Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Fountainhead, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Individualism
Integrity vs. Conformity
Rationality vs. Emotion
Love and Selfishness
Religion and Morality
Summary
Analysis
Howard Roark stands naked on a granite cliff, laughing as he recalls the events from that morning. He knows that some difficult days lie ahead, but he is already sure of what he needs to do next. When he looks at the rocks around him, he thinks that they are waiting for him to transform them into walls, while the trees will be turned into rafters and a streak of iron ore in the granite will become girders.
Roark is alone and happy when he is first introduced, laughing in the face of problems that have been thrown his way. This first image establishes him as an independent and resilient person. He is standing on a granite cliff, suggesting his dominance over the rock. His thoughts corroborate this—when he looks at the rocks and trees around him, he thinks of how he will shape them into buildings. This not only suggests his strength, but also points to his passion for building.
Themes
Roark dives into the lake and swims to where he left his clothes on the shore. He looks around him sadly because, during the three years he has lived in Stanton, Massachusetts, he has come to this lake to relax and be alone. But he knows he won’t be coming here anymore because he was expelled from the Architectural School of the Stanton Institute of Technology that morning.
Roark isn’t sad because he has been expelled from the Architectural School, but because he will miss the lake where he could “relax and be alone.” This shows that he values his personal happiness more than life situations that other people control.
Themes
As Roark walks back into town, people stare at him and many feel an inexplicable “sudden resentment.” Roark, however, doesn’t notice anyone. When he gets 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. Roark remains impassive, and Mrs. Keating thinks that if she could elicit an emotion from him, it would be like seeing him “broken,” and something about him “had always made her want to see him broken.” She then brags to Roark that her son, Peter Keating, would be graduating that day and was sure to become the greatest architect in America.
Roark’s complete independence is obvious to most people who see him, and many immediately dislike him, possibly because they know that he doesn’t need them or their approval. Mrs. Keating is one of these people and feels a petty desire to break Roark’s strength and independence. She looks forward to making him nervous by telling him that the Dean called. She then tries to needle him by telling him about her son’s successes while being fully aware of Roark’s expulsion. Roark, however, is unaffected by her and reveals no emotion, which she finds frustrating.
Themes
When Roark gets to his large, bare room, he is so immersed in 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 revoked, and she is shocked to realize that Roark might actually be happy to be expelled.
Roark’s expulsion from architecture school has not affected his passion for architecture. His sense of self-worth is untouched by the Board’s opinion of his work—he is still confident in his talent and in the merit of his “austere and simple” designs.
Themes
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The Stanton Institute of Technology looks like a medieval fortress with a Gothic cathedral within it, both of which do not allow light or air through. The Dean’s office looks like a chapel, with a stained-glass window, gargoyles, and a fireplace that has never been used.
Roark seems happy to be expelled from the Stanton Institute of Technology, and this description of it alludes to why that might be. The institute’s building and the Dean’s office are overblown and garish—the antithesis of Roark’s clean and simple design style.
Themes
The Dean expects Roark to plead against his expulsion, but Roark doesn’t. The Dean explains that Professor Peterkin, the critic of design, had threatened to resign unless Roark was expelled, though a few other professors supported Roark. The Dean tells Roark that his design principles are “sheer insanity” and are contrary to “established precedents and traditions of Art”—they look “like a lot of boxes piled together.” He says Roark’s insubordination is “too much” and mentions the Renaissance villa he’d had to design for his final project—he hadn’t followed the traditions of design and couldn’t be passed. Roark says he doesn’t expect to be, and that he shouldn’t have waited to be thrown out—he should have left long ago. The Dean proposes taking Roark back after a year, because of his brilliant record, but Roark declines.
In the novel, this is the first time of many that Roark will stand strong in defense of his principles. He is a young student but is not intimidated by the Dean’s seniority or supposed grasp of architectural principles, which showcases Roark’s courage and individualism. He does not give in to academic pressures and design in the Renaissance style, even though that was what the assignment had asked for—this emphasizes his integrity to his ideas.
Themes
Roark explains that he wants to be “an architect, not an archeologist,” and that he has learned enough about the structural sciences to achieve this. He has no interest in traditional designs, and he doesn’t care about the opinions of the majority, so he doesn’t want to come back to the school. He believes the “purpose, the site, the material” should determine the design of a building. The Dean argues that the “proper creative process” is an “anonymous, collective one, in which each man collaborates with all the others and subordinates himself to the standards of the majority.” Roark disagrees, saying he would like to find joy in his work, which he can do only by setting his own standards. The Dean says that Roark will outgrow these ideas, and that modernists are only a fad.
Roark explains his very rational philosophy of architecture, which is that a building must suit its purpose. His primary motivation to work is to derive happiness from it, and he can only do this if he builds in his own way. The Dean brings up an argument that many others will make in this novel—that of architecture being “anonymous” and “collective,” and that collaboration is the key to good work. Roark will make his case against these ideas throughout the novel.
Themes
The Dean knows that Roark has worked his way through high school and college, getting jobs at construction sites. He tells him not to ruin his future and that he must be sensible and submit to the will of his clients. Roark says he doesn’t want to build for his clients—he only wants clients so he can build. The Dean is annoyed and dismisses Roark. As he leaves, Roark thinks he never understood people like the Dean, but that he had “never learned the process of thinking about other people” and didn’t care. He is distracted by the sunlight hitting the rock building and dreams of what he can build with that stone.
While Roark’s path to the architectural school hasn’t been easy, he makes the decision to not “submit” to the Dean’s demands or continue at the school. Roark doesn’t seem to find this decision particularly hard to make—for him, there can be no other way but to stand by his ideas. As he leaves, he briefly considers what motivates people like the Dean who live by others’ ideas. But Roark never spends much time thinking about other people, and he is soon thinking about building again.
Themes
