is also the man who
designed the Enright Building, she knows that she cannot stand to see him degraded by letting such
masterpieces exist in a very imperfect world. Dominique will fight him, but she is fighting him in order
to save him.
This interpretation is supported by the consequences of Dominique's attacks. Dominique is not always
successful in taking away Roark's clients, and she is the happiest when she fails. The first client she
entices towards Peter Keating, Joel Sutton, is completely unworthy of being one of Roark's clients.
Roark only secured him temporarily because Austen Heller convinced him to act against his principles
and attend Kiki Holcombe's party. Dominique is not really hurting Roark; she is purifying his relations
to the world. She runs interference for him, in some ways making it easier for him to be matched only
with worthy clients, saving him time and trouble. Only worthy customers can make it past Dominique
Francon. When Toohey manages to get Hopton Stoddard accepted as a client (for reasons not fully
clear), it becomes clear that Dominique and Toohey are not fighting on the same side at all.
Dominique is fighting on the side of elitism. Roark understands and can laugh sincerely at her game.
Another interpretation of Dominique’s actions is that she is purifying him by forcing him into situations
where the great pain of remaining true to his principles proves that he is a good person. When Roark
had no clients, he was forced to stay true to his principles and risk starvation or else to give in, and
he chose not to give in. Now that he is more successful, Dominique is doing what she can to make
sure that Roark does not become complacent or attracted by success.

Summary and Analysis of Part II, Chapters 11-15

Chapter 11
In December the Cosmo-Slotnick building opens. Toohey takes Keating out to dinner. Keating knows
he should be the happiest he has ever been, but somehow he is not. Toohey seems to want Keating
to marry Dominique even though he does not love her. Toohey reminds him that sexual love is selfish
and pointless and that happiness really comes from giving such things up. As Toohey continues along
this line, Keating suddenly feels better for listening to Toohey speak of man's universal equality.
One night Dominique comes to Roark's new office for the first time. He is building a model of the
Aquitania. She watches the Aquitania start to rise into the sky.
Roark then begins working on the Stoddard Temple. He asks Stephen Mallory to make a statue for the
Stoddard Temple, adding that he wants him only because he saw his work and liked it. This last part
is the hardest for Mallory to believe. Several times during their conversation he becomes angry and
yells at Roark for trying to fool him like this. Each time Roark calms him down.
Mallory looks at sketches of the temple and asks Roark how it is possible to build such a thing in such
a city as theirs. He tells Roark that he cannot sleep at night because all he can think of is the people
who can see the best and still do not want it. Roark calmly tells him to forget about that, but Mallory
cannot let it go. Roark explains what he wants for a sculpture--a single figure--and where he wants it
to go. He tells Mallory that he has total freedom, but he does want to suggest a model: Dominique
Francon. Mallory says that she is perfect but would not pose, and Roark replies simply that she will.
When Guy Francon hears about the sculpture, he tries to stop Dominique, but she simply tells him,
"Order yourself a reproduction of the sculpture, father. It's going to be beautiful." Keating tells her he
does not like the idea, and even Toohey tries to talk her out of it. She tells him not to bother. She
also informs him that she told Roark that Toohey encouraged Stoddard to give him the commission.
All winter Roark slaves away while three of his buildings rise in Manhattan. Austen Heller is very
happy. Roark stands before the foundation of the Temple, imagining how it will be when it is finished:
a small building of gray limestone ... it did not cling to the soil and it did not crouch under the sky ...
It was scaled to human height in such a manner that it did not dwarf man, but stood as a setting that
made his figure the only absolute, the gauge of perfection by which all dimensions were to be judged.
Roark walks to the shack put up for Mallory's work. Mallory is frustrated because the work has not
been going well, but a moment later Dominique throws off her robe and stands, asking Mallory if this
is what he meant. He cries for her to "Hold it!" and begins to work as Roark stands and watches.
The walls of the temple rise throughout April. Often, after the work is done for the day, Mike,
Dominique, Roark, and Mallory gather in Mallory's studio. They stay late into the night drinking coffee
and enjoying each other's company. In May the board of directors behind the Aquitania goes
bankrupt, and construction is halted. Kent Lansing promises Roark that it will be finished, but he
admits it may take a while. Toohey refers to it as the Unfinished Symphony in Dominique's presence,
and she uses the idea in a column. The nickname sticks. For a few weeks Roark finds himself stopping
outside of the building, imagining it complete, walking through its structure; then he forces himself to
stop. Finally, the temple is complete and will be opened in a week, when Stoddard returns to New
York.
Chapter 12
The Stoddard temple was expected to open on November 1 (All Saints' Day). Hopton Stoddard returns
from his trip around the world, and in the morning Stoddard announces that there will be no opening.
The next day Toohey writes a column claiming that the Stoddard temple is the most horrible,
degrading, unsuitable building ever called a temple in the history of man. He goes through all of its
points, explaining how the building cannot be called a temple by any possible definition of the word.
The next day Stoddard sues Roark for breach of contract for a sum sufficient to rebuild the temple.
Toohey had persuaded Stoddard about all these things by meeting his boat at the pier, taking him to
see the temple, and telling him all the things he said in his column. He thought for a few minutes and
told Stoddard that clearly this was a sign that God had rejected his offering and that Stoddard was too
impure to build a temple--this site was clearly intended to have been something else, such as a home
for sub-normal children. Devastated, Stoddard agreed with everything Toohey told him. Everyone but
Toohey is surprised by the outcry that arises against Howard Roark. Roark does nothing in response.
When asked for a statement he replies simply that he asks only that people go to see the building
before condemning it. His words are twisted beyond all meaning.
Austen Heller tries to get Roark to hire a lawyer and prepare a defense, but Roark refuses. Roark is
worried about Mallory, but Mallory tells him that he is not surprised, for he never thought they would
let Roark survive. He also reminds Roark of the Beast he once spoke of, the Beast that forces men to
admire mediocrity above all things and to be afraid of greatness. He tells Roark that he shot at
Ellsworth Toohey because he believes Toohey knows all about that Beast. Dominique visits Roark's
room, and he tells her as soon as he sees her that it does not feel as bad as she thinks it does. He
does not really care that it will be destroyed--all that matters is that he built it. She disagrees, telling
him that this is what she was saving him from when she took away his commissions; he should never
try to build such perfect things in this kind of world.
Dominique goes to see Toohey in his office. She asks him why he has gone to so much trouble, and
he explains that he has ruined Roark forever. The issue itself will be quickly forgotten, but people will
remember Roark as that unreliable builder, the one who had to be sued, the one who was in all the
newspapers. He pauses a moment, and then he begins to answer her deeper question: Why Howard
Roark? He explains that to do this to another man, a lesser man, would have been a waste of time.
He also got something he wanted from Hopton Stoddard. The most important reason of all was simply
to see whether or not he could do it. Finally, he asks her whether she will testify on behalf of
Stoddard, and she agrees.
The courtroom at the trial is packed full of spectators. Almost the entire room is clearly in support of
the plaintiff. Stoddard is not there. On Roark's side of the courtroom sit Austen Heller, Mike, and
Stephen Mallory. Roark looks calm and collected. The plaintiff's opening statement reveals that the
basis of the argument is that Roark's design could not be considered a temple by anyone, least of all a
trained architect. Roark waives his opening statement. The plaintiff calls a series of eminent
witnesses, starting with Ellsworth Toohey, who eloquently explains why the Stoddard Temple is not a
temple. When Peter Keating testifies, he is disorganized and confused. Several times he loses control
of himself, and everyone finally realizes he is drunk.
Dominique Francon is the last witness. She has refused to be coached, but the plaintiff expects a lot
from her. Dominique's testimony is similar to several of her columns about Roark. On the one hand
she calls for the temple's demolition. On the other hand, this is what she says:
Howard Roark built a temple to the human spirit. He saw man as strong, proud, clean, wise and
fearless. He saw man as a heroic being. And he built a temple to that ... But Ellsworth Toohey said
that this temple was a monument to a profound hatred of humanity ... In what kind of world did
Roark build his temple? For what kind of men? Look around you. Can you see a shrine becoming
sacred by serving as a setting for Mr. Hopton Stoddard? ... Ellsworth Toohey is right, that temple is a
sacrilege, though not in the sense he meant ... If [the Stoddard Temple] were allowed to exist,
nobody would dare to look himself in the mirror ... let us say that we are moles and we object to
mountain peaks. I realize fully that at this moment I am as futile as Howard Roark. This is my
Stoddard Temple--my first and my last.
Confused and worried, the plaintiff rests, and it is Howard Roark's turn. He brings an envelope to the
judge and takes out ten photographs of the Stoddard Temple. These are his case.
Chapter 13
Howard Roark loses the suit. The next day Dominique goes to the paper and turns in her column,
which is almost word-for-word her testimony in the trial. Alvah Scarret tells her they cannot print it,
but she says that if they do not, she will. Scarret cables Gail Wynand, who is away on a cruise, and he
cables back, in his secret code, "Fire the bitch." The office boy who decodes the message, having
been hired on the recommendation of Ellsworth Toohey, delivers a copy to Toohey in his office. He
goes to Dominique's office and confronts her for her behavior. She tells him she will continue to fight
him, and he hands her the telegram. When he leaves, Dominique packs up her things, goes to
Scarret's office, and hands him the cable. He apologizes, but she assures him she likes it better this
way. She assures him that her punishment of herself will be much worse.
Three days after the trial, Ellsworth Toohey sits at home listening to the radio. Catherine knocks on
the door and enters. She looks terrible. She is now a social worker with a small but real career.
Toohey has almost forgotten her existence, but she constantly seeks his advice in the smallest
matters, always asking between meals or at odd times, as if afraid to take up his time. Now, she
confesses that she thinks she is becoming a terrible person. She used to enjoy her work a great deal
because she loved helping people. Now, she seems to hate all the people who need her help, and she
hates them more if they do not seem grateful enough. Also, she has noticed that other people seem
to be like her as well—indeed, all the women in her profession like her. Toohey listens and then tells
her that her problem is that she is an egotist. She needs to get out of her own "narrow soul" and stop
thinking about being happy at all. Katie continues to question him, and for the first time Toohey has
difficulty answering someone's questions. He falls back on saying, "We can't be too literal when we
deal in abstractions," we can't "discuss these things when our entire language is the language of
individualism." Catherine looks brokenhearted, and she says he must be right; she always feels so
"small" after talking to him.
The next evening Peter Keating knocks on Toohey's door. Toohey was expecting him to show up at
some point, but Keating contradicts him and says he has come to see Catherine. He goes to
Catherine's room. She jumps up surprised, for she has not seen him in six months and they have not
spoken of marriage for three years. Keating looks awful, and he admits that he has again been
drinking. He tells Catherine that he has done something terrible, and he needs her to forgive him
without knowing what it is. She does so immediately. He tells her they are going to get married right
away, so she should pack her things and be ready to leave at nine tomorrow morning. Breathless, she
agrees. Keating leaves, and Toohey notices him walk by. He goes to Catherine's room and sees her
crying on the bed. He asks her what is wrong, and she replies: "I'm not afraid of you, Uncle
Ellsworth!"
Chapter 14
Keating is at home packing his suitcase. Dominique comes to see him. He tries to say the right thing
but gives up. She asks him to marry her, telling him only to say yes or no, and if he says yes they will
drive immediately to Connecticut. He is shocked and baffled, and he tries to stall. He asks her why,
but she does not answer. He suggests that if they were to marry, they should have receptions and
announcements first, but she says that she cannot stand that--he can do all that afterwards. Only
once does she allude to their earlier conversation about marriage, when she told him she would marry
him only to punish herself--but Keating acts as if he has not heard her. After a few moments Peter
says yes. As they walk outside and get in the car, "there [is] suddenly no antagonism between them,
but a quiet, hopeless, feeling of comradeship, as if they were victims of the same impersonal
disaster."
As they drive, Keating learns that Dominique has been fired. They are married in the judge's living
room. On the way back, Keating asks her where they will live, and she tells him she will move into his
apartment and that he can announce things as he wishes. Keating looks at Dominique's profile and is
once again struck by how beautiful she is and how much he wants her. Only now does he realize that
Dominique is going to sleep with him. When they arrive at his apartment, he gets out, expecting her
to follow. Instead, she tells him she will see him tomorrow--she has things to settle tonight.
She drives immediately to Roark's room. He smiles when he sees her, but his face is full of "waiting
and pain." They have not seen each other since the trial. Roark has been to her house, but
Dominique's maid did not let him in. She tells him not to say anything, and they make love all night,
barely aware of the passage of time. In the morning, Dominique watches him move about the room.
She tells him she loves him for the first time. Then she tells him that last night she was married to
Peter Keating. He struggles for a moment, then tells her to go on. She tells him that she has always
been afraid of meeting someone like Roark because she knew how it would end. She cannot stand to
be with him except in a world where he at least has a fighting chance, and this is not such a world. To
be with him in this world would mean to do for him what she does for Peter Keating: to beg, flatter,
and manipulate people who are not worthy of being in the same room with Roark. She loves Roark
too much for this. She tells him the only "gesture of protest open to [her]" is to destroy herself before
the world destroys him, so that she does not have to see it. Marrying Peter Keating, bringing upon
herself the worst suffering she can think of, is the only thing she has to offer him.
Roark asks Dominique what she would do if he commanded her to annul her marriage and marry him.
She tells him she would obey. He replies that he will not try to stop her because he loves her. He
explains that he can only love her if she is whole, and if she gave herself to him, in this world, she
would become an "empty hulk." He could not love her like that, and she could not love him. He will
survive, though he does not know how. He tells her she needs to learn not to be hurt, but he believes
she will learn, and when she does, she will come back to him. He kisses her, and she leaves.
Chapter 15
That morning, Keating waits to see if Dominique will come. He has locked himself in his room and will
not open the door. He finally told his mother, and she told others, but Keating does not know what
else to say to anyone. Dominique comes, and Mrs. Keating is surprised to learn that there will not be
a honeymoon. When she learns that Dominique plans to move in, she offers to move out, but
Dominique graciously declines. Mrs. Keating realizes she is going to hate Dominique. The chief
designer from the firm calls, and Keating goes over to the office to speak to Guy.
Guy Francon congratulates him. Guy is especially happy because when he retires in a few years and
hands the firm over to Keating, it will seem right. Guy comes to dinner that night, but he is nervous
around his daughter. The whole night, guests drop in, and it is very late before Keating and
Dominique are alone. Dominique tells Keating it is time; they go into the bedroom. Afterwards,
Keating lies there, "his desire satisfied and left hungrier than ever by her unmoving body that had not
responded, not even in revulsion." He asked her whom she had slept with, and she answered,
"Howard Roark," but he thought she was joking.
The next morning Dominique finds white lilacs on the breakfast table, the gift of Ellsworth Toohey.
Keating is pleased, and Dominique invites him to dinner. He comes a few days later, and Keating
speaks about how happy he is, with the three of them together. Toohey philosophizes about groups of
three, the mystical connotations, the religious significance, and so forth. Toohey commends
Dominique on her "return to the fold." He reveals to Dominique that he knows how this came about
and then avers that she fell in love with Howard Roark but he apparently did not notice she existed,
which is why she turned against him and fell for Keating. She laughs and ironically tells him she
overestimated him. As Keating returns, Toohey brings up the project to rebuild the Stoddard Temple.
The temple is rebuilt by a group of architects and transformed into the Hopton Stoddard Home for
Sub-normal Children. The four architects--Keating, John Erik Snyte, Gordon L. Prescott, and an
unknown named Gus Webb--are all members of the Council of American Builders, which has recently
grown in popularity. They design by committee, and the result is a mix of styles and themes; the
building "was like a corpse hacked to pieces and reassembled." It takes longer to find the tenants,
who are chosen because they are the least likely to ever get better. When children from the slums try
to look into the beautiful and well-equipped playground, they are chased away.
Once a month Toohey leads tours through the home for rich benefactors. They readily open their
pocketbooks for to his other causes. Catherine Halsey gets a job to be in charge of the children's
occupational therapy, and she moves into the home. She is zealously devoted to her work and takes
extreme pride in the children's meager achievements. Toohey secretly buys the statue of Dominique.
Roark's office is one room again, and his client base has essentially dried up. The case has had
exactly the effect Toohey predicted. He continues to pay Stephen Mallory's rent and to take him to
frequent meals, telling Mallory to shut up and work. Austen Heller tries to help Roark, but Roark
explains that Mallory can work without clients while he cannot.
One day Roark finally goes to see the rebuilt temple. As Roark stands there, Toohey walks out.
Toohey tells him that he had hoped to be here when Roark finally showed up. Toohey tells him that he
understands Roark's work and that they now have a greater bond than if Toohey were a supporter of
it. He asks Roark to look at the building and tell him what he sees in it, but Roark does not see the
point. Toohey asks him to say what he thinks of him while they are alone. Roark merely replies, "But I
don't think of you." Toohey walks away.
Analysis
Just as architecture is used symbolically and thematically throughout the novel, particular buildings
play important roles. The Stoddard Temple is one of the most interesting symbols because it actually
represents one thing but then has another meaning forced upon it. Rand provides one of her most
detailed descriptions of any building throughout the novel:
The Temple was to be a small building of gray limestone. Its lines were horizontal, not the lines
reaching to heaven, but the lines of the earth. It seemed to spread over the ground like arms
outstretched at shoulder-height, palms down, in great, silent acceptance. It did not cling to the soil
and it did not crouch under the sky. It seemed to lift the earth, and its few vertical shafts pulled the
sky down. It was scaled to human height in such a manner that it did not dwarf man, but stood as a
setting that made his figure the only absolute gauge of perfection by which all dimensions were to be
judged. When a man entered this temple, he would feel space molded around him, for him, as if it
had waited for his entrance, to be completed ... It was a place where one would come to feel sinless
and strong, to find the peace of spirit never granted save by one's own glory.
This building represents Roark's belief in the perfection of the human being, perfect in its own right,
not through someone else's eyes. It also represents Rand's belief that the heroes of a society can lift
up everyone else through their achievements. This building makes an essentially capitalist argument
that by allowing some people room to be better, more successful, richer and stronger, everyone
becomes better, more successful, richer and stronger. The trouble, for elitists like Dominique, is that
the worse people are still worse. Roark, however, appreciates beauty and seeks perfection without
wasting effort despising the low.
In contrast to them both, the socialist view remains in Ellsworth Toohey's words. He testifies: "the two
essentials of the conception of a temple are a sense of awe and a sense of man's humility. We have
noted the gigantic proportions of religious edifices, the soaring lines, the horrible grotesques of
monster-like gods, or, later, gargoyles. All of it tends to impress upon man his essential insignificance,
to crush him by sheer magnitude, to imbue him with that sacred terror which leads to the meekness
of virtue." Toohey impresses upon the crowd that the purpose of a temple is to crush all people down
to the same small height, to show them they are all insignificant but at least all the same. In having
the courts and the public swallow Toohey's argument, Rand is clearly arguing that socialism and
similar theories are real threats to greatness among the public. In this world, the idea of equality is so
attractive to most people that they fail to realize that it ultimately lessens them all. (One might
compare Tocqueville's argument about the mediocrity that a democratic order inspires--see his
Democracy in America.) One might also see a socialistic brand of Christianity in Toohey's preferred
temple, while a purer form of Christianity does not case aside motivations for greatness and
perfection even while admitting humility and equality before God.
Of course, Toohey could not allow the original Temple to remain, because if enough people would
actually see it, the public might not be able to agree with Toohey so emphatically. The Stoddard Home
for Sub-normal Children has its own symbolic meaning, one much closer to Toohey's vision of the
ideal. It is designed by a committee of architects, three of whom have no real interest or passion for
the result. Toohey selects the fourth because he has "the loudest voice and the greatest self-
assurance," thereby assuring that the weakest member of the group will play the greatest role. The
resulting edifice is a hodge-podge of styles: Peter Keating at his very worst.
The "inmates" consist of sixty-five children who are the most "hopeless cases." Rand is clearly
contrasting these children with the "children from the slums nearby" who would "sneak into the park
of the Stoddard Home and gaze wistfully at the playrooms, the gymnasium, the kitchen behind the
big windows. These children had filthy clothes and smudged faces, agile little bodies, impertinent
grins, and eyes bright with a roaring, imperious, demanding intelligence." In Toohey's world, the
"hopeless cases" are far more deserving of help than those who might someday prove special or
extraordinary. The Stoddard Home stands as a monument to inferiority and self-abasement.
Stoddard's attempt to improve his moral standing will have no positive effect on anyone outside its
improvements to his own conscience.
Another inhabitant of the Stoddard Home, Catherine Halsey, makes an important transition in this
section. Halsey represented the fighting victim. She was as much under Ellsworth Toohey's sway as
Peter Keating or Hopton Stoddard, but something in her rebelled against his philosophy and his
advice. When she cries in her room, the night before she is supposed to be married to Peter Keating,
and she says "I'm not afraid of you, Uncle Ellsworth!" Toohey knows that for the moment at least, she
has thrown off his socialistic chains. Only through the coincidence of Dominique's actions does
Toohey's world successfully crush her. It is clear that she is crushed when she enters the home and
takes more pleasure out of the meanest achievement of the most pathetic child than she would out of
a true masterpiece. Toohey has finally convinced her that the proper path is to embrace the meanest,
lowest, basest parts of herself and of everyone around her. Even so, she takes pleasure in the
achievements rather than the failures.
Ironically, Dominique attempts the same path, but through different means and for a different end.
Dominique marries Peter because he is the most perfect example of the ideal of this imperfect world.
She hopes that by literally embracing him, she can learn to live, as Roark does, by recognizing a kind
of perfection in the incomplete. She claims to be punishing herself, but in every punishment she
seems to be acting on a principle. Perhaps, though, the idea is that by putting herself in a position of
suffering, she can see her moral choices all the more starkly in terms of individualism and suffering
versus genuine capitulation to the values of others. In any case, Roark suggests that she will learn
something after all and become able to return to him freely and as a better person than before.

Summary and Analysis of Part III, Chapters 1-9

Chapter 1
Gail Wynand stands at his window with a gun to his head. He tries to come up with something that
would give him a reason to die. He has not yet selected an architect for the Stoneridge development
and has avoided every architect in the city. Ellsworth Toohey advised him to choose Peter Keating.
Wynand, a notorious womanizer, thought that Toohey was telling him that Mrs. Keating would sleep
with him to acquire the commission for her husband, but Wynand was not interested. Toohey told him
that there would be a gift waiting in his home that night.
That evening Wynand has ended his relationship with his current mistress, a beautiful woman of high
social class. After she left, he opened a drawer, saw his gun, and picked it up because he suddenly
felt an interest in it. He decided to kill himself. His "lack of shock" when he thought about killing
himself made him want all the more to do it.
He tries to go over his own life to see if this will stop him. When he was twelve, he took over his
neighborhood gang by fighting three boys at once, one of whom had a knife, and by pulling off a
robbery that landed another gang in jail. Gail lived with his father in Hell's Kitchen. His mother was
dead. He had worked a series of jobs since childhood, and each time Gail would think of some way to
improve the business, he would be told that "he was not in charge." Eventually he quit.
He taught himself to read and write when he was five. He went to school, but he quit when the
teacher insisted on teaching at the pace of the slowest in the class rather than the brightest. He liked
to walk along Fifth Avenue looking at the wealthy people, wondering what made them different. One
day he stole a book of Herbert Spencer poems from a rich woman, and though he only understood a
quarter of it, he began to read voraciously, educating himself.
One night he was beaten very badly, and a saloon keeper left him lying bloody in the street. Years
later, Wynand drove him out of business and eventually to suicide. His father died when he was
sixteen, and he decided to go into the newspaper business when he realized that with newspapers he
could get into every home in the city. He went to the office of the Gazette and told the editor that he
was going to hang around, that he would do whatever they asked, and that they could start paying
him when they felt like it. Two years later he was an associate editor. At twenty-one, he left because
the paper was owned by men who were trying to destroy the career of the most honest man Wynand
had ever met, Police Captain Pat Mulligan. He went to another paper, whose editor he had great
respect for, and he was prepared to give them all the information they needed to take down the men
who ran the Gazette. He discovered that this editor had no more integrity than his own boss. He
decided that integrity did not exist. A year later another political gang bought the Gazette and made
him Editor-in-Chief. Two years later he had these men put in jail and took control of the paper, which
he renamed The Banner.
Wynand devoted his paper to printing exactly what the public wanted to hear. It "was permitted to
strain truth, taste and credibility, but never its readers' brain power." He made money in various
unsavory ways, often using the pages of his newspaper to destroy the competition. He also ruined
men who had absolutely no connection to him. By the age of thirty-five, his newspaper had become
an empire.
Wynand made his private life public, from his strings of mistresses to the appearance of his bedroom.
But there was one aspect of his life he did not share. He had a private art gallery which took up an
entire floor just below his penthouse. No one except the caretaker had ever been inside.
When Wynand was fifty-five, he found a new kind of game to play. He would find an eloquent writer
who supported important causes and seemed to truly care about the public. Then he bought him and
forced him to write utterly banal columns for the Banner. He paid a brilliant conductor to never
conduct another orchestra. He found brilliant and honest men everywhere and "forced" them to go
against their principles. If they refused, they found themselves going bankrupt, their lives collapsing
around them, until they accepted. One of these men committed suicide. Alvah Scarret thought he was
going too far. Ellsworth Toohey, in contrast, understood him perfectly.
At this point, Wynand finally puts down the gun, knowing he is safe if only because he needs to die for
a reason. He goes downstairs to get a drink. He sees Toohey's present in the living room and wonders
what it is. He gets some tools, opens it, and sees Stephen Mallory's sculpture of Dominique. He
contacts Toohey, who explains that he wanted to give it to Wynand because it is a sculpture of Mrs.
Peter Keating. Wynand tells him that this is a blunder because even if Mrs. Keating is as beautiful as
her sculpture, he would rather look at the sculpture than her. Wynand ultimately agrees to see her
since at least she will tell him the name of the accomplished sculptor. As Toohey departs, Wynand
tells him that whatever he is after could not possibly be worth losing this sculpture.
Chapter 2
Keating and Dominique are just returning from a party at Vincent Knowlton's. As they sit in front of
the fire, he thinks that everything looks like a stage set, even though it is real. He waits for
Dominique to start a conversation, and for a moment he cannot think of her addressing a single
isolated sentence to him in their entire marriage. He talks about Lois Cook's most recent book,
parroting remarks from the review in the Banner. When Dominique points this out, he stresses that he
did read the book. Each time Keating tries to start a discussion, Dominique simply agrees with him or
tells him what he clearly wants to hear. Keating sits there thinking that although everyone envies
him, something is terribly wrong.
Dominique had changed considerably since their marriage, having become almost everything Keating
thought he wanted. She was still completely unresponsive in bed, though. His mother moved out,
unable to stand Dominique's indifferent politeness. He does not know what she is doing wrong, but he
knows that he cannot stand to be alone with her, even after twenty months. He suggests going to a
movie, and she defers to his wish. He changes his mind, declaring that he wants to sit at home with
his wife.
Keating starts to tell his wife how beautiful he thinks she is, but he winds up telling her what everyone
else says about her. When she alludes to this, he stops. Then, he tells her about an idea he had, "all
by myself." He wants to move to the country and build a house. But it becomes apparent to both of
them that he never wanted to move to the country--he just wanted to do what everybody else did.
He shouts at her to express her own opinion for once. She offers him a selection of opinions: Gordon
Prescott's or Ellsworth Toohey's, for example. He stops, and he realizes that in their entire marriage
she has never expressed an opinion of her own. He tells her she is like a body without anything in it,
without any kind of soul. He asks her where it is, and she asks him right back.
She tells him that he is beginning to see that he does not want her or anyone else to be real; he just
wants them to help him act as if he is real. She explains, "people want nothing but mirrors around
them. To reflect them while they're reflecting too." Keating begins to cry; he gets on his knees and
puts his face in Dominique's lap. He tells her that he loves her and that she always makes him feel the
way one other person made him feel, and he hated that person but he loves her. Dominique makes
him admit that the person he is talking about is Howard Roark.
Dominique tells Peter that she married him because she has never been able to do anything halfway.
She tells him that she took something he never had, his "pretense" of "self-respect." Just as Keating
begins to break down and Dominique asks him to hold onto this feeling, the phone rings and Keating
rushes to answer it. Toohey is to come over.
As Keating relaxes and idly converses with Toohey, Toohey asks Keating what Roark is doing now,
and Keating comments that this time he is finished. Toohey says that since "rotten" people "suffer
though no fault of their own," they should "get a reward." Toohey asks about Stoneridge, and Keating
complains about Wynand. Toohey suggests that Keating send Dominique about the case, and he
finally admits that Wynand has already agreed to see her.
Chapter 3
Dominique meets Wynand in his office. She explains where and why the statue was made, and she
reminds him that he was away during the Stoddard Temple case. When he asks why she remembers
his whereabouts, she explains that he fired her during his absence. Only then does he learn that she
was Dominique Francon. She tells him that she had liked her job; he replies that he wishes she were
here to ask for her job back. She tells him that instead she is asking about Stoneridge for her
husband, and she will sleep with him if that is what it takes. She adds that she does not love her
husband, a "third-rate architect," and she does not want to sleep with him. Wynand says that he
understands her now, for she wants to "sell [herself] for the lowest motive to the lowest person [she]
can find"--like a man, she is demonstrating her contempt for someone through a sexual act. She
corrects him, saying that she is demonstrating her contempt for herself, and he counters that such a
quest for self-contempt can only mean she does not have it and will never get it. Wynand accepts her
offer. Dominique agrees that Wynand should now give his orders. He tells her that in ten days they
will depart for a two-month cruise. When they return, she will go back to her husband with the
contract for Stoneridge. He invites Dominique and Keating to have dinner with him that Monday.
Wynand arranges for a private viewing of Stephen Mallory's work and buys five pieces for more than
the asking price. At dinner, Wynand assures Keating that the commission is his. Keating is thrilled and
swears it will be his greatest achievement. Wynand talks about Keating's buildings and then about
Dominique's body, commenting that this is something he and Keating will soon have in common.
Keating is flustered, while Wynand insists that he likes to see how honor operates in other men.
Two days before they are set to sail, Wynand calls Dominique and asks her to come to his apartment.
She comes, and he takes her straight to his gallery. She spends several hours there, and they say
almost nothing. She asks him why he wanted her to see it, and he tells her he does not know.
Chapter 4
As Dominique steps onto Wynand's yacht, she asks him what its name, "I Do," means, knowing that
he has never answered this question. He immediately tells her that it is a reply to every person who
ever told him that he did not run things around here. On the boat Wynand shows Dominique to her
stateroom. She sits alone and looks out the porthole until the valet calls her to dinner. She thanks
Wynand for her time alone. When he explains that for him sailing is about getting away from places
rather than going to them, she agrees, and she comments that when she used to do that, people
called her a hater of mankind. He tells her that the "person who loves everybody and feels at home
everywhere is the true hater of mankind."
He explains that the man who truly hates mankind does not know how to love anyone in particular;
love is what one should feel when one looks at something like the statue of Dominique. They speak
easily and at length. Dominique notices how well-suited Wynand is to the luxury of their surroundings.
After dinner, they continue their conversation. They agree that they do not feel small when looking at
the ocean--they feel vast because man has conquered it. They feel the best when looking at the New
York skyline.
After a long while, Dominique asks him when they are "going below." He tells her they are not, and he
asks her to marry him. At first she cannot imagine doing it, because she cannot feel contempt for a
man who speaks just like she does. Then she remembers the Banner and the way it destroyed Roark.
She says yes. He is jubilant and tells her they will return to New York in a week. She will go to Reno
to get a divorce, and he will take care of her husband. She offers to sleep with him anyway, but he
insists on waiting until they are married, as strange as it seems given both of their histories.
Chapter 5
Back home, Wynand tells Keating that he is going to marry Dominique. He gives him a check for
$250,000 and the contract for Stoneridge. Keating says he might as well take what he can get.
Keating goes straight to the home of his new best friend and new designer, Neil Dumont. They invite
some other friends to go drinking. Keating pays more than he drinks, repeating over and over, "we're
friends, aren't we?"
Dominique packs her bags and goes to see Stephen Mallory. She has not seen Roark for twenty
months, but she visits Mallory occasionally. His studio is now beautifully furnished and decorated
thanks to Wynand's purchases. Mallory tells her, without her asking, that Roark is building a five-story
store in Clayton, Ohio. She asks him how Roark is. He tells her that Roark is the same--he thinks
Roark will never change. Mallory tells her that Roark does not ask about her, and Mallory does not tell
him that she visits.
Later, Keating asks Toohey whether helping others is really all that matters in the end, and Toohey
assures him it is. Toohey treats Keating roughly, teasing him, though he recognizes that Keating is
falling apart. At last, Keating tells him what has happened. At lunch the next day Toohey breaks the
news to Alvah, and in return for this notice, Toohey asks him to replace the current drama critic,
Jimmy Kearns, with Jules Fougler. Alvah is annoyed because he likes Kearns while Fougler is going to
ask for a lot of money, but he finally agrees.
Alvah goes to see Wynand, tentatively suggesting that he reconsider the marriage, but almost
immediately Wynand makes clear that "this conversation had better be stopped." Wynand also orders
that there will be absolutely no stories when they get married, nothing but the briefest
announcement.
On her train to Reno, Dominique looks out the window. She feels as if she has no destination, as if
she will sit on this train forever. Suddenly the train slows down, and she sees a sign that says
"Clayton." She remembers why she took this particular train. She seizes her things and jumps off the
train. She walks into town, and when she meets someone she asks for the site of Janer's new
department store. She walks through dark streets, feeling a deep sense of belonging. She reaches the
site and sees a light coming from the pit. Now she knows she will see him tonight, but she does not
feel ready. She hears the sound of steps and then sees Roark.
They simply start to talk. She says that this is the quarry again, but he disagrees. He tells her, "I love
doing it. Every building is like a person. Single and unrepeatable." She tells him it will be like this for
the rest of his life, and he replies that if it is he will not mind. He acknowledges that she is not
staying, that she is still afraid of "lunch wagons and windows." Dominique tells him that she will marry
Wynand, and he agrees that this man is worse than Peter Keating. Dominique takes his hand and
kisses it. She looks up and asks him to describe the room where he lives. She asks him to let her
spend the night, and he says no.
A man comes up from the site, and Roark goes to speak to him. When he returns, Dominique tells
him she wants to stay with him, here, forever. She would give up her money and he will give up
architecture; she cannot stand to see him doing this kind of thing when she knows what he has inside
of him. He tells her that he is not even tempted, and he would only do it to be cruel to her. She
agrees. She asks him just to talk to her for half an hour, and he does. He tells her there is a train
soon, and he walks her to the station. A piece of paper blows against Dominique, and without thinking
she starts to fold it up, to take it with her, but Roark grabs it and throws it away. They part without
saying a word. The train departs.
Chapter 6
Ike is just finishing a reading of his most recent play for Ellsworth Toohey, Lois Cook, Gus Webb,
Lancelot Clokey and Jules Fougler. For a few minutes everyone makes fun of Ike, talking about how
bad the play is, and even Ike agrees. Fougler announces that it is "a great play" because it is so
vulgar. Fougler explains that it is much more impressive for a drama critic to give a good review to a
bad play than to a good one.
Toohey adds that if millions of people think that a bad work is worth buying and reading and praising,
than it becomes suddenly unimpressive, even unmentionable, to have built a cathedral. Ike thanks
Toohey and Fougler for picking his "bum play" out of all the possible bum plays. Toohey tells Ike that
his play is useful. For example, he says, if he did not like Ibsen, he would convince everyone that
Ike's play was as good as Ibsen's, and soon there would be no room for Ibsen at the theatre. Peter
Keating enters, and Fougler comments that he hopes Keating will like Ike's play, because only real
human beings with big hearts will be able to appreciate this play. Keating feels that he is greater for
being in the presence of such creative, spiritual people, and his acknowledgement of their greatness
makes them feel great.
Over the past ten years, Henry Cameron's style of modernism slowly won the day, at least in
commercial structures. Most were swayed by ideas coming from Germany, which altered Cameron's
point that "a building creates its own beauty, and its ornament is derived from the rules of its themes
and its structure" to "a building needs no beauty, no ornament and no theme."
Toohey writes a column about architectural modernism, commenting that modern architecture has
finally been demanded by the masses and has therefore received mass approval. He explains how it
glorifies the common man and the worker.
When the announcement is made that Peter Keating will design Stoneridge, there is a lot of publicity,
and Keating tries unsuccessfully to feel happy. He does not have the energy to do anything with it, so
he turns it over to his designers.
After Dominique has been gone a month, Guy Francon announces his retirement. He knows about the
divorce, but he has no ill-will towards Keating. Keating is left in charge of the firm. He selects Neil
Dumont as a partner. Keating forgets to go to the party celebrating the new leadership. Stoneridge is
the last contract the firm signs.
Chapter 7
When Dominique steps off the train in New York, Wynand is there to meet her. He says they are going
to a judge to be married, but she tells him she wants a real wedding with all the trimmings. He thinks
for a moment and tells her it will take a week. He takes her to a hotel and tells her he will pick her up
there in a week.
They are married by a judge in front of six hundred people. She notices that Wynand, who had wished
to be married in private, had staged exactly the ceremony he would have if he had wished to be
married in a lavish way. She wears a black dress. She thinks that if she were marrying Roark like this,
he would stand the way that Wynand does. Dominique suggests to Wynand that they leave.
At his apartment, she comments that they had the wedding he wanted in spite of it all, and he agrees.
She thanks him for keeping her out of the Banner. She asks him if they are going anywhere, and he
replies that they will not unless she wants to. She does not. They proceed to Wynand's bedroom. It
has been knocked down and rebuilt. Instead of a room made entirely of windows, it is now a "solid
vault without a single window." Unlike Keating, when Wynand notices Dominique's unresponsiveness,
he tells her that it "won't do," and she feels herself responding, knowing that she would not be able to
keep this barrier between them.
In Scarret's office, Toohey comments on the thousands of letters of outrage and criticism that have
come flying into the Banner office since Wynand's marriage. Scarret comments that a magazine has
been saying some funny things about Wynand recently, calling him things like "the pirate of
capitalism." Toohey laughs it off, but Scarret presses the issue, mentioning that he heard that Toohey
got Ron Pickering to donate $100,000 to the New Frontiers to keep it from closing. Toohey claims that
that was just to help out Pickering and that he cannot tell a magazine not to say anything, which
Scarret finds extremely unlikely.
Changing the subject, Toohey confides that he recently got Mitchell Layton to buy a portion of the
Banner. Scarret remembers that Mitchell Layton is practically a communist even if he is worth a
quarter of a billion dollars. Toohey reassures him that being involved with a conservative paper like
the Banner will cure Layton of those notions. He tells Scarret not to reveal this to Wynand.
Chapter 8
For two weeks Dominique and Wynand do not leave the penthouse. Wynand is attentive to her every
wish. He never invites people over, and he never talks about his work. Dominique knows that he
never wants her to leave but that he also knows he would not stop her. He prevents her going out as
often as possible, bringing things to her instead. As soon as Dominique realizes how happy this makes
her, she starts going out and making Wynand invite people in. Wynand demands only one thing of
Dominique: he is going to keep her completely separate from the Banner.
Scarret and Toohey notice that he is working harder than ever before. Scarret is relieved, but Toohey
cautions him that Wynand's happiness is the worst thing that could have happened.
Sally Brent, one of the Banner's most popular columnists, decides to ignore Wynand's order. She
gains admittance to the penthouse in her usual manner. Dominique gives "the exact kind of story
Sally had dreamed about," telling her all about Mr. Wynand's favorite foods and his habits and that it
was just a dream come true to marry him. Sally goes back to the paper, writes up the story, and
convinces Scarret to run up a proof copy and put it on Wynand's desk. When he sees it, he has Sally
fired. That night at dinner he throws the proof copy at Dominique. When she sees it she laughs. Brent
goes to work for the New Frontiers. She writes an article about Wynand's social life that "no pulp
magazine would have accepted."
Wynand has a diamond necklace specially made for Dominique. She comments that the most sordid
thing about his business is that they pander to a public that likes to read about things like housewives
killing their husbands' mistresses. She suggests that these housewives make this necklace possible.
Wynand counters with his belief that he is able to take the housewife and transform her into this
diamond necklace.
The next night he notices that the decoded copy of the telegram in which he fired her--"Fire the Bitch.
G.W."--is stuck to the corner of the mirror. He does not remove it, and she believes that she cannot.
That spring he goes away for the first time. When he returns a week later, he is pleasantly surprised
to see her waiting at the airport.
When she tells him they are going out to see the play No Skin Off My Nose, he laughs as if she is
joking. She says quite seriously that his own drama critic said it was not to be missed. He
immediately agrees. The play has been a hit for months, though its title had to be changed. "The
things being done on the stage were merely trite and crass, but the undercurrent made them
frightening." The audience is relieved when someone's laughter or clapping hints that they should
laugh or clap. They know that they must like the play, for Fougler had made clear "that anyone
unable to enjoy this play was, basically, a worthless human being."
When Dominique and Wynand arrive home after the play, Dominique finds herself again thinking that
"this play was the creation of the Banner and that the Banner had "destroyed the Stoddard Temple in
order to make room for this play." She thinks that God and the Devil are fighting each other, only the
Devil is not so large as everyone thought, instead "many and smutty and small." Wynand interrupts
her reverie, worried about her.
She asks him how he feels, having seen his crowning achievement. She tells him that he should
worship this play in any way he can, until he cuts her off. She tells him to talk, and he admits, angrily,
that the play made him feel sick, but that it was all right, because she was with him, so "it was a pain
that went down only to a certain point and then"--Dominique remembers Roark saying these words,
and she screams at Wynand to shut up. She says that the Banner "can't be paid for." She tells him
that neither of them has a right to say that "the pain ... stops at a certain point." She tells him that
tonight she felt like she was committing treason, and he, surprised, tells her he felt the same way. He
tells her not to try to share his guilt, and he asks her what happened, but she will not tell him.
Chapter 9
Dominique stands on the yacht, where she and Wynand are taking a summer cruise. He says that love
is exceptional, and that is the only way for her to have an "exceptional" relationship with someone. He
adds that she is actually in love with integrity, but he has never had any integrity. She responds with
Dwight Carson, and he agrees, telling her that destroying men like that is like a "sex urge" with him.
The only reason he does not want to destroy her is because he feels in love with her. He explains that
he does it for the feeling of power, the knowledge that there is no one who cannot be controlled.
Dominique wants to know why he is telling her this, and he explains that he wants to be completely
honest with her, and here on the boat things do not feel quite real.
One night in late fall, they stand looking out over the city, and they talk about the heroic in man,
which Wynand does not believe in. Wynand talks about how skyscrapers make him feel, then
mentions that the one thing he still wants to accomplish is to build a Wynand Building and move the
Banner there. He tells her that he was born in Hell's Kitchen and that when he was sixteen he chose
this life for himself. She looks at him, trying to understand how this is Gail Wynand, the man who
created the Banner.
She tells him to fire Toohey. She tells him that she thought that Toohey was what the world deserves
and that she never imagined trying to save the Banner from Toohey, but that is what she is doing
now. She is positive that Toohey wants to take over the Banner. He laughs at her, insisting that
Toohey is far too small and not even popular enough to worry about. She insists that this is the
"special nature of his popularity" and that "there really is a secret to the core of evil and he has it."
She believes that he wants to take over the world. Wynand laughs at her again, and then he tells her
seriously to drop the subject.
One night the way Wynand looks at her makes her remember the words Roark used when describing
his love for her: "I've given you ... my ego and my naked need." She tells him that someday she will
ask his forgiveness for having married her, but he tells her he does not care why she married him.
She says that the thing she had wanted to lose, she has given to him instead, and she wants to
understand how they are alike, to think of the name. He tells her that he should be interested, but he
is not. He loves her so much that nothing matters, not her love or even her indifference. He adds that
with a felling like this, it is the desire that matters, not the object. In response, Dominique reaches
up, takes the telegram from the mirror, and throws it away.
Analysis
This section of the novel contains an important shift of focus from Peter Keating to Gail Wynand.
Keating is Rand's model of an inferior man, and he actually has grown weaker throughout the novel.
In this section he is literally destroyed, so much so that Wynand takes his place as Roark's antithesis.
Interestingly, in the one scene where Dominique almost literally destroys him, when she manages to
strip him of all pretense, Keating has a chance to be saved. One can imagine that if Toohey had not
called at that moment, Keating might have found a way to strip away some of the mirrors and fill in
part of the empty space. This possibility is present in his earlier character, for Roark used to tell him
that he did not always do terrible work, and at one time Keating was able to recognize that Roark's
words of praise meant far more than any speech in his honor. But Toohey does call, and Keating is
destroyed because the people he relied on to help hold up his identity--Toohey and Dominique--are
gone.
Keating's destruction helps the reader understand why Toohey wants Dominique and Wynand to
meet; he hopes that Dominique will do to Wynand what she did to Keating. Since Toohey had often
had occasion to see Dominique and Keating together, he knew that Dominique constantly reminded
Keating of how small and unimportant he was. Keating's despair drove him even closer to Toohey, so
Toohey could remind him that we are all equally small and worthless. Toohey knows that Dominique
views the Banner as the epitome of man's sordid nature, and he believes that Dominique will be able
to reflect that back on Wynand until he can no longer stand to see the disgust in her eyes.
Toohey's plan fails first because Wynand actually falls in love with Dominique and marries her;
second, because Dominique cannot reconcile Wynand with the Banner. Wynand is an intricate and
difficult character. It seems clear that the reader should have as much difficulty grasping him as
Dominique does. Wynand could have been a "real" man, but he has exchanged the proper relationship
of means to ends. His youth made him desire power above all else, but he does not realize that his
power comes almost solely from agreeing with the mob. The Wynand papers tell everyone what they
already want to hear. Wynand has never made use of that power to accomplish anything, and it is
uncertain whether he would ever be able to persuade the masses to think or believe something they
do not already think or believe. That is why Wynand does not understand Toohey. Toohey does not
have as much power as he does, but Toohey still can successfully use his power to achieve things that
he desires.
This section of the novel also continues to present components of Rand's aesthetic theory. Rand
provides multiple examples of inferior art in The Fountainhead, but she provides none so vividly as the
No Skin play. She barely mimics two lines of Lois Cook's novels, and she provides no pictures of Peter
Keating's buildings, but she renders whole paragraphs from this play. This play represents two values
which Rand critiques in the novel. One is a lack of reason, an embrace of the absurd. The second-to-
last line of the play expresses its general philosophy, and Ike chooses to follow it with a piece of
useless commentary: Jake asks for "a stamp with a picture of George Washington on it." The
absurdity of the last line renders the one before it pointless. Whatever its own problems, the play
cannot be sincere in its commentary on life if it chooses to denigrate its own central idea in such a
manner. If anything, a work of art must be consistent in its central theme, even if that theme is
complex and difficult.
Of course, the central idea of this play is the very notion which the novel rejects--that all men are
literally equal, not just to each other but to the meanest creature on earth, and that happiness can
only come through loving the meanest, lowest thing even more than the highest. When Dominique
forces Wynand to sit through this play and then forces him to accept it as his stepchild, she is
attempting to make a mockery of his love for her. Wynand claims that he will never reject or disagree
with anything that is in the Banner--so, if that is true, he must admit that his love for Dominique can
be no greater than his love for Alvah Scarret or Ellsworth Toohey.
By acting in this manner, Dominique is attempting to destroy Wynand, just as Toohey hoped she
would. But Dominique's marriage to Wynand is very different from her marriage to Peter Keating.
Wynand is actually dangerous to her. She has a hard time seeing the Banner in him all the time.
When she forces herself to, such as on the evening of the play, she does not get the joy she expects
out of forcing Wynand to look upon his own smallness. Instead, she is forced to see both Wynand's
smallness and his potential for greatness. When Wynand says that the pain she causes him "goes
down only so far," she is reminded of Roark, and she sees both how similar and how different the two
men are.
Dominique will never be able to transform Wynand into the kind of man Howard Roark is because
Wynand lacks integrity. Wynand himself admits that he lacks integrity, and he recognizes that
Dominique is in love with it. However heavy-handed the point is, Rand represents integrity as a
central component of a man or woman who lives correctly. Like a work of art, the essence of a person
should be self-consistent. Yet, Wynand is clearly the character who could have been Roark if he could
only have taken the inferiority of the world less personally. In this, the person to whom Wynand is
most similar is Dominique. Dominique sees and fears this similarity, for when she forces Wynand to
see his own smallness, she also raises serious doubts whether she ever will be able to do as Roark
demands and accept the presence of the perfect in an imperfect world.
Summary and Analysis of Part IV, Chapters 1-5
Chapter 1
A young boy who has just graduated from college is cycling though the countryside. He is thinking
worriedly about his future, for at school he learned many things about the importance of self-sacrifice
and working towards a common goal, but he did not find these things very inspiring. Suddenly he
comes upon a valley, and looking down, he sees a town spread out, but it is like no town he has ever
seen. It is as beautiful as a symphony. A man approaches, and he explains to the boy that it is a
summer resort that is about to open. The boy thanks him and rides away, suddenly full of "the
courage to face a lifetime."
Roark does not understand how he had gotten to build this summer resort. In the fall of 1933 he had
received a call from Mr. Caleb Bradley. As soon as Roark saw him, he thought he would never get a
job from this man. Then Bradley invited him to make a presentation to the board. Roark did so, and
again he thought there was no way they would accept it. He told them that Monadnock Valley should
be a summer resort of private homes for the middle class. It should have many private swimming
pools, tennis courts, and secluded houses. He told them he could do this very cheaply and that there
was nothing else like it available. They approved the project. Roark remembered the Stoddard Temple
and made Bradley initial every drawing he finished. Roark worked for eighteen months, rehiring his
old draftsmen, joined by Mike and Stephen Mallory. None of them noticed the discomfort of their
working conditions; they only thought about the job to be done. When Bradley came to visit the site,
Mallory grew afraid. He told Roark, "it's the Stoddard Temple, again" and Roark agreed, but he said
they could not worry about it.
Just as Roark finishes the job, he receives word from Kent Lansing that they could finally finish the
Aquitania. He leaves for New York immediately. Despite a lack of advertisements, every house is
rented for that summer, and by October it is fully booked for the next year. One day Mallory rushes
into Roark's office and explains that the whole thing was a scheme. The board sold 200% of the
shares and found the worst architect they could so that there would be no profits to divide among the
shareholders. Now they are ruined because they have made so much money. Mallory is furious, but
Roark is amused. Mallory continues to shout about how this scheme could only exist in this twisted
world, until finally Roark shouts, "When will you stop thinking about that? About the world and me? ...
When will Dominique?" They never speak about Dominique, and Mallory, helpless, asks when Roark
will stop thinking about her. Roark tells him to be quiet.
The Monadnock Valley scheme results in a scandal, and several jail sentences are handed down.
Austen Heller writes an editorial about "greatness [reaching] us through fraud." Suddenly Roark is
famous, even if only one-tenth of the people talking about him understand his work. Ellsworth Toohey
writes an article damning him and claiming that the orchestrators of the fraud should be pardoned
because at least they recognized Roark as the worst possible architect. Despite this taunt, Roark
continues to get work. In 1936 Roark is invited to be one of eight architects to design the buildings for
a World's Fair. He tells them that he would happily design the fair alone, but he does not collaborate.
They are flabbergasted, and he rejects their proposition. Keating is appointed the head of the group of
architects who will design the fair. Roark moves into an office at the top of the Cord Building, where
he can see his other buildings from the windows. One day he walks into his office, and his secretary
tells him excitedly that Wynand wants to see him the next day at 3:00 pm.
Chapter 2
Roark arrives at the office of the Banner, where it looks "as if everything in that building were run
by ... control boards in the hands of an authority aware of every motion." Wynand notices the time
and remembers he has an appointment with an architect in a few moments. As he waits, he thinks
happily of the row of buttons on the side of his desk that directly or indirectly control the workings of
the entire building. When Roark walks into Wynand's office, each man loses his sense of reality for a
moment, conscious only of this other man. Completely unintentionally, Wynand tells Roark that he
does not think he would want to work for him; Roark immediately replies that he does. Wynand tells
him this is the first thing he has ever built for himself. Roark comments that this is because he is
unhappy, and he explains that Wynand is unhappy because "his life has not been what he wanted."
Wynand acknowledges that this is true. He has never spoken like this to another human being.
Wynand explains that he wants Roark to build him a house in the country. He tells Roark about his
wife, and Roark says only that he met her once. He explains that he picked Roark by walking around
the city and asking who designed buildings that he liked. They all had been designed by Roark.
Wynand wants a house that is something like a prison, so perfect and luxurious that Dominique will
never want to leave it, for he is "desperately in love" with her. Wynand offers to show him the site
tomorrow. He wants the house by summer, and he will pay whatever it takes. Roark agrees to the
commission and explains that his only condition is that once Wynand agrees to the drawings no
changes can be made. Wynand immediately agrees. Wynand's conditions are that there be no
publicity and Roark not release any pictures to the press—apart from that, Wynand promises that the
Banner will be Roark’s personal publicity machine. Roark tells him he does not want any publicity
anyway, which Wynand finds amusing. When Roark is gone, Wynand realizes that "for the first time in
his life he had spoken to a man without feeling the reluctance, the sense of pressure, the need of
disguise he had always experienced when he spoke to people." He asks his secretary to have all the
information they have on Roark sent to his office.
Alvah Scarret interrupts Toohey at work, who tries to brush him off, but Scarret is insistent and tells
him that Roark was just in Wynand's office. Surprised, Toohey laughs. Scarret wonders if it will be
embarrassing to Toohey if Wynand hires Roark to do a building, but then he admits that he actually
thinks it is a good thing. He tells Toohey that he thinks Roark might be another Dwight Carson—
Wynand might be restored to his old self if he successfully destroys Roark. Toohey comments that it
really does not matter because Wynand is no longer completely in charge of the Banner.
When a boy brings the clippings about Roark to Wynand, he is surprised to see so many, and the boy
explains that "it's the Stoddard trial." Then Wynand remembers. He reads through every single
clipping, cuts out the picture of Roark in front of the Enright, and then sits for a long time listening to
the hum of the printers spitting out the next edition of the Banner.
Chapter 3
Roark and Wynand are at Wynand's site. For a moment they discuss the site, then Wynand falls silent
while Roark looks around. Finally, Wynand asks Roark why he would work for him after the Stoddard
Temple affair. Wynand reminds Roark what they called him and adds that he "stands by every one of
those descriptive terms … by every word printed in the Banner." Roark explains that he "can't pretend
an anger [he doesn't] feel." He adds that Wynand does not know what to do because it hurts Wynand
to know that he has made Roark suffer, and what frightens him even more is the knowledge that
Roark has not really suffered at all. After a while, Roark insists that they speak no more of the
Stoddard Temple situation.
Wynand asks Roark about his childhood, unsurprised that it is very similar to his own. The only
difference that Wynand discovers is that Roark did not "drive the anger back inside of [himself], and
store it, and decide to let [himself] be torn to pieces if necessary, but reach the day when [he would]
rule those people and all people and everything around [him]." Wynand is still dwelling on the
Stoddard Temple and seems to be reaching his breaking point. Wynand says he needs to get back to
the city, and they drive back at about ninety miles an hour. He permits Roark to visit the site anytime
and lets him know that he can get all the information he needs from Wynand's office, but Roark is not
to contact him until Roark has the first drawings ready.
A month later the drawings are done. Wynand is impressed and says he wants "to make a special
deal." He promises again that he will build the house exactly as designed, and then he will put Roark
in charge of every building that Wynand builds in the country. He also threatens Roark, claiming that
he could make it so that Roark would never build another thing in the entire country. Wynand
demands that when Roark works for him, he will "design ... commercial structures—as the public
wishes commercial structures to be designed. You'll build Colonial houses, Rococo hotels and semi-
Grecian office buildings. You'll exercise your matchless ingenuity within forms chosen by the taste of
the people." Roark replies that he is happy to accept. He takes a piece of letterhead and re-sketches
Wynand's house "with Colonial porches, a gemrel roof, two massive chimneys, a few little pilasters, a
few porthole windows. It was not a parody, it was a serious job of adaptation in what any professor
would have called excellent taste." Wynand responds with horror, but Roark tells him to "shut up" and
not try giving him any more "architectural suggestions." Wynand begins to laugh, but he does not
sound happy. Suddenly calling him Howard again, Wynand tells Roark that he had really meant to go
through with it. Roark says that he understands but that he knew he could trust Wynand’s integrity.
Wynand is not so sure. He asks Roark to have dinner with him and his wife that evening, and Roark
accepts the invitation.
Chapter 4
When Wynand arrives home that night, Dominique comments that he looks nearly happy. He
responds that he feels "thirty years light" after meeting a man. Without explaining, he tells Dominique
how happy he is about their marriage. He tells her he has a present for her, their house. He shows
her the drawings, and she immediately knows they are Roark's. For a moment she feels violated, as if
Wynand has caught her in bed with Roark. Wynand can tell she likes them, but he is oddly concerned
with the fact that Dominique seems to have hated him. He mentions her defense of him at the
Stoddard Trial and the fact that she posed for the statue. She tells Wynand that she does not hate
Roark. He notes that Roark is coming for dinner. She is momentarily shocked but leaves to dress.
Sitting across from Roark at the table, Dominique feels as if this scene were inevitable. They speak as
if they are barely acquaintances. Wynand discusses how "strange" it is that he, the most "offensively
possessive man on earth," does not really mind that the house will always in a sense be Roark's.
Roark counters him by explaining that anything someone responds to the way that Wynand responds
to Roark's houses belongs to that person. That ownership does not interfere with anyone else's
because it is a personal affirmation. Wynand likes the idea that he owns Roark's other buildings as
well. Dominique comments that Wynand owns the Stoddard Temple as well. As the discussion
continues, Dominique cannot stop thinking how close Roark is to her, yet acting almost as if she does
not exist. Underneath her appearance, she is almost hysterical.
Dominique hardly gets through dinner. She feels that it is impossible that she will ever live in the new
house. After Roark leaves, she comments that he reminds her of Dwight Carson, but Wynand tells her
to "forget Dwight Carson." Five days later, Wynand shows up at Roark's office without an
appointment. Roark immediately invites him in. Wynand explains that there is no reason for his visit—
he just felt like seeing Roark. Once again Wynand talks about his past and asks Roark about his, and
once again there are small, important differences. Wynand tells him that he has been thinking a lot
about his past since he met him, and he likes to think that "[they] started in the same way." He
notices a copy of the Banner and is surprised to learn that Roark has been reading it for the last
month out of curiosity. They talk about Roark's rejection of the World's Fair committee, and Wynand
complains about having to give those kinds of people free advertising.
Wynand tells Roark about a kitten he had when he was just starting to work on the Gazette. The
kitten would make him feel much better because it was "clean and free." He laughs because he is
comparing Roark to a kitten. Roark agrees to join him for dinner, and Wynand calls Dominique to tell
her he will not be home. Dominique has spent the last five days waiting and fighting her desire to go
to him. She knows that she has to wait until he comes to her. The next day Wynand calls Toohey into
his office and tells him that he is never to mention Roark in his column again. Toohey agrees but not
deferentially, commenting that he does not need "to write about Mr. Roark at present."
Chapter 5
As Wynand looks over a proof copy of the Banner, he thinks of Roark, which makes it easier to deal
with the sickliness of the stories and the meaninglessness of the advertisements. He knows that it is
easier "because it hurts so much" to be involved in it all.
Later, after Roark has again dined with Dominique and Wynand, the men sit alone in Wynand's study.
Wynand notes that Roark's existence is a joke on everyone else. Over the following weeks, Wynand
and Roark spend a lot of time together. They share meals or visit the site. One day Wynand drives to
the site alone and considers that he is happy with his life. He notices that it is almost springtime. He
sees Roark standing in the unfinished house, and he decides that Roark should always stand in just
this way. Later, when they speak, Wynand asks Roark if he has ever been in love. Roark replies that
he still is. Wynand avers that it is a terrible lie that "happiness is impossible on earth." Roark
responds by tearing a branch off of a tree and telling Wynand that making something out of such a
branch is "the meaning of life."
Dominique's entire being revolves around "remain[ing] controlled ... be[ing] patient." She realizes
that Roark is helping her to understand Wynand. She accepts the fact that right now Roark belongs to
Wynand more than he belongs to her. She accepts his presence in their lives, but she also knows that
this is the hardest thing Roark could have asked her to do. She does not see Roark alone, and she
does not visit the incomplete house. Wynand asks her to forgive him this "obsession," explaining that
through knowing Roark he somehow loves her more. Dominique asks him what Roark is to him—"in
the nature of a shrine?"—but Wynand replies, "In the nature of a hair shirt."
Analysis
Gail Wynand is one of the only characters, perhaps the only one, who ever disturbs Howard Roark's
composure. He is the only person Roark has ever come close to hating. His strong feelings are
certainly understandable; the Banner represents the forces that destroyed Henry Cameron and that
are trying to destroy Roark. But it seems clear that Roark's disturbance tells the reader more about
Wynand's character than about Roark's, for Wynand is not the kind of man with whom Roark can be
angry. Roark discovers just as Dominique did that it is hard to reconcile Wynand with the contents of
the Banner. Roark thus discovers another ally in the unlikeliest of places.
When Wynand makes a half-hearted attempt to destroy Roark, for a moment he seems more like the
public image of himself than the person he knows he ought to be. When he insists that he is unhappy
that Roark held out against the criticism, this suggests that he is clinging to the part of himself that
created the Banner; he is not ready to let that part of himself go. Roark is defeating him because
Roark is the first person Wynand has ever met who can see the other part of him, the part that wants
nothing to do with the Banner or with men like Toohey. Roark maneuvers with Wynand, using this
information to inspire Wynand to become better. The men who Wynand destroyed in the past may
well have been good, true men. They may have had impeccable integrity. None of them, however,
could look at Wynand and see anything but the mask that created the Banner. Roark’s virtue makes
Wynand want to focus on his own virtue and makes Wynand feel shame in the huge ways he
continues to fall short.
Wynand's continued references to his past, and the comparisons he makes between his and Roark's
childhoods, provide a possible explanation for Rand's decision to include detailed descriptions of
Wynand's and Toohey's childhoods but not Roark's. Both Toohey and Wynand had a capacity for
greatness apparent since childhood. Wynand, like Roark, worked hard from a very young age. He took
pleasure in work, and when he decided what he would do with his life, he saw it in terms of a great
and long labor with a tremendous reward. In contrast, Toohey hid from work behind his intellectual
gifts. His first job involved directing others toward work but never doing any real work himself.
Neither Toohey nor Wynand seems to have grown past the maturity level of himself as a child. It is
unnecessary for the reader to learn about Roark's childhood; whatever he did and whatever he was
will be part of the wholeness of his character. But Toohey and Wynand are not wholes; Toohey is
hollow and Wynand is fractured. Revealing details about their respective childhoods underscores the
idea that only good foundations can lead to great things.
The Fountainhead is a book of triangles. Consider Peter Keating, Dominique Francon, and Ellsworth
Toohey, for example. Or Keating, Dominique, and Catherine Halsey. Or Roark, Wynand, and Toohey.
The most important triangle consists of Howard Roark, Dominique Francon, and Gail Wynand. Roark
desperately wants both Dominique and Wynand to understand what he understands, which allows him
both to live in the world and to live apart from it. Dominique recognizes that the three of them belong
together, for in their present situation, these times are the happiest that can exist for all of them.
Despite Dominique's torment otherwise, she knows that her endurance is a gift of love, not only for
Roark but for Wynand as well. By allowing this triangle to exist, Dominique pays for her marriage. She
earns Wynand's unconscious forgiveness by giving him this gift.
Furthermore, this triangle gives Dominique a chance to understand things about Wynand she could
never understand when they are alone. By seeing him with Roark, she hopes to be able to name the
thing that she and Wynand have in common. It should already be clear to the reader that when
Dominique understands how she and Wynand are alike, she will be able to live as Roark wants her to
live. The three share a true virtue focused on some kind of strident goodness, a kind of full freedom
and independence. When Dominique understands Wynand, perhaps even when she can love him,
Dominique will finally be able to leave him.

Summary and Analysis of Part IV, Chapters 6-10

Chapter 6
Ellsworth Toohey speaks about how freedom and compulsion go hand-in-hand and says that "only by
accepting total compulsion can we achieve total freedom." His host, Mitchell Layton, shrieks
agreement. He talks about how society would be more beautiful if it were controlled like a "folk
dance." Homer Slottern, who owns three department stores, comments that "it's spiritual values that
count." The discussion continues with comments thrown in by Jessica Pratt, Slottern's sister-in-law,
and Eva Layton, Mitchell Layton's wife. At one point they talk about art; the best artists express the
ideal of collectivism.
Layton comments that the Banner is slipping and that it was a bad investment, but Toohey tells him
to hold on just a little longer. Eventually Layton becomes almost hysterical as he complains that
Wynand thinks he is great because he was born in Hell's Kitchen—but Layton has had to overcome
much more than that, though nobody ever notices him. Toohey finally calms him down by telling him
it is degrading for him to compare himself with Wynand. As Toohey walks home he wishes he could
still talk to Dominique about his successes.
Chapter 7
Peter Keating sits in his office as a painter departs. The firm of Keating and Dumont is now only one
floor. The "March of the Centuries" failed, though Keating still does not know how. The committee of
architects had worked well together, but the critics had hated the buildings. Still that did not explain
why Keating was failing while other architects who had worked on the fair were doing so well. Gordon
L. Prescott was the leading architect of the day and the head of the now powerful Council of American
Builders. Keating does not understand, especially because he knows that Prescott and Gus Webb are
such bad architects that even he cannot "suspend the evidence of his eyes."
He had lowered expenses by closing most of the office. He is now fat and very unattractive. At his
request, his mother moved back in. One day his mother suggests that he marry Catherine Halsey and,
practically crying, he tells her to drop it. About one weekend a month Keating sneaks away to a shack
in the woods where he tries to paint, remembering his childhood dreams. He knows he is no good, but
it feels good all the same.
Keating tries not to think of Toohey, who gave "March of the Centuries" such a bad review. But one
day Neil Dumont forces him to think of Toohey, telling him that he needs to use his connections to
Toohey to try to get Cortlandt Homes, a lucrative government housing contract. Unhappily, Keating
agrees to see Ellsworth. When Keating arrives at Toohey's apartment, Toohey is dressed in a garish
set of silk pajamas and a silk bathrobe, complaining about how tired he is. He comments that Keating
is getting fat, and Keating insists that he has not changed since he built the Cosmo-Slotnick Building,
but Toohey does not take the hint.
Keating turns to the other people Toohey has helped become successful. Toohey's responses continue
to confuse Keating. He finally bursts out and asks why Toohey "dropped" him and why he always
helps Gus Webb instead. Toohey replies that Keating never understood that Toohey is not an
individualist. The whole reason he fought against Roark and for Keating was so that no one would be
irreplaceable—so that there would be room for men like Webb. Keating snaps that he failed with
regard to Roark. Toohey brushes this off, saying that he is still dealing with Roark. Keating bleats that
Roark is designing Wynand's home and that they are the best of friends, but Toohey brushes this off
as well.
At last, Keating shouts that he wants to design Cortlandt Homes. Toohey admits that he has already
tried to get it for Webb and Prescott, but they cannot do what the project demands. If Keating can
design rental units that can be rented for fifteen dollars per month, Keating will have the project.
Keating goes to the office and shrugs off Dumont's help. He tries to sketch but can do nothing. Finally,
he calls Roark's secretary and makes an appointment.
Chapter 8
At Roark's office, Keating calmly tells Roark that he is a parasite and cannot change, but he has been
given one last chance to hold on to his professional success, Cortlandt Homes, and he is asking Roark
to design it and to let Keating put his name on it. Roark says he will think about it and that Keating
should return the next night to hear the answer. Keating is shocked and full of gratitude, but Roark
says not to thank him and sends him away.
The next day Keating comes to Roark's apartment in Enright House. Roark tells him that his first
condition is that he has to try to understand Roark's reason for doing this. He tells Keating to give him
a reason for doing it. First Keating offers him the fee, then the fact that Roark would be saving
Keating, but Roark says these are not good reasons. Finally, Keating suggests, "Because you will love
designing it"—and this is the right answer. Roark continues to help Keating understand that he wants
to design the housing project not because he wants to help the poor but because it is an interesting
project. He actually thinks that there is something wrong with the idea of building beautiful
apartments and then saying that only the very poor can live in them, forcing the slightly less poor into
even worse housing than they inhabited before. Anyway, all he really cares about is designing the
building. Roark tells him that he wants this project but what he wants most of all is to see his design
go up exactly as he has designed it. That is all that Keating can offer him; it is a "private, egotistical
motive." Keating says he understands, and Roark cautions him that it is going to be a terribly difficult
project.
Roark draws up two copies of a brief contract which they both sign; he explains that when the project
is finished he will mail his copy to Keating and Keating may burn them both. Keating thinks for a few
moments and then says, "You're getting more than I am, Howard." Roark is very happy that he
understands this. Before he leaves, Keating asks Roark to do him one last favor. He takes six
paintings out of his bag and shows them to Roark. Roark looks at them gently for a long time, and
then he tells Keating that "it's too late." Keating nods and departs.
Chapter 9
Wynand, Roark, and Dominique sit on the grass in front of Wynand's home, lazily discussing the
house. Dominique has been living in the house for a month. Wynand noticed immediately that it is as
if the house has been designed for Dominique, and it fulfills exactly what he desired for it. Dominique
knows that she belongs to Roark more in this house than she did outside of it. Roark is the only
person Wynand invites to their home. The weekend visits are the hardest for Dominique, but she
survives them.
One morning she finally sees him alone, just for a moment. She rose early and was standing outside.
He came out of the house, on his way to the lake for a swim. He saw her and they paused for a
moment. He then continued on his way. Now, Wynand is telling Roark to go to sleep after dinner,
suggesting that they get up early and go for a swim. Dominique suggests that Wynand should let
Roark sleep. She wants Roark's early morning swim, their moment alone, to stay private and
undiminished. That is all she wants, but Roark immediately agrees to Wynand's suggestion.
As Toohey looks over Keating's plans for Cortlandt, he is awed. Keating says only that it will rent for
ten dollars a unit, if necessary, and Toohey congratulates him. The drawings are published in the
Banner, and as soon as Wynand sees them he confronts Roark, insisting that they are his designs.
Roark tells him to drop it, and he reluctantly agrees. Later, he shows them to Dominique, and she
also recognizes them immediately as Roark's.
At the office, Wynand confronts Alvah Scarret about a strange editorial which argues that in the new
world, mothers need to love everyone else's children as much as their own. Disturbed by Scarret's
strange behavior, Wynand finally tells him to write something else. He thinks uneasily about the
direction that the Banner has taken recently, one which stresses the honor of the poor and
downtrodden, the importance of altruism, and the disgusting nature of the wealthy capitalist. But he
is certain it is just a public trend, and he shakes off his worries. For a moment he considers firing
Scarret, but that thought seems impossible. The times the Banner now makes him happy are
whenever he can think of an ingenious reason for slipping in Roark's name. He tells Dominique how
happy he is to finally have a chance to exercise his power for something he believes in—to sell Roark
to the world. She comments that he could have been a "wonderful journalist." The public did not even
notice, but the intellectuals who used to call Roark dangerous and disturbing suddenly started
referring to him as Wynand's pet.
Wynand ignores this reaction and continues his campaign. He also gets Roark every commission that
he can exert his influence over. One day Austen Heller tells Roark that he needs to get Wynand to
stop his ridiculous campaign. Roark agrees that it might be hurting his career, but he tells Heller to
mind his own business.
One night Wynand tells Roark he wants to show him something. He takes him to Hell's Kitchen and
points out a city block, explaining that he owns it. He and Roark go into a diner to get some coffee,
and he explains to Roark that it is the first property he bought, the place where he was born. He tells
Roark that it is the future site of the Wynand Building and that he has been waiting for Roark. Roark
visibly shows his excitement, admitting he wants this job pretty badly. Wynand says that he is still not
quite ready to build it, but he wants it to be the tallest and greatest building in the city.
Chapter 10
One night as Keating is walking to Roark's apartment to pick up some more drawings, he sees a
woman standing outside a bookstore. A moment later he realizes that it is Catherine Halsey.
Completely unperturbed, she smiles and greets him. She explains that she is in town from
Washington for a business trip, and she remembers that he is doing Cortlandt. She is glad he is doing
something with a social purpose. Keating is confused that she can speak to him so easily. She
suggests they have a cup of tea together and leads him towards a cafe nearby. Catherine continues to
speak of the general and the impersonal until Keating finally asks her how she felt the morning he did
not come for her. She tells him calmly that she sobbed her eyes out, but that her uncle Ellsworth
comforted her and that everything turned out for the best. Keating still does not understand how she
can speak so unemotionally, but she explains that her problems are no different from or worse than
anybody else's.
Keating tells her, stumbling, that the worst thing he ever did was not marry her, not because it hurt
her but because it was the only thing he ever wanted. He asks her why it is so hard to do what you
want and why everyone says you should do it. She replies that what he is saying is very selfish.
Keating speaks about the past, remembering the day that he asked Catherine to marry him. She calls
him a "sentimentalist," but he presses on. Finally he lets it go, realizing that Catherine is not putting
on an act, or at least is putting it on all the time. He listens as Catherine speaks about her job, and
when she gets up to go, she tells him she will call him the next time she is in New York. Dazed,
Keating sits and watches her go.
Analysis
In this section of the novel, both Peter Keating and Gail Wynand take steps towards redeeming their
selves. Keating used to have the potential to be truer and realer than he was. Roark had recognized in
Keating's drawings that sometimes he did good work. Keating's hidden worth was visible when he
understood that the smallest compliment from Roark meant far more than the magnanimous words of
Guy Francon. When Dominique confronted Keating about his lack of a self, his desire to be only what
other people saw in him, Keating had a momentary chance to grasp at a better life, but that chance
was dislodged by an unfortunate call from Toohey. Now, Keating lives up to his earlier potential once
again when he not only understands Roark's motives for doing something but also why those motives
are superior to the ones that have driven him for his entire life.
One of the few significant mistakes that Roark makes in the novel is his overestimation of Keating's
ability to stand up to Toohey. Keating's continued exposure to danger is apparent from Toohey's role
as gatekeeper to the Cortlandt project. Just as Toohey knows who really designed the Cosmo-Slotnick
building, the reader must wonder how he would be expected to miss the fact that Roark has designed
this building as well.
Keating's inability to recognize the danger of Toohey underscores the precariousness of his position.
Even when Keating meets Catherine Halsey and sees how she has changed, it does not occur to him
to wonder whether Toohey is responsible for her destruction. Halsey has become the model of a
citizen of Toohey's better world. She does not feel rejected by Keating because she truly feels that she
won the superior situation. One can imagine that Toohey comforted her over Keating's desertion by
explaining, perhaps, that it did not matter, for no one is better than anyone else and that it is selfish
of her to think she would make a better wife for Keating than Dominique would. Halsey should not
pursue the life she wants, he might have told her; she should pursue the life where she can do the
most good, which is the only way she will be happy. Toohey's predictions are incomplete lies. Keating
must admit that Halsey seems to be as happy as she can possibly be. But Keating can also see that it
is a cold, hard kind of happiness, just as this is a cold, hard kind of woman when compared with the
girl he used to know.
Gail Wynand, so much stronger than Keating from the first, now moves on a parallel path. Like
Keating, he attempts to do the work that he is capable of doing. He wants to sell Roark, just like he
sold Lois Cook, Peter Keating, and every other two-bit hack in town. But, just like Keating, Wynand is
blind to the dangers that surround him. He continues to fail to recognize that the Banner's current
swill is different from the swill it used to sell. Though he vaguely senses that difference, he decides to
ride the trend out rather than making an attempt to understand where it could lead. Wynand's
narrowed vision suggests that Wynand is also avoiding turning his new insight onto himself. Wynand
is acting upon a desire to use his power for something that he wants, making him a first-hander for
the first time in his life. But he is setting himself up to learn that his power is meaningless for any
kind of real work.
Toohey and Roark are most directly opposed to each other in this section of the novel. Both Wynand
and Keating are caught between wanting to be like Roark and still being subject to the influence of
Toohey. While Keating's subordination to Toohey is more direct, both men are equally unconscious of
their almost total lack of control.

Summary and Analysis of Part IV, Chapters 11-20

Chapter 11
Wynand takes Roark for a cruise on his yacht, leaving Dominique behind. He is surprised when Roark
agrees so readily, but Roark explains that he is finished with his current projects. He does not need to
start anything else until the fall. On the boat, Roark and Wynand are completely content. Some days
they barely speak, and Wynand spends a great deal of time looking at and thinking about Roark. One
day he comments that Ellsworth Toohey does not seem to understand his own doctrine of
selflessness, for if he did he would recognize that Wynand is his ideal. Wynand has given up his total
self to the masses; he is simply a mirror that gives back an enlarged view of others’ selves. Roark is
surprised that Wynand has admitted this to himself. Wynand explains that if he were to follow
Toohey’s wishes, he would decide what the masses should want and ram it down their throats.
Wynand tells Roark not to worry about him; he sold himself for the sake of power, and now he will
use that power for Roark and Dominique.
For the past few weeks, Roark has been considering the principle of “actual selflessness,” which was
held by the dean at Stanton. He starts to talk about the man who lives second-hand, using Peter
Keating as an example. Second-handers are people who do things only in order to receive something
from other people, who live their whole lives for what they see reflected in others’ lives. He goes on
for a long while, speaking of the different kinds of second-handedness. Wynand agrees with him,
pointing out that second-handers will always be afraid of men like Roark, who stand only for what
they can accomplish, alone in their own minds. Finally, Roark concludes that “if one doesn’t respect
oneself one can have neither love nor respect for others.” He tells Wynand, simply and directly, that
he would die for Wynand, because Wynand was not “born to be a second-hander.” Later Roark admits
to himself that he did not tell Wynand that “the worst second-hander of all” is “the man who goes
after power.”
Chapter 12
Three months after they departed, Roark and Wynand return. Roark goes immediately to his office,
and his employees greet him happily, oddly embarrassed by how glad they are to see him. As he gets
down to work, he glances at a copy of the Banner on his desk and notices that Gordon Prescott and
Gus Webb have been added as association architects to the Cortlandt Homes project. That night he
goes to see the development and learns that his design has been altered and corrupted. It is difficult
to know exactly what happened. One day Toohey told Keating that Webb and Prescott were being
added to the project but that they would not need to make any changes. Keating could not figure out
how they had arranged it, but there was nothing to be done. Next, a woman in charge of tenant
selection insisted on the addition of a gymnasium; as soon as that change had been made, Webb and
Prescott had begun to make others, insisting that Keating stop being so selfish. He could never learn
who had approved each change, only that they had been approved, and he knew that suing the
government to enforce his contract would be useless. He was helpless.
The night after Roark’s return, Keating comes to see him and explains that he tried but could do
nothing. Keating offers first to reveal their contract and then to give Roark the fee, both suggestions
being dismissed by Roark. Finally Keating departs. A few weeks later Roark drives to the Wynand
house to see Dominique. He tells her he needs her help, and she agrees immediately. He tells her that
on Monday night she needs to drive to Cortlandt Homes at exactly 11:30. She will tell the watchman
that her car has broken down and send him to the nearest gas station to get help. She will
immediately go and lie down in a nearby ditch, and then she will wait until it is over. She says she
understands, and he leaves. She knows what will happen to him afterwards, yet she freely agreed.
She realizes that she is free.
That Monday night, Dominique had gone to a dinner party of a friend of Wynand’s. He had not been
able to attend. Everyone noticed how gay and bright Dominique appeared. She left at exactly 10:50.
Now she drives to Cortlandt Homes, knowing that nothing can possibly go wrong, feeling it in her
bones. She does as Roark asks, then runs for the ditch to lie down. A moment later the building
explodes. Sirens sound. Dominique, unthinking, gets up and runs for the car. She knows it must look
as if she never left it. She takes a piece of glass and slashes at her body. She does not notice that she
has cut an artery. When she is found, she has lost a lot of blood and is nearing death.
Chapter 13
Dominique wakes in the bedroom of Wynand’s New York penthouse after many days in the hospital.
Wynand is smiling, but he sounds almost angry when he comments that she should not have tried
quite so hard to make it look real. Dominique starts to tell her story, but Wynand makes it clear that
he understands what happened and even loves her for doing it. She thinks about how he would feel if
he knew that he had lost her. He tells her that Roark has been arrested, but he is now out on bail,
and he is actually downstairs waiting to see her.
When the policemen arrived at the scene, Roark was standing by the plunger that set off the
dynamite. He told the policemen to arrest him, but he did not say another word. Wynand paid his bail
and told Roark they would fight it together. Roark said that he would not use a lawyer and that he
would not submit pictures this time.
Wynand leaves, and Roark enters Dominique’s room. Roark explains to Dominique that he had her
help him because now she has no choice but to stay with Wynand. If she comes to Roark now, she
will be as much as admitting that he is guilty. He tells her that if he goes away to jail, he wants her to
stay with Wynand and tell him nothing. He loves Gail enough to give him that. But if he is acquitted,
he acknowledges that it will be different. He will not sacrifice his work or Dominique to Gail Wynand.
Dominique tells him that even if he goes to jail, even if they destroy him, it will not matter; it will only
hurt “down to a certain point.” Roark is very happy.
Toohey writes an article declaiming Roark’s infamy to the world in the New Frontiers. In response, the
whole world seems to explode against Roark, citing his selfishness, his lack for sympathy for the poor,
and the gross egotism of his act. Gordon Prescott and Gus Webb “demand justice,” but Peter Keating
is nowhere to be found. He issues a statement that ends by asking that everyone leave Roark alone.
Wynand puts the whole thrust of the Banner behind the defense of Roark. He writes impassioned
editorials declaring Roark innocent and excoriating the men who defame him. Alvah Scarret is
horrified. Wynand is jubilant. On the weekends he and Roark join Dominique at their home. Wynand
rejoices at the ability to use his power to stand behind Roark. In a moment alone Dominique
expresses her sympathy, but Roark insists that Wynand is really trying to save himself, and it will be
better for him to win his crusade and lose Dominique than the other way around.
Editorials in New Frontiers begin to attack Wynand directly, commenting that it is awful that his rag
tries to defend Roark. The circulation of the Banner drops continuously ,and Scarret can barely
contain himself. One Small Voice, under Wynand’s orders, says nothing about the Cortlandt trials.
Wynand’s lawyers try to explain that “an unpopular cause is a dangerous cause” in the newspaper
business, but Wynand ignores him. Wynand tries arguing the case directly with prominent men, but
everywhere he is met with Toohey-speak about self-sacrifice and the importance of loving the poor.
Scarret moans to Toohey, who replies calmly that they are being handed the perfect moment to take
over the Wynand papers. Scarret does not understand, and Toohey shows his irritation. Toohey has
no one to talk to who understands what he is doing.
Chapter 14
Toohey comes to see Keating, and Mrs. Keating is extremely relieved. Toohey wants to get the whole
story in order to ensure that Roark will be sent to jail. For a little while, Keating holds out, but he
starts to break down, telling Toohey to leave him alone, saying that this is worse than what he did to
Lucius Heyer, because he let Heyer die. He asks Toohey why he is doing this, and Toohey explains
that in jail Roark will have to take orders and obey. He asks again, and Keating gets up, goes to his
dresser, and hands Toohey his copy of the contract with Roark.
Toohey tells Keating that he has achieved the impossible: he has taken everything from a man--his
profit, his idea, his credit--and given him nothing in return. He says that when he took the paper he
wanted to burn it. Keating asks him what he wants, and Toohey replies that he wants power--he
wants to rule the world. He says that he has always said this, but no one listens. He would not be
imposing his own desires on the world, of course, but he will be ruling it all the same. He explains
everything that he has done, telling Keating that if you want to destroy the soul you “preach
selflessness,” “kill man’s sense of values,” “Kill by laughter ... Turn it into a sneer.” He points out that
every regime, every dictator in the history of mankind, preaches self-sacrifice, yet men still fall for it.
He goes on, explaining that reason is man’s weapon against takeover, so he, Toohey, has destroyed
people’s reason. He adds that “feelings” and “believing” have become more important than cold, dry
reason.
He asks Keating why he is so upset. Toohey is going to create a world where everyone agrees with his
or her neighbor. There will be no more war, no more class distinctions, no more competition of any
kind. In fact, Toohey is going to serve more than any of them. He will have less independence, for he
will not alter himself to their wishes. He simply wants power over them, the feeling of control. Keating
says that Toohey is insane, but Toohey points out that this is already happening all over Europe.
Collectivism is their future and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. As he gets up to go, he
thanks Keating for listening to him; this is a speech he has wanted to make for a long time. Keating
looks up at him and says, “Don’t go, Ellsworth.” Toohey says that Keating is his proof, for despite
everything he knows, Keating still cannot leave him.
Chapter 15
On his way back from an attempt to hold on to one of his biggest advertisers, Wynand reads the
Banner and sees that Toohey has broken his command. One Small Voice declares that Roark must be
condemned as a symbol of the evils of individualism and egotism. Wynand goes directly to the office.
Scarret is waiting for him; he tells him that he did not know until it was already published. Wynand
tells him to fire Toohey and everyone else who had anything to do with approving it. Scarret tries to
talk him out of it, but he is unmoved. He starts an editorial in response to Toohey’s column,
apologizing for ever foisting Toohey upon the public. Toohey walks into his office and tells him that he
is leaving for now but that he will be back. He says that Wynand never understood how to secure
ownership. When Toohey is back, he “will run this paper.” Wynand tells him calmly to get out.
The Union of Wynand Employees, which had spontaneously sprung up from Toohey’s benign little club
the year before, walks out on strike. Many non-members join, apologizing but saying they must
support the strike. The strikers demand the reinstatement of the men who were fired and a “reversal
of the Banner’s stand” on the Cortlandt case. All of the men who helped Toohey publish his article had
family members deeply entrenched in Toohey’s causes. Wynand stays at the paper twenty-four hours
a day. He promotes everyone who stayed, and he hires whoever he can, but the kind of men who
come are the men who can get jobs with no reputable paper. Scarret stays, but he wanders the halls,
unable to take in all of the changes. Once he begs Wynand to negotiate, but he does not try it again.
One morning Dominique walks into his office, saying simply that she wants her old job back. She fills
in wherever she is needed, Wynand only objecting when she leaves the office to cover a story. He
tells her he will fire her if she leaves again--it is simply not safe. They do not talk about anything
important but focus only on the job of getting the paper out every day. One day he finds her sweeping
a floor, and he tries to get her to stop, but she insists that she will do whatever she can to help--it is
all the same. She seems to know exactly when he needs her, and she is always there. One night after
three weeks, Wynand walks out of the building and goes to see Roark. Roark tells him he looks
terrible, Helplessly, Wynand admits that the Banner is ruining Roark. Roark tells him it does not
matter, and he wants Wynand to hold out for as long as he possibly can. Roark tells Wynand, “you
have been the one encounter in my life that can never be repeated ... Don’t give in.” When Wynand
returns to the office and Dominique sees him, she knows immediately that he has been to see Roark.
They do not speak of it, continuing their work even as the stacks of unsold papers grow.
Chapter 16
During the second month of the strike, Wynand’s Board of Directors calls a meeting, the first meeting
not called by Wynand, and Wynand comes. Without looking at him, the Board tells Wynand that he
must stop defending Roark; this is a business after all. They do not understand why he is going to
such lengths over such a meaningless, clear-cut issue. Mitchell Layton interrupts and starts shouting
that Wynand is not the only one with ideas--he has ideas too--but Scarret interrupts him. Scarret
begs him to consider negotiation, to take back just one of the men, or just to take back Toohey, but
Wynand interrupts him and says that Toohey is not up for discussion. The banker leaps on this and
suggests that here is a compromise. They will do everything the strikers have asked for except take
back Toohey. Only Layton voices disagreement, but everyone ignores him. Someone tells Wynand
that he will have to “give in or close the Banner.” Wynand listens. He remembers the night when he
almost shot himself. He says yes.
Wynand walks through the streets. He notices the bits of glittering metal in the sidewalk, ground
down among the dirt; he looks in pawnshop windows and sees people’s finest possessions next to the
detritus of everyday life. He had left the building without talking to anyone, even Dominique. He had
gone to the penthouse, and after dark he had left to walk the streets. In an hour, he knows, the
morning edition of the Banner will appear. Scarret will write the editorial. He sees the people around
him and acknowledges that they are all his masters. He comes to a newsstand and watches as people
in line buy the Banner. Finally, when they have all left, he buys a copy himself. The editorial states in
simple language that “Howard Roark ... is a reprehensible character, a dangerous, unprincipled,
antisocial type of man.”
He drops the paper and does not notice it until blocks later. He realizes that he “wrote that editorial”--
he sold Howard Roark himself, forty years earlier when he decided he would do anything for power.
He comes to Hell’s Kitchen and realizes he has never really left it. He looks up at the skyscrapers, and
he acknowledges that he has betrayed them. He tells himself, “There is a beast on earth, dammed
safely by its own impotence. I broke the dam ... They can produce nothing. I gave them the weapon.
I gave them my strength, my energy, my living power.”
Chapter 17
As people read the paper that morning, many express their satisfaction at the result; some, because
they know Wynand, others, because they merely like to see people beaten. When Lancelot Clokey
expresses his annoyance at the Union’s betrayal of Toohey, Toohey explains that he told them to
accept because he has just filed a grievance with the Union, and he will be back at his job within the
month. Roark tries to see Wynand, to tell him that it does not matter at all, that he can keep fighting
all the same, but Wynand refuses to see him and returns his letters unopened. Scarret runs the
paper. Wynand goes to the office and does what is necessary, but he does not read the Banner. He
knows that Dominique has gone back to the country. In a few more days Wynand plans to go there
and beg her to stay with him, to use his love as leverage to get her to stay.
Dominique lies on the grass outside their home, looking at the green around her. She understands
now that “one cannot hate the earth in their name. The earth is beautiful. And it is a background, but
not theirs.” She waits a few more days before acting.
Roark stands at the window of his house in Monadnock Valley, where he has rented a place for the
summer. He hears a car outside, and he “feels no astonishment” when Dominique enters. She looks
as if she has only been gone for a few minutes, rather than seven years. He tells her to wait a little
longer before making Wynand bear this as well, but she tells him that this is her life. He acknowledges
her decision, saying “I love you.” She tells him she knows what he is going to do and that he does not
need to worry about her. Roark lifts Dominique into his lap and kisses her, and it is as if no time has
passed at all. Dominique tells him that whatever happens, she will be with him. The next morning
Dominique wakes up and remembers where she is. Acting quickly so as not to wake up Roark, she
calls the police and tells them she needs to report that a star-sapphire ring given to her by Mr.
Howard Roark was stolen sometime during the night. She instructs the police to come and question
her there.
When Roark wakes up, she tells him not to dress. The police and some members of the press arrive.
She invites them in and tells them to look around the place, answering all their questions. When they
leave, Dominique apologizes to Roark, explaining that this was the only way she could think of
ensuring it would be in all the papers. She tells him that now she does not mind their first night back
together being in all the newspapers--this is how much she has changed.
It is in all the newspapers, and Scarret shows one to Wynand, furious for his sake, and asks what he
will do. After a long moment, Wynand tells him they will run in it in any way Scarret wishes. He
agrees to see his lawyer immediately to begin divorce proceedings. Wynand drives to the country
house where Dominique is waiting. She explains their relationship to Wynand, telling him everything.
He tells her simply that he wanted to know. That evening Guy Francon calls his daughter and invites
her to stay with him until the Cortlandt trial. She agrees, and he meets her at his door. He looks at
her, and he says that this time it is the right man. She agrees. He tells her to tell Roark that he is
welcome there whenever he wants. A moment later he tells Dominique that Roark will be acquitted.
Scarret puts all the blame of the last few years on Dominique, painting a picture of a man so much in
love that he let his wife force him to defend a guilty man. Wynand lets Scarret do as he wishes.
Chapter 18
The courtroom where Roark is to be tried is filled with many enemies and a few stalwart friends. Guy
Francon astounds everyone by sitting with Austen Heller, Mike, Kent Lancing, Dominique, and
Stephen Mallory. The prosecution gives an opening statement declaring that the defendant is the
worst of all things, an egotist, and that they must make an example of him. The jury is made up of
“two executives of industrial concerns, two engineers, a mathematician, a truck driver, a bricklayer,
an electrician, a gardener and three factory workers.” Roark had spent a long time arguing until he
got the men he wanted. He won because the prosecution thought he was making foolish choices. The
prosecution calls the policeman and Keating. Roark’s sole case is his own testimony.
Roark speaks about the men “who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own
visions” and describes how society feared and scorned those men, though their visions lived on after
them. He talks about how ideas cannot be thought by committee. He says that “no creator was
prompted by a desire to serve his brothers, for his brothers rejected the gift he offered and that gift
destroyed the slothful routine of their lives. His truth was his only motive.” He argues that “the basic
need of the creator is independence. The reasoning mind ... cannot be curbed, sacrificed, or
subordinated to any consideration whatsoever.” He talks about second-handers, dependents and
parasites. He speaks about the ego, and he tells the jury that “the first right on earth is the right of
the ego. Man’s first duty is to himself. His moral law is never to place his prime goal within the person
of others. His moral obligation is to do what he wishes, provided his wish does not depend primarily
upon other men.” Finally, he speaks about America as a country created by individualists, “based on a
man’s right to the pursuit of happiness. His own happiness. Not anyone else’s. A private, personal,
selfish motive.”
Addressing the conflict directly, Roark says that he dynamited Cortlandt because he could not wish it
to exist in that form. He had every right to destroy it, for it was his creation. No one else had a right
to change it or cheapen it. He says that “the integrity of a man’s creative work is of greater
importance than any charitable endeavor.” Legal discussions follow, for Roark had admitted to blowing
up Cortlandt, but he had not changed his plea to guilty. The jury is instructed, and the spectators
depart, preparing for a long wait. Just as Roark is about to leave the courtroom, the jury walks back
in. The verdict is “not guilty.” Roark looks at Wynand, and Wynand is the first man to leave the
courtroom.
Chapter 19
Roger Enright buys the site of Cortlandt and hires Roark to rebuild it as it was supposed to be, only
this time, no income restrictions are placed on the apartments. Wynand divorces Dominique. Toohey
wins his dispute and is reinstated at the Banner. The same afternoon he is told to be back at work
before nine that evening. A little confused, Toohey walks into his office only to see Wynand standing
there. Wynand tells him to get to work. Still confused, Toohey sits down, uncertain whether Wynand
has left. When he finally looks up Wynand is still there. Suddenly, at 9:00 pm the presses stop.
Wynand tells Toohey that the Banner “has ceased to exist.” Toohey goes to work for the Courier, and
as soon as he arrives he starts questioning people about the owner of the paper.
One afternoon Roark receives a call from Wynand’s secretary, requesting a meeting the following
afternoon. Roark immediately agrees. When Roark goes to the Banner building, the sign is gone. As
soon as Roark sees Wynand he knows he must pretend there is no bond between them. Wynand
stiffly hands him some papers and asks him to agree to design the Wynand Building. Money is no
object; it should begin immediately. The only catch is that Roark will deal entirely with an
intermediary. Roark signs the contract. Wynand comments that this may well be the last skyscraper
built in New York, so Roark should make it the best one. Roark assures Wynand that the city is not
dead, not as long as there are projects like this. As Roark leaves, Wynand tells him to “build it as a
monument to that spirit which is yours ... and could have been mine.”
Chapter 20
Eighteen months later, Dominique, now Mrs. Howard Roark, enters the construction site of the
Wynand building, pausing only in front of a small sign: “Howard Roark, architect.” Mrs. Roark rides up
to see Mr. Roark at the building. She passes buildings, looking into apartments and warehouses, over
the rooftops, until suddenly there is nothing to look at but the sky around her. She looks up and sees
Roark standing above her. “Then there was only the ocean and the sky and the figure of Howard
Roark.”
Analysis
In some ways Rand wraps the plot up neatly. Gail Wynand divorces Dominique, who marries Roark,
and Roark’s fortune is ensured by several large projects. But the fates of other characters do not tie
up so neatly. Gail Wynand closes the Banner, and he makes a poignant, meaningful statement in the
form of the Wynand Building. He is, however, unable to consider forgiving Dominique or Roark. Now
that he has lost her, Wynand cannot keep hold of what he told her earlier. Now it really matters that
Dominique does not love him back, and it seems that Wynand cannot help wanting to truly possess
things. He cannot settle for the “Yes” he feels when he looks at her.
Meanwhile, Peter Keating disappears completely from the scene. He is sacrificed to Toohey’s ambition
and Roark’s sympathy. It is interesting to consider why Keating is sacrificed at the end of the novel. If
Wynand can be partially saved, why not Keating? The best explanation within the text is the idea that
individualism lies at the heart of the novel. Keating has always relied on someone else to save him--
Dominique, Roark, or even Toohey. His potential is not enough to make up for the fact that Keating
will never save himself.
Of course, a similar question could be asked about Wynand. If Dominique, who had so much in
common with Wynand, is able to learn to live in the world but not be of it, why cannot Wynand learn
the same lesson? Here the answer lies in Wynand’s and Dominique’s basic difference. Dominique not
only possessed integrity but also possessed a core understanding of the importance of freedom.
Wynand lacks that understanding, and his preference for power rather than freedom is difficult to get
beyond. Wynand will always want to run things, but he will never be content with running only
himself. He tells Roark to build the Wynand building in the spirit of what he lives for. He knows that if
the building were to represent him, it would still be a show primarily for other people rather than for
himself.
Another final question of the novel is why Ellsworth Toohey does not disappear. Why does Rand
choose to allow Toohey simply to start over at another paper, ready to make another bid for power?
One possible explanation is that Rand is again choosing to emphasize individual choice. There will
always be members of society trying to lead it in the wrong direction. One person, even a person like
Howard Roark, cannot destroy all of the potential for evil in the world. And what Toohey represents
should always be remembered. Rand suggests that people can never act effectively merely as a
group. Every important decision must be made at the individual level, and groups should remember
that they are made up of individuals.
The Fountainhead clearly has a happy ending, for Roark and Dominique almost literally ride off into
the sunset. In ending with this simple image, Rand underscores her acknowledgement in the preface
that the point of the novel is that Howard Roark must win out. While Rand focuses on the defeat of
collectivism and the triumph of individualism, the reader should ask, why is this plateau any different
from Roark’s earlier plateaus? Many times in the novel, Roark has seemed to be on the path to
success, only to be knocked down once more. This ending resonates with the novel as a whole. Roark
argues against money and acclaim as signs of success, and he even argues against the
acknowledgement of others. This moment is Roark’s moment of triumph simply because Wynand has
given him the architectural problem that he has always been waiting to solve: to build the tallest and
best building in New York City. As always, Roark finds meaning in his life not by defeating someone
like Toohey or helping someone like Wynand, or even loving someone like Dominique. He finds
meaning in his life by doing his work well.