Literary Analysis of The Fountainhead - Essay Example

? The Fountainhead: Literary Analysis The personal motifs and individualistic approach is more important in arts and architecture. ‘The fountainhead’by Ayn Rand is the story of a young architect, Howard Roark, who struggles a lot for variety and novelty than the conventional pattern, in his constructions. The fight to establish his ideology and efforts to put it into practice are down treated by the traditional worshipers. In spite of all the ill-treatment and harsh conditions, Howard, with his determination and self –esteem, wins over all the characters and all the established accepted wisdom of that time. The Author Ayn Rand proved herself to be a great novelist by demonstrating numerous prototypes of complex characters that assist her protagonist to achieve fame directly or indirectly. Not because of his aspiration to become a wonderful man but to resist the wave and wish to remain true to him, that Howard Roark abandoned his school of architecture studies. The author consciously starts her novel with negative emotions, a denial, and an unwillingness to cope up with the existing ones. A person who knows himself, has belief in himself can only seize to such brave decisions. The person he admires is also a disgraced architect. But his schoolmate Peter Keating works in famous architectural firm Francon& Heyer run by Guy Francon. The then societal customs in the field of construction is well-explicated here by saying that their works were prized on the odd occasion. Since then he was trying to break the barriers on his way. To change the existing believes Howard thrashes about and the pain is high when one is self passionate to achieve a desired virtue. All the characters in this novel are having such self defined approach s and craving. Roark now turns to Keating’s firm but he was send away by Francon. He was unwilling to work in a firm which will take the best aspects of his design and merge his ideas with that of some other draftsman. Slowly he was accepted. But his firm faith in his dogma and truthfulness to his mind set are the real obstacles to attain a considerate rank in the then society. But there is a moment in which he was approved, a spark in the mind of a client, which would have possibly altered his life as an architect. But to find more who are close to his principles was another difficulty, but it was a sign that some are there who wish to take the road less travelled by. While delineating the complex character Roark, the author was building a person above her own intellectual level, a character who never bends his head for compromises. Roark says to Stephen “You’ve gone beyond the probable and made us see the possible, but possible only through you. Because your figures are more devoid of contempt of humanity than any work I’ve ever seen ….I came for a simple, selfish reason….to seek the best.” We see that Keating uses his unchanged sense of flattery and decisiveness to Domnique who was daughter of Guy Francon and working as a columnist for ‘The New York Banner. Later when Roark was working in a quarry he happened to see Dominique. The meeting does not have the resemblance of a common relation through which a new bond was created and the elements are not their bodies but their mind-set. According to the author “When they lay in bed together it was—as it had to be …an act of violence….it was the moment made of hatred , tension , pain…” We are convinced through the approaching events that Dominique was also forced to follow the existing pattern in order to flow with the current. She is not an integrated personality. When she offers her hand in marriage to Keating, she was embracing the prevailing culture and attitude of the society. Dominique plans several events and executes it to keep Roark away from the mainstream .But Roark continues to attract small but steady stream of clients who see the significance of his work. Dominique is a character who flows with the time and frustrating Roark even by her choice in life and becomes the wife of Wynad the owner of ‘Banner’. Truth wins ever. Slowly Wynad realizes that all the designs he liked were designed by Roark. Thus Roark get a chance to build a house for Wynard and Dominique. Dominique represents the naked cultural and philosophical aspects of the society. Though she likes Roark’s designs, she never reveals or praises it, instead she tries to sabotage this eminent draftsman. Sentimentalism has no place, instead motive and logic plays everywhere and with everyone. The domination of individual more than emotional plea is highlighted in the dialogues of the characters. The author is not ready to give concessions to individualistic judgment. The tough, violent and sturdy attitude created by the author is justifiable since it leads to distinctiveness, which is a mild breeze slowly changing to storm that stirs the vacant way of life. When Roark agrees with Keating to design the new public housing project, and allow him to take the credit, he insists on keeping the structure as itself. That was not a denial of the self, but to establish the creation of imaginative. But he realizes that despite the agreement the Cortlandt Homes project has been changed. The building was destroyed which is the reconstruction of lackluster. Roark for his ideals was condemned by the whole country. Wynand also suffers for supporting Roark. During the trial he roused the court room with a statement about the value of selfishness and the need to remain true to oneself. In chapter 8 Keatings himself explains about his deeds” Howard, I’m a parasite, I ‘ve been a parasite in all my life….I have fed on you and all the men like you who lived before we were born…..if they hadn’t existed, I wouldn’t have known how to put stone to stone … I have taken that which was not mine and give nothing in return.” The fallacy of Keating’s life is disclosed to the readers through these lines. Ayn use The ’Banner’ to expose the nastiest elements of the society and the mass culture. It reflects and nourishes the public’s poor taste. The fact that anything public is nasty, ugly and ignorant, is revealed through Banner when it supports Roark and his ideas. It drops its circulation and the workers go on strike. Dominique makes a comment about Wynad in chapter 9. “He was not the corrupt publisher of a popular empire. He was an aristocrat aboard. He looked, she thought, like what one believes an aristocrat to be when one is young: a brilliant kind of Gaiety without guilt.” While Roark was portrayed, the author depicts the other characters greatly in contrast to him both physically and ideologically. The inclination of the society to accept what is pleasing to the eyes is criticized throughout the novel. The characters like Ellswoth Toohy, Keating etc stresses need of the prevailing culture to be fostered in order to prevent individual interests and philosophy .Dominique willfully become part of it. But the deep rooted desire of Roark to revolutionize the social convention is evident in his words “I set my own standards. I inherit nothing. I stand at the end of no tradition. I may perhaps stand at the beginning of one.” The architecture structure f any type attains Roark’s comment which were always abusing. The degradation of the structural designs conveys the dilapidation of the society itself. The architectural corruption of so many building represents more broadly the spiritual corruption of the world in which thoughts and actions never coincide. The novel introduces three different types of personalities for the progress of the complex theme of architecture. The first type of that is traditionalist. Traditionalist is people who blindly bound to the thinking of the past. They even do not distinguish the truth of the ideas that they believe in. To them truth and believes are entirely different. Traditionalist believes in the age of the idea that they believe in. Because of their commitment to the past they cannot differentiate the present. The Dean who disagree with Roark, Guy Francon and Raltson are people who demerit Cameron’s and Roark’s innovations. Some other types of characters who support to make the conflict are conformists. The people have no ground-breaking ideas. At this point we have to think why the members of J ass Stuart Real Estate reject Roark’s projects. They say” No one has ever built anything like this”. Some architects like John Erick Synte only satisfies the need of the clients. But Peter Keating is different, but tries to impress others with false notions and astonishing words. At one time he advises Roark” Always be what people want you to be “. Thus he proves that he is incapable of recognizing the abilities of others We meet some others who can be called as socialist. They are service minded, committed to the society to offer service. Toohy is an example of these brand .He reveals to Keating when he ask ‘Why do you want Howard, he replies, he doesn’t want to kill Roark but to keep him alive in a cell where he finally be forced to obey. Ayn, through the different archetypical characters tries to bring out the social and moral corruption of the people of the time. At the beginning of the novel itself we meet this people. Peter Keating and Guy Francon engage in excessive drinking. Keating is not a true architect but he feeds on others success. He is a social William who take others freedom to destroy them. The real architecture of the building and that of the human mind are tangled together to form a complex structure. Dominique who is in search for a perfection, which she demands to have in her life and also in the field of construction, is finally satisfied when she turns to Roark. Likewise Roark also rummage around for this faultlessness throughout the novel, for each building he see, and for each character he meet. Roark’s dialogue to The Dean evidently shows his search for aptness. He says “Here are my rules: What can be done with one substance must never be done with another. No two materials are alike. No two sites on earth are alike. No two building have the same purpose. The purpose, the site, the material determine the shape. Nothing can be reasonable or beautiful unless it’s made by one central idea.” Ayn had carefully drowned her fictional character with her preconceived notions about architecture and its significance in the present world. Roark is Rand’s personification of the superman, strengthened with individualistic approach and never compromising with the believes. He has determination and he himself masters his life. Sometimes he fails to communicate his mind to others and convince others. But his language is architecture through which he speaks to the world. He never thinks about fame, it comes in search of him. Wynand’s inspiring words are the real admiration.” Build it as a monument to that spirit which is yours… and could have been mine.” Thus it is comprehensible that the primary theory of the novel is individualism versus collectivism, within self. The independent –mindedness and integrity succeeds last. Roark win over the mass idea only through his individualistic approach which offers him hardships and humiliation. Thus the novel is a philosophical drama which made the less familiar theme architecture, more recognizable. Work Cited Rand, Ayn. The Fountainhead; Bobbs Merrill, 1943 http://www.atlassociety.org/literary-achievement-fountainhead . . Read More