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[AllStarZ]

Okay so for those who don't know, Ayn Rand conceived of the philosophy of Objectivism, which to quote from the author's own mouth: "My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." I'm not too sure what this means entirely, but from what I can interpret it means that "each man to his own best".

People seem to disagree with this philosophy, since it basically says that humans should be selfish. I did at some point as well, and I still don't entirely agree with this nor Rand's methods of portrayal. But she still raises some interesting ideas that seem to ring true in a number of cases.

The Fountainhead is an introduction to that philosophy. It is set in the 1920's, and revolves around Howard Roark, a young idealistic architect. Howard Roark has revolutionary ideas on architecture, and is part of a real life architectural style and movement called modernism, which focuses on the idea that a structure should be free of unnecessary details, like marble columns and elaborate Greek porticoes. This idea was brought about by the advent of the steel-framed structure, which rather than requiring that the walls of the building support the structure, an internal frame does all that work.

Despite this fact, people insisted on designing buildings the "traditional way", even though the methods have clearly changed. And so Howard Roark is an outcast among most of his contemporaries, despite his unsurpassed skill as an architect. The novel proceeds to highlight several different types of characters along Howard Roark's struggle for his art, from his old friend Peter Keating, the scheming Ellsworth Toohey, to his romantic interest Dominique Francon.

Howard Roark is a highly unusual character in himself. To others, he seems distant, and he generally neglects social relationships. He refuses to sacrifice his integrity, even when eventually reduced to working a jackhammer at a granite mining pit. Rather than applying to work at any number of renowned architectural firms, he seeks out a man who made a number of successful buildings before sinking into obscurity. He will not compromise his architecture by adding on the smallest detail he deems unnecessary. Many prospective clients visit him, but he rejects many of them as they wanted him to add some classical element of some sort to his design. Some however, see the value in his work, and through them by the end of the novel, he is rewarded with the acclaim that has eluded him for so long.

Roark is the exemplification in Rand's idea that an individual should live for themselves, and never compromise their ideas or their life for others.

His fellow architect, Peter Keating, is the polar opposite. Peter Keating is quite sociable, and easily gets along with others. At graduation, when his friend Roark was expelled, he was offered the choice of signing onto a reputable firm or going to Europe to study. He chose the former, and quickly rose to the top. While climbing up the corporate ladder however, Peter crushes others in his way. He manipulates his boss into firing people and then taking their positions, and even blackmails one of the firm partners, an old man, who then has a heart attack and dies. Peter often goes to seek Roark's help in designing a building. He takes Roark's designs, adds his own touches to appeal to the crowd, and through that combination achieves fame through what was mainly Roark's hand. At the end of the novel however, his lack of ability as an architect is apparent, and Peter sinks into obscurity.

Through all this, Peter is driven along by his mother and the expectations of others. He is incapable of following his own desires to live life to the fullest, and ends up lost and aimless.

Besides some of her ideas on Objectivism, Ayn Rand displays opinions on several other subjects.

One of them relates to social changes. Throughout the novel, people are generally unwilling to accept Roark's designs without modification. Classical and Neo-Classical elements are seen to be essential to building design, and no one is able to let go of those perceptions. It takes individual men with vision and determination (as well not to mention influence) to dispel these ideas, and gradually Roark's architecture for all its benefits becomes accepted.

The other relates to newspapers and their effects on public opinion. Believe what you read or not, but in the novel, newspapers served as a means by which Ellsworth Toohey (the primary antagonist), could manipulate public opinion. Toohey claims himself a socialist, and "supports the lot of the common worker". In reality, he uses this power to his own ends. He uses his cries of socialism and equality to rally the support of his readers. When the situation began to turn against his liking, he uses the power of the strike to force the owner of the newspaper he works at to succumb to his demands.

One fairly minor point in text that I found interesting is her view on unionization. Relating this to her philosophy and real life, workers should be able to petition for better wages and less hours if required by forming unions. What they should not do however, is join a union unconditionally, or for reasons outside of improving conditions of work. In the former case, the workers are petitioning in their own interests. In the latter, they are subordinating themselves to the interests of the union, which may or may not support the people that make up the union.