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The Fountainhead

            
             Standing naked on top of a cliff, Howard Roark envisions what the trees and granite around him can be made into. He is an architect, ingenious and creative. None of like any other at the Stanton Institute of Technology. He had been pondering about his life and the events of that morning. He had just been expelled by the dean for being creative and a nonconformist. This immediately ascertains the theme of the novel, and sets up the novel's storyline. .
             Peter Keating, the complete opposite of Howard Roark, is the second character introduced. He is an over-achiever and a fraud. Keating is graduating with highest honors in his class and is receiving a scholarship to attend the Ecole des Beaux Arts, a prestigious art school in Paris. .
             Guy Francon, a nationally known architecture that owns "Francon & Heyer" with Lucius Heyer, offers Peter Keating a job. He is charmed by Peter Keating's sociable personality and at his achievements at Stanton. Questioning whether to accept Francon's offer or go to Paris and study abroad is puzzling Keating.
             At home he sees Howard Roark just sitting on his porch. Keating is angered that Roark did not come watch him give his speech in front of Francon and the other students. Roark is saddened by Peter in the way he lives his life, for others and their approvals. He is dismayed that he does not do anything on his own terms. He asks for Roark's advice on the situation and Roark tells him that he shouldn't ask others to make decisions for him. Peter's mother hears the entire conversation and is angered at Peter for not asking her. She cunningly persuades him to accept the job in New York with Francon & Heyer.
             Peter Keating's likable personality and his ability to gain people's trust allows him to move up quickly in rank at Francon & Heyer. He schemes his way in obtaining the role of chief designer, by ridding the firm of Tim Davis. His next victim, Lucius Heyer.


Essays Related to The Fountainhead

1. Fountainhead: Morals in the working world

... Preconceived notions dictate that a person cannot be successful and keep their morals at the same time. The Fountainhead, written by Ayn Rand, seems to at first defend, then later, dispute these notions through characters and events. Ultimately, Rand's "weak" characters, those who don't keep their morals, eventually plummet, while the "strong" characters, those who retain their principles regardless of any pressure from ... own, so he makes himself exceptional by breaking the soul of his followers. By turning the man against himself, he corrupts from the inside, transforming into a grovel...

  • Word Count: 749
  • Approx Pages: 3
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2. Fountainhead

... The conventional view is that in life an individual can either achieve practical success or be moral, but not both. Do you think Ayn Rand accepts or rejects this conventional view in The Fountainhead? Explain by reference to characters and events from the novel. We have all heard the cliche that nice guys finish last. This story is no different. I feel that the ... author Ayn Rand accepts the fact that in life an individual can either ... he didn't finish school. He went to lowly firms, while Keater went to a prestigious firm when he graduated from school. Later in the story, we would f...

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3. Dominique in The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

... you this overwhelming blow of passion. Some synonymously call it love, but the ecstasy that holds you will feel much greater than that. It's madness that is eccentric and inviting in the most alluring sense; the type of madness that comes with a motive. This idea can be recognized in Ayn Rand's novel "The Fountainhead," with Dominique Francon and her infatuation to destroy Howard Roark. However ... , Dominique's motive does not stem solely from the feelings he's imposed on her heart. She admires Roark's freedom and ... she perceives him too eminent to be subjected to a world not worth h...

  • Word Count: 1125
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

4. The Selfish Man in Ayn Rand

The Fountainhead is a novel about the triumph of the "selfish" individual. The true individual acts not only without regard for the influences of others, but with complete concern for self. This is not concern for one's own advantage or pleasure, but knowledge of one's own goals and the willingness to achieve them. Roark, the individual ... own desires and goals. Roark is a true individual; most people are not. Self-understanding is difficult to attain for the average person not because the human soul is in itself inscrutable, but because men and women are so confused by outside influences ...

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5. The Fountain Head

... philosophy, objectivism, is represented exceptionally by the timeless novel, The Fountainhead. Through the use of compelling dialogue, Ayn Rand reveals her own feelings towards objectivism, and her thoughts towards conformity and independence. The interpretations and the implications of several of the quotes within The Fountainhead accurately depict the essence of objectivism and encourages the opposition of conventional standards through the embodiment of the uncompromising innovator "standing against the world." Society dictates that there will ... be those that follow and those that ...

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6. THE HIGHEST VALUE OF A MAN

... purpose in this life is to help others (Dalai Lama)". The society, which we live in greatly praises and appreciates the selfless, the dependent and altruism. The novel "The Fountainhead" by Ryn Rend, nonetheless, advocates and acclaims an opposing belief to such ones that are rooted in society - Egoism, which permits oneself a complete independence from others. The writer preaches that altruism that is praised and respected by ... today's society is the greatest fraud of mankind. Her praise for egoism ... ...

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7. The Downfalls of Technology

... websites to passwords to conversations among friends online, people have gone astray from using their memories. In "The Gist Generation," Jeff Barbian claims, "We simply have little incentive-or necessity- to commit our personal and professional lives to memory. With the fountainhead of the web, the rigors of mental absorption are relaxed and the circuitous routes of research simplified" (Barbian 279). In other words, with all ... the use of computers and other technology, people are starting to become lazy and rely more on the technology than their memories. We have also become lazy by...

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8. Walk In The Woods

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  • Word Count: 2028
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9. The role of Wangerism in German Culture in the Third Reich

... Peter Viereck wrote an essay in 1939 entitled "Hitler and Richard Wagner- in which he argues that "this warped genius- [Wagner] was "perhaps the most important single fountainhead of Nazi ideology-'#. Rohan d'O. Butler, Edmond Vermeil and William Shirer have also written essays on how Wagner featured.... prominently among a kind of antipantheon of German racists, militarists and totalitarian ... along Chamberlain was ready for him. In 1923 Chamberlain wrote this letter to him: You are not at all, as people have maintained, a fanatic: on the contrary, you are just the opposite. A fanatic...

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