The Characters in The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand - Essay Example

The character of Dominique Francon in Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead” initially appears to be a bundle of contradictions. While she seems able to appreciate human potential and achievements, as can be shown in her taste for the music of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff and of her appreciation of the gifted artist, Steven Mallory, who created a sculpture that she modeled for, she displays a certain pessimism in her manner, in her words, and most especially in her work as an architectural writer in Gail Wynand’s newspaper. She does not seem to take her column seriously, and instead uses it to mock the institution that she writes for, the architects she writes about, and even the readers who read her work and actually take what she writes seriously. We might even go so far as to say that she mocks herself when she makes a mockery of her column which is a parody of what a real newspaper column should be. While she despises people such as Ellsworth Toohey and Peter Keating, she sees them socially and heaps praises on them through her writing and even marries Peter Keating at one point in the novel. The greatest contradiction that we find in Dominique Francon is her apparent love for Howard Roark and her continuous attempts to discredit and destroy him as an architect, which is to say that she seeks to destroy him as a man. But it cannot be doubted that she loves Howard Roark – from the moment they met, she became compelled to have him in her thoughts all the time. Also from the moment they met, her very existence became a struggle against wanting to go to him and knowing that she must wait for him to come to her. After leaving the countryside (and the quarry), Dominique felt that “she was not free any longer. Each step through the streets hurt her now. She was tied to him - as he was tied to every part of the city.” (Rand, 1943) However, after (officially) meeting him at a formal party and finding out that he was the architect Howard Roark, she used her column to sway the public’s sympathy away from Roark’s buildings, by seeming to take a disparaging attitude against his buildings, most notably against the Enright house. Within that contradiction is another contradiction, in the sense that Dominique chooses to disparage Roark’s work by subtly praising it, by saying that it makes all other buildings look terrible because of because of the contrast between Roark’s buildings’ marked greatness and understated dignity and everything else in the city – an act that goes unnoticed by most readers and is detected only by those who are able to detect nuances such as the writers Alvah Scarret and Elsworth Toohey. Upon closer inspection, these two seemingly contradictory attitudes of Dominique towards Roark may not be so contradictory after all. In Dominique we find a person who is able to appreciate humanity’s potential for greatness, yet she is surrounded by second rate men such as Peter Keating and Ellsworth Toohey. She has lived all of her life in a world where power is held by those whose work are derivative, unoriginal, and ultimately second rate. While she herself is not one of those whom the novel refers to as ‘second-raters’, she feels that she exists in a world that not only celebrates mediocrity but has also lost the right to have any form of greatness exist in it. In a conversation with Alvah Scarret, she speaks of a sculpture that she found to be truly beautiful and one that she loved, a sculpture which she broke through the expedient means of throwing it down an air shaft after acquiring it. She expresses this general sentiment towards the world to Ellsworth Toohey by mockingly saying that “it’s just what we all need - and deserve," while referring to Toohey’s little group of second-raters (Rand, 1943). Much like the sculpture, she has found in Howard Roark someone who is truly brilliant and talented and beautiful. She has also found in Roark someone whom she could honestly and irrevocably love. Given her disdainful regard for the world which celebrated the likes of Peter Keating, she may have regarded the public’s adoration as more of an insult rather than finding it complimentary when directed to Roark’s work. In swaying the public’s regard away from Roark and against him, she may have felt that she was protecting Roark from the second-raters who hold power simply because they exist in a world that has come to fear greatness. She may have also believed that these people, the unthinking herd that applauded the likes of Ellsworth Toohey, did not deserve Howard Roark, and that to have them praise Roark would be a mockery and a travesty rather than a tribute, and that they did not deserve someone as brilliant as Howard Roark. Another plausible reason behind Dominique’s actions may also lie in her desire to keep Howard to herself. When asked for the reason behind her breaking the sculpture that she admired so much by Scarret, she replies "so that no one else would ever see it," (Rand, 1943). By creating a barrier between Roark and the public through her newspaper column, there is a part of Roark that will only belong to her, the part of him that made her love him, which is the same part that Peter Keating instinctively fears – his inability to compromise his beliefs. Dominique’s sentiments towards Roark’s work and towards Roark himself reflect the novel’s theme and meaning. We see that Dominique’s regard for Roark is based on her ability to reason and to think for herself. She does not depend on other people’s opinions to fashion her own thoughts, and therefore sees through the fallacy of Ellsworth Toohey’s continuous grab for power that is based on swaying other people rather than in creating something with his own skill and talent. She admires the human potential for greatness and therefore sees through Peter Keating’s derivative and unoriginal work, and sees him as a sad product of other people’s machinations and opinions but never his own. It is because of the strength of her individuality and her ability to think for herself that Dominique understands just how remarkable Howard Roark is, both in his ability to create and in his ability to hold strong to his ideals against the pressure of a society that demands conformity. Also, in Dominique’s attempts to influence people into disliking Roark’s work there is also an attempt to dissuade these same people from offering up accolades to Roark. She understands that these acclaims, which are based not on skill or capability or creativity but is instead based on popularity, would not be a compliment to Roark’s abilities but would instead be a dire insult. She seeks to separate Roark from those who are unable to create and whose abilities rely not on skills but on the people whom they know. These are the people whom the novel refers to as the second-raters – the people who leech of those who are able to use their skills and talents yet at the same time desire their destruction. Because they rely on other people to sustain their power over these same people, they cannot stand for the existence of those who exist without needing other people, and therefore exist outside the second-raters’ sphere of influence. This seeming contradiction between Dominique’s regard for Roark and what seems to be her professional disdain for his work stems from her desire to bolster his non-conformity and his individuality. It also stems from a fear that he will be ruined by the masses who hold power over him due to sheer number, and that their desire to break Roark might overpower his strength and beliefs. However, in the end Dominique realizes that Roark will not bend or break, and that the conformists do not have any power over Roark because of his sheer disregard for them and their opinion of him. In recognizing this, Dominique is finally able to come to terms with her love for Roark and her desire to be with him, which finally leads to their marriage at the end of “The Fountainhead”. Works Cited Rand, A. (1943). The Fountainhead. United States: Bobbs Merrill. Read More