Peter Keating Character Analysis in The Fountainhead

Peter Keating is the antithesis of Howard Roark, and his life demonstrates the dangers of basing one’s identity and happiness on societal approval. Roark and Keating begin their journeys in the novel at the same place—they are both students of architecture at Stanton—but they take very different paths. Keating has no real interest in architecture—he only pursues it because he thinks it will earn him money and fame. He graduates with highest honors and goes to work at the highly reputed architectural firm of Francon & Heyer. Roark, on the other hand, loves building but is expelled from the college and chooses to work under Henry Cameron, an architect who is considered a has-been by the architectural community. Roark admires Cameron and is immune to others’ opinions of him. Keating has no faith in his own architectural ability and coasts by on his good looks and social skills. He slowly makes his way to the top of the firm by lying to and manipulating the people around him. He even stoops to causing Lucius Heyer to have a stroke so he can take his place as partner. Despite all this, Keating’s success doesn’t last, and he ends up a sad disappointment to himself while Roark thrives in their field, carried through by his love for his work. The only genuine thing that Keating wants for himself is to marry Catherine Halsey, whom he loves very much. However, he doesn’t have the courage to follow through with this and instead ends up marrying Dominique Francon for the prestige it will grant him. Thus, he sacrifices his opportunity for happiness and falls in with Toohey’s circle. Since Keating parrots popular opinions and lives for making good impressions on those around him, he exemplifies a person who has no integrity or sense of self. Towards the end of the novel, Roark feels pity for the first time in his life when he understands there can be no redemption for Keating.

Peter Keating Quotes in The Fountainhead

The The Fountainhead quotes below are all either spoken by Peter Keating or refer to Peter Keating. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Then came the voice.

“My friends,” it said, simply and solemnly. “My brothers,” it added softly, involuntarily, both full of emotion and smiling apologetically at the emotion. […]

It was not a voice, it was a miracle. It unrolled as a velvet banner. […] It was the voice of a giant.

Keating stood, his mouth open. He did not hear what the voice was saying. He heard the beauty of the sounds without meaning. He felt no need to know the meaning; he could accept anything, he would be led blindly anywhere. […]

Keating looked at Catherine. There was no Catherine; there was only […] a nameless thing in which she was being swallowed.

“Let’s get out of here,” he whispered. His voice was savage. He was afraid.

Related Characters: Ellsworth Toohey (speaker), Peter Keating (speaker), Catherine Halsey

Related Symbols: Crowds and Groups

Page Number and Citation: 109

Explanation and Analysis:

“Just drop that fool delusion that you’re better than everybody else—and go to work. […] You’ll have people running after you, you’ll have clients, you’ll have friends, you’ll have an army of draftsmen to order around! […]”

[…]

“Look, Peter, I believe you. I know that you have nothing to gain by saying this. I know more than that. I know that you don’t want me to succeed—it’s all right, I’m not reproaching you, I’ve always known it—you don’t want me ever to reach these things you’re offering me. And yet you’re pushing me on to reach them, quite sincerely. […] And it’s not love for me, because that wouldn’t make you so angry—and so frightened….Peter, what is it that disturbs you about me as I am?”

Related Characters: Peter Keating (speaker), Howard Roark (speaker)

Related Symbols: Crowds and Groups

Page Number and Citation: 191-192

Explanation and Analysis:

“I love you, Dominique. As selfishly as the fact that I exist. As selfishly as my lungs breathe air. […] I’ve given you, not my sacrifice or my pity, but my ego and my naked need. This is the only way you can wish to be loved. This is the only way I can want you to love me. If you married me now, I would become your whole existence. But I would not want you then. You would not want yourself—and so you would not love me. To say ‘I love you’ one must know first how to say the ‘I’. The kind of surrender I could have from you now would give me nothing but an empty hulk. […] I want you whole, as I am, as you’ll remain in the battle you’ve chosen.”

Related Characters: Howard Roark (speaker), Dominique Francon, Peter Keating

Page Number and Citation: 376

Explanation and Analysis:

“You’re not here, Dominique. You’re not alive. Where’s your I?”

“Where’s yours, Peter?” she asked quietly.

He sat still, his eyes wide. […]

“You’re beginning to see, aren’t you, Peter? Shall I make it clearer. You’ve never wanted me to be real. You never wanted anyone to be. But you didn’t want to show it. You wanted an act to help your act—a beautiful, complicated act, all twists, trimmings and words. All words. […] You wanted a mirror. People want nothing but mirrors around them. To reflect them while they’re reflecting too. You know, like the senseless infinity you get from two mirrors facing each other across a narrow passage. […] Reflections of reflections and echoes of echoes.”

Related Characters: Dominique Francon (speaker), Peter Keating

Related Symbols: Crowds and Groups

Page Number and Citation: 425-426

Explanation and Analysis:

When Keating had gone, Roark leaned against the door, closing his eyes. He was sick with pity.

He had never felt this before—not when Henry Cameron collapsed in the office at his feet, not when he saw Steven Mallory sobbing on a bed before him. Those moments had been clean. But this was pity—this complete awareness of a man without worth or hope, this sense of finality, of the not to be redeemed. There was shame in this feeling—his own shame that he should have to pronounce such judgment upon a man, that he should know an emotion which contained no shred of respect.

This is pity, he thought, and then he lifted his head in wonder. He thought that there must be something terribly wrong with a world in which this monstrous feeling is called a virtue.

Related Characters: Howard Roark, Peter Keating, Henry Cameron , Steven Mallory

Page Number and Citation: 582-583

Explanation and Analysis:

“It’s what I couldn’t understand about people for a long time. They have no self. They live within others. They live second-hand. Look at Peter Keating. […] He’s paying the price and wondering for what sin and telling himself he’s been too selfish. In what act or thought of his has there ever been a self? What was his aim in life? Greatness—in other people’s eyes. Fame, admiration, envy—all that which comes from others. […] And isn’t that the root of every despicable action? Not selfishness, but precisely the absence of a self. […] They’re second-handers.”

Related Characters: Howard Roark (speaker), Gail Wynand, Peter Keating

Related Symbols: Crowds and Groups

Page Number and Citation: 605

Explanation and Analysis:

“Make man feel small. Make him feel guilty. Kill his aspiration and his integrity. […] Preach selflessness. Tell man that he must live for others. Tell men that altruism is the ideal. […] Man realizes that he is incapable of what he’s accepted as the noblest virtue—and it gives him a sense of guilt, of sin, of his own basic unworthiness. […] His soul gives up his self-respect. You’ve got him. He’ll obey. […] Kill man’s sense of values. Kill his capacity to recognize greatness or to achieve it. Great men can’t be ruled. We don’t want any great men.”

Related Characters: Ellsworth Toohey (speaker), Peter Keating, Howard Roark

Page Number and Citation: 635

Explanation and Analysis:

Peter Keating Character Timeline in The Fountainhead

The timeline below shows where the character Peter Keating appears in The Fountainhead. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...to the house where he has boarded for the past three years, his landlady, Mrs. Keating, tells him that the Dean called when he was away and wanted to see him.... (full context)

...his “austere and simple” architectural drawings that he forgets about the Dean’s call until Mrs. Keating reminds him again. She secretly worries that the Board’s decision to expel Roark might be... (full context)

...there. He is a member of several groups, like the Architects Guild of America. Peter Keating, “the star student of Stanton,” is in attendance, as well. He is aware of being... (full context)

Keating is greeted by loud applause when he gets on stage. He has won many prizes... (full context)

Then, Keating thinks about Roark and feels “a satisfying pang of sympathy.” He had worried about Roark... (full context)

On his way home, Keating thinks about all the sacrifices his mother has made for him—like taking in boarders—because she... (full context)

At home, Keating is pleased when Roark congratulates him and tells him he does good work sometimes. He... (full context)

Roark says he plans to go to New York, too, to work with Henry Cameron. Keating is shocked to hear this because Cameron was once a famous architect but is now... (full context)

Keating starts work at Francon and Heyer in New York. He feels insecure at work, but... (full context)

Keating discovers that Guy Francon hasn’t designed anything for years and that most of the work... (full context)

Francon directs Keating’s attention to a review of the newest Francon & Heyer construction, the Melton Building, published... (full context)

Keating has made himself a favorite of Francon’s at the firm, and he is also popular... (full context)

After Keating is done with work later that night, he walks out into the city and realizes... (full context)

Catherine is warm and welcoming when Keating sees her, and he “feels at peace.” They talk about their old days in the... (full context)

While telling Catherine about Francon, Keating calls him an “old fool and a pompous fraud,” shocking himself since he has never... (full context)

Catherine tells Keating about her uncle—he is a very intelligent art critic, and he lets her type up... (full context)

Keating tells Catherine that he desperately wants to meet Toohey since he is a very influential... (full context)

Peter Keating has spent a year with Francon and Heyer and has ingratiated himself with both partners.... (full context)

Keating slowly begins taking on more and more of Tim Davis’s work. Davis thinks Keating is... (full context)

Keating goes to Roark’s quarters to talk to him about work, but while Roark answers all... (full context)

Two years into his work at the firm, Keating sets his sights on the job of the chief designer, Claude Stengel. Unfortunately for Keating,... (full context)

Keating’s first task as chief designer is to design a house, and he is happy that... (full context)

In Roark’s presence, Keating feels very vulnerable because he usually gets a sense of his own value from the... (full context)

When Keating shows the design to Francon, Francon says it is daring, but exactly what he’d hoped.... (full context)

It is Keating’s third year at the firm, and he is doing very well. He has forgotten his... (full context)

Mrs. Keating moves to New York to live with her son. Keating doesn’t like this, but he... (full context)

Keating is annoyed but also relieved at this, and he really wants to meet Catherine that... (full context)

When Keating discovers that Cameron has retired, he is determined to bring Roark to work at Francon... (full context)

Keating tries to get Roark to go out with him for a drink and Roark refuses.... (full context)

...the drafting room, the chief of the engineering department is impressed by his work. When Keating asks Roark for his help on the buildings he designs, Roark resists the impulse to... (full context)

When Keating is away from the office, Francon sends for Roark. He tells him they have an... (full context)

Francon snaps at Keating because of his worries, and Keating goes home in a bad mood. He calls Catherine... (full context)

When Keating goes to Catherine’s apartment, she isn’t home. He feels a sinking sense of loneliness take... (full context)

Together, Keating and Catherine listen to a suave and cultured activist named Austen Heller speak. He talks... (full context)

...crowds and he begins speaking in a voice that is full of emotion and that Keating thinks of as the “voice of a giant.” Keating thinks that he has “no need... (full context)

...strike is settled, business booms once again at Francon and Heyer, and this is why Keating is surprised when he sees Francon come in looking upset one morning. Later that day,... (full context)

...Renaissance. Kiki Holcombe, his wife, maintains a salon on architecture that meets every Sunday, and Keating attends reluctantly because it bores him. There, he sees Dominique again and persuades Francon to... (full context)

When discussing the house she’d criticized in the Banner, Dominique says that Keating ended up being the victim of one of “her rare attacks of honesty.” She says... (full context)

Peter Keating comes to visit Roark at his new office. After congratulating him, Keating says the office... (full context)

...Heller drives by, and even his cook is mocked when she goes to buy groceries. Keating is pleased when others say that Roark has no talent, and Toohey ignores the house... (full context)

...jumping over a high hedge, and he realizes he feels tenderness for her. He thinks Keating will be good for her, but he knows that she turns down invitations to go... (full context)

Dominique looks at Keating “with a glance so gentle that it could mean nothing but contempt” and tells him... (full context)

Dominique asks Keating to take her to the theater later that night and to call her by her... (full context)

Keating now meets Dominique frequently. She always accepts his invitations, though Keating wonders if she is... (full context)

...because it is so late. Catherine is at the door, looking hesitant but determined. Mrs. Keating immediately understands that something has happened, “to be handled with great caution.” Keating invites Catherine... (full context)

Catherine seems nervous, and Keating suddenly realizes she looks terrified. She tells him she wants to be married “as soon... (full context)

Mrs. Keating says Catherine is clearly overworked and “a mite hysterical.” Keating briefly disagrees, thinking of Toohey’s... (full context)

Keating says they’ll get their marriage license the next morning and can then be married at... (full context)

After Catherine leaves, Keating is ready for his mother’s objections and is determined to not cave in. Yet, he... (full context)

Mrs. Keating says she isn’t thinking about herself, because while Catherine would be a “respectful and obedient”... (full context)

Mrs. Keating says Catherine is a “clumsy little girl” and that other people won’t respect him when... (full context)

When Keating goes to Catherine’s apartment later that morning, he still hasn’t decided what he’s going to... (full context)

...when she’d told him, which made her wonder if it would be wiser to wait. Keating suddenly says, “Insist on it now,” but then laughs afterwards, as if it were a... (full context)

...of his doctor and of Francon, who offers to buy him out and is refused. Keating ignores him, and Heyer cannot understand why. He complains to Francon that Keating is rude... (full context)

...a skyscraper that will be the New York office for a Hollywood studio. Francon encourages Keating to enter. Keating reworks his project several times, hating “every girder of that building before... (full context)

Keating is uncertain about his final sketch. He knows Holcombe is on the jury, so he’s... (full context)

Meanwhile, Keating visits Catherine often. He tells her that if he wins the competition for the Cosmo-Slotnick... (full context)

Keating also spends more time with Dominique, who seems to find him suitable “as an inconsequential... (full context)

Keating now forgets his desire for Dominique but remembers that she’s Francon’s daughter. He asks her... (full context)

Keating is terrified that he will lose the competition, after which he thinks Francon will be... (full context)

At the office, Keating tells everyone that Heyer had sent for him to come see him to discuss his... (full context)

Some days after Heyer’s death, Keating finds out that Heyer has left all his money to Keating. Keating feels he is... (full context)

Even Keating hadn’t imagined exactly how grand it would be to win the competition. His face is... (full context)

When Keating sees Catherine, she excitedly makes plans for their future while he thinks about how many... (full context)

One thing spoils Keating’s happiness—hearing people discuss the plan of the building. They discuss the building’s “brilliant skill and... (full context)

Keating comes in and tells Roark he looks terrible, but that he hears it couldn’t be... (full context)

Roark wonders why Keating feels compelled to encourage Roark to pursue things he doesn’t really want him to have.... (full context)

Keating says that he hasn’t forgotten that Roark helped him a little for the competition, and... (full context)

Keating is furious at Roark, saying he has no right to make Keating ashamed of that... (full context)

Meanwhile, Keating has been named partner at the firm that will now be called “Francon & Keating.”... (full context)

Keating’s day at the office begins with him reading the papers to see if there are... (full context)

...sculptor named Steven Mallory to make a statue of “Industry” for the building’s lobby, but Keating doesn’t like Mallory or his work. After seeing Mallory’s submission, Slotnick agrees with Keating and... (full context)

Keating notices a letter from the Banner on his desk and opens it to find a... (full context)

When Keating returns to the office after lunch, he hears that Toohey has been shot. Keating is... (full context)

Before meeting Toohey the next day, Keating feels anxious. Toohey immediately asks him what he thinks of the temple of Nike Apteros,... (full context)

Keating thanks Toohey for his column, saying he is very happy that Toohey thinks he is... (full context)

Toohey then tells Keating that his plan for the Cosmo-Slotnick Building is brilliant, and very different from his previous... (full context)

Keating then tells Toohey that he is glad he escaped Mallory’s bullet, and Toohey wonders aloud,... (full context)

Toohey asks Keating if he would be the chairman for an organization of young architects, and he also... (full context)

Keating tries to read Lois Cook’s book, which is supposed to be a record of her... (full context)

In the papers, Keating sees Roark’s drawing for the Enright House, which looks like “a rising mass of rock... (full context)

Later, Keating goes to have tea with Toohey and Catherine at the distinguished residential hotel they now... (full context)

Keating anxiously asks Toohey if he approves of their marriage, and Toohey says he does, and... (full context)

Toohey asks Keating when they plan to be married and Keating says they never set a date with... (full context)

Keating changes the subject and asks Toohey what he thinks of Roark. Toohey claims never to... (full context)

Keating and Catherine go for a walk together after tea, and when they are alone, Keating... (full context)

Later, when Keating meets his client Lois Cook, he feels uncomfortable in her presence. She looks offensively unkempt... (full context)

Cook tells Keating that Toohey is organizing a youth group for writers and that she will chair it.... (full context)

Cook makes bizarre demands about the house she wants Keating to design for her, saying she wants it to be “the ugliest house in New... (full context)

At the first meeting of the organization of young architects, Keating immediately feels a sense of comfort and brotherhood with the other 18 whom Toohey has... (full context)

...and Toohey is so surprised at her entrance that he stops speaking for a moment. Keating catches her attention and smiles as though he is “greeting a private possession.” He tries... (full context)

...she says she wouldn’t have missed “the chance to witness the birth of a felony.” Keating approaches, and when Toohey asks her if she knows him, she says Keating “was in... (full context)

Keating accompanies Dominique out and asks why she was actually there. She says it is her... (full context)

When Keating tries to kiss Dominique, he senses her revulsion and asks her who the other man... (full context)

Peter Keating is also popular at the party, and is pleased at all these people who “stand... (full context)

...hobby, which is badminton, and he is very disappointed that Roark can’t and won’t play. Keating talks to Roark after, telling him he should have handled Sutton better by praising badminton,... (full context)

Toohey tells Dominique that she should take more of an interest in Keating, who is a “useful person to know.” He tells her that Keating and Roark went... (full context)

...will be “great” and not “good,” something that the masses will not like. She recommends Keating instead because he is “famous and safe and popular.” Later, Sutton tells Roark that he... (full context)

Toohey asks Dominique how many commissions she has landed for Keating in the past three months. She says four, and tells him that he has employed... (full context)

Toohey asks Dominique how many more commissions she might be able to land for Keating if she is willing to sell her “matchless body” for it, and then adds that... (full context)

...a list of all the commissions that Dominique has taken away from Roark and sent Keating’s way. She is shocked that he knows what she is up to. He says they... (full context)

...Dominique begins to find it easy to endure boredom and attend parties where she praises Keating and criticizes Roark. She often goes to see Roark at night to sleep with him,... (full context)

Meanwhile, Keating is bewildered that Dominique has taken such an interest in furthering his career. He is... (full context)

Keating happens to catch Dominique dining alone at a restaurant, and he asks her why she’s... (full context)

Keating takes comfort in attending Toohey’s Council of American Builders. Gordon L. Prescott is making a... (full context)

In December, the Cosmo-Slotnick Building is opened with much fanfare. Keating thinks that he should be happy, but he is bored by the rigmarole of smiling... (full context)

Toohey takes Keating out to dinner after the celebration and tells him that this is “the climax of... (full context)

Keating is the second witness, and he seems cheerful even though he never looks at Roark.... (full context)

The following evening, Keating comes to visit Catherine. She hasn’t seen him in six months. For the past three... (full context)

Dominique comes to visit Keating at his apartment when he is packing a suitcase for his wedding trip the following... (full context)

As they drive back, Keating asks where they will live now, and Dominique says she will move into his apartment.... (full context)

...the first time that she loves him. She goes on to say that she married Keating the previous day. She knows she has caused Roark great pain and is frightened for... (full context)

Meanwhile, Keating is waiting for Dominique at his apartment. He has “made himself forget [Catherine] and everything... (full context)

Dominique finally arrives at noon, “smiling correctly.” Looking at her, Keating “relive[s] all the telephone calls and [feels] the triumph to which they entitled him.” He... (full context)

Keating goes to the office, glad to get away from home, and he is greeted by... (full context)

That evening, Francon has dinner at Keating’s apartment, and when he is alone with Dominique he tells her he knows she must... (full context)

A few days later, Toohey comes to dinner. Keating says he is happy to have “[his] wife and [his] best friend” at the same... (full context)

...rebuilt into a “Home for Subnormal Children” by a group of architects that Toohey chose: Keating, Gordon L. Prescott, John Erik Snyte, and Gus Webb. They use a mishmash of traditional... (full context)

Later that afternoon, Toohey came to see Wynand and suggested Peter Keating’s services for Stoneridge. Wynand wanted to know why he should take Toohey’s advice, and Toohey... (full context)

...is disappointed, and pretends to have forgotten. He tells Wynand that the statue is of Keating’s wife, and Wynand says that no matter how beautiful she is, she could never match... (full context)

Keating and Dominique are spending a quiet evening together at home. Keating stares into the fire,... (full context)

In the past year, Keating added Dominique to his “possessions.” He enjoys introducing her to strangers and “watch[ing] the stupid,... (full context)

Dominique fills Keating with a feeling of dread he cannot quite understand. He tells her he might finally... (full context)

Keating kneels before Dominique and tells her that she and Roark always make him feel like... (full context)

Just then, Toohey calls and says he will be coming over, and Keating immediately switches to his usual performance mode. Toohey tells them that Dominique should meet Wynand... (full context)

When Keating leaves the room, Toohey confesses that he is disappointed that marriage to Keating hasn’t destroyed... (full context)

...surprised that her name is Dominique Francon, since he only knows her as Mrs. Peter Keating. He wants to know why she never tried to meet him when she’d worked for... (full context)

Dominique says she is there to ask for the Stoneridge commission for her husband, Keating, and that she is willing to sleep with Wynand in exchange for it. He says... (full context)

...for two months on his yacht, and she will return with the contract for Stoneridge. Keating, Wynand, and Dominique meet for dinner later, and Keating is impressed with the fancy restaurant... (full context)

When Dominique returns earlier than expected, Keating wants to know whether that means he won’t get Stoneridge. Dominique tells him that he... (full context)

The next day, Keating feels he has to go meet Toohey and heads to his apartment “like the survivor... (full context)

...Roark that she is marrying Gail Wynand. Roark looks shocked, saying that’s even worse than Keating. Dominique agrees. One of the workers calls Roark to consult with him, and Dominique watches... (full context)

Just then, Keating shows up. Everyone tells him that Ike’s new play is a masterpiece and that he... (full context)

...example of this style is a building designed for a brush company by Gus Webb. Keating is hurt that Toohey picked Gus Webb as an example when Keating, too, has designed... (full context)

Whenever anyone congratulates Keating on Stoneridge, he is unable to feel the old pleasure he got from interactions like... (full context)

Keating’s architectural firm has been losing business and has been downgraded to a single floor. He... (full context)

Keating knows that the change that is coming is too vicious for him to confront. He... (full context)

Keating has lost money in the stock market and isn’t getting new work. He has asked... (full context)

Toohey no longer is interested in Keating, which Keating finds difficult to bear. His partner, Neil Dumont, tells him to ask Toohey... (full context)

When Keating goes to see Toohey, Toohey remarks that Keating has put on weight and will soon... (full context)

Keating tells Toohey that it is remarkable how he always picks the next big talents, like... (full context)

Toohey guesses that Keating has come to talk to him about the Cortlandt Homes. He tells Keating it would... (full context)

Toohey says that in all Keating’s time with him, he doesn’t seem to have understood that Toohey is against individualism and... (full context)

Keating is very hurt, and he tries to tell himself that the “ideas he heard [are]... (full context)

Keating then gets a grip on himself and tells Toohey he has come to ask him... (full context)

Roark hasn’t seen Keating in six years and is shocked to see how old and haggard he looks. Keating... (full context)

Keating says he has been a parasite all his life, since he has “fed on [Roark]... (full context)

The next evening, they meet at Roark’s apartment. Roark tells Keating he will do the project if Keating gives him a good enough offer. Keating offers... (full context)

Roark wants Keating to think about why Roark has spent years on this problem. The “poor people in... (full context)

...past Toohey or committees of any sort to land this challenging project himself, he needs Keating. He loves the work and wants to do it. He says he will do it... (full context)

Later, Keating admits to Roark that if the situation were reversed, he would not have been kind... (full context)

Before Keating leaves, he shows Roark his paintings and wants to know what he thinks about them.... (full context)

...Toohey sees the drawings for the Cortlandt Homes, his mouth falls open and he calls Keating “a genius.” Toohey is sure the plans will be approved and offers Keating his congratulations.... (full context)

One evening, Keating bumps into Catherine Halsey in the street. She smiles at him pleasantly, “not as an... (full context)

At the restaurant, Keating feels that Catherine “seem[s] to have no consciousness of her own person” and does not... (full context)

...says that it was all for the best since she can’t imagine being married to Keating, or to anyone else, since she is “temperamentally unsuited to domesticity.” Keating tells her that... (full context)

Catherine says the things Keating is saying are “ugly and selfish.” When Keating talks about the past, he realizes that,... (full context)

...say it doesn’t exist, it in fact does because some people “have no self.” Like Keating, they live “within others,” or “second-hand.” Keating’s aim was greatness in other people’s eyes—“fame, admiration,... (full context)

...and Wynand return to New York. Roark sees an article about the Cortlandt Homes, citing Keating as the architect and Gordon L. Prescott and Gus Webb as associate designers. He goes... (full context)

The changes to the original drawings “had just happened.” Keating thinks that “Nobody [is] responsible. There [is] no purpose and no cause.” Toohey added Webb... (full context)

Keating goes to visit Roark on the evening that Roark returns, telling him he couldn’t help... (full context)

Mrs. Keating is worried about Peter Keating, who hasn’t left his room in days, and she invites... (full context)

Keating says that what Toohey is doing to him is even worse than what Keating did... (full context)

Toohey says people like Keating—all the “hypocritical sentimentalists”—make him sick, since they profit by what Toohey tells them but don’t... (full context)

...and stress feelings and belief. He says a thinking man can’t be ruled. Toohey says Keating has no right to look disgusted since he is in on it, too, and has... (full context)

...do it and “enjoy unlimited submission.” He will ultimately “achieve no more” than people like Keating will, and is “the most selfless man.” He will have even “less independence than [Keating],... (full context)

...superintendent who had noticed the missing dynamite are the witnesses on the first day. Peter Keating is the first witness on the second day. He says that Roark designed the homes... (full context)

The Fountainhead

Peter Keating Character Analysis

Peter Keating Quotes in The Fountainhead

Part 1: Chapter 9 Quotes

Part 1: Chapter 15 Quotes

Part 2: Chapter 14 Quotes

Part 3: Chapter 2 Quotes

Part 4: Chapter 8 Quotes

Part 4: Chapter 11 Quotes

Part 4: Chapter 14 Quotes

Peter Keating Character Timeline in The Fountainhead