The Fountainhead: Part 4: Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis

Toohey is at a gathering filled with his admirers, including Mitchell Layton, Homer Slottern, their wives, Eve Layton and Renée Slottern, and others. They are all talking about the loss of personal freedom as the way to progress, and that “unselfishness is the only moral principle.” Mitchell says that “what makes people unhappy is not too little choice, but too much.” Toohey says that “mysticism” and “dialectic materialism” are “superficially varied manifestations” of “the same intention.”

Eve Layton insists that it’s “stupid to talk about personal choice” because “There’s no such thing as a person. There’s only a collective entity.” Toohey is pleased to hear these words. Mitchell Layton says that the masses “don’t know what’s good for them” and need to be led into collectivism by people of culture and position like them. 

They talk about the Banner, and how it’s slipping. Mitchell Layton says the one time Toohey was wrong was when he advised him to buy a share in the Banner, but Toohey tells him to be patient. They say there’s a “We Don’t Read Wynand” movement, which is run by Gus Webb, and is raising public sentiment against Wynand. Homer Slottern says he and some fellow advertisers are planning to pull their ads out of the Banner, but Toohey tells them the time isn’t right yet and he’ll tell them when to do it. Toohey now has a union at the Banner, which had started off as just a club.

When Toohey leaves the gathering, he feels exhilarated at how much his ideas have caught on. He remembers what he’d told Dominique once, that society is “a complicated piece of machinery,” and by pressing the right button, one can make the whole thing collapse. He wishes she could have been present to hear the evening’s conversation.