Howard Roark: character analysis

In the book, The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, the ideal goal for characters is to become an objectivist. Naturally, there must be a character in the book that qualifies what Rand believes to be an objectivist. In her novel, Howard Roark becomes such a character. The beginning of the book opens with Roark standing on the edge of a cliff naked. This signifies that number one, he is at ease with himself and has no troubles in the world. Number two, it reveals him as the protagonist of the novel. This is in contrast with someone like Peter Keating who simply does not know what to do with himself unless someone is there to tell him that he is correct. Howard Roark does not compromise anything to anyone else's beliefs and that is an objectivist point of view. He believes himself to be the best however, he doesn't care if others think so. Along with his anti-social attitude comes a certain believable power that we see prominantly with Roark's interactions with Dominique Francon. This shows that an objectivist holds power above everyone else. After discovering what Roark does with his unique power, one can decide that he truly does only do what he wants to do and he cares for little else. He is not looking for fame or glory, he is looking for truth (in his architecture) and he is looking for happiness (which he finds even when money is scarce). He does not pay any attention to negative critisism such as what Ellsworth Toohey and Dominique Francon give him because the only critic in his world is himself. That is how an objectivist is to act. Howard Roark's talent for architecture labels him not only as the protagonist of the story but also as someone who has the power to be a protagonist in real life. He is the ideal person in Ayn Rand's mind. That is what makes Roark so interesting to readers. Most readers, I would dare to say, can not identify with Roark simply because the average human being cares about other people's opinions. However, people can identify with Roark's love for what he does and they are surprised and proud of the glorious way that Roark handles critisism as well as praise. His ability to read people makes him even more ideal and powerful. It makes people afraid and allured at the same time. The reader spends the entire novel to discover Howard Roark and at the end his objectivist personality shines through. He stayed himself to the very end. The only difficulty is that readers feel like there is more and that makes Roark all the more interesting because we shall never know the true story of Howard Roark.

Dominique Francon Character Analysis

In The Fountainhead, Dominique is a powerful woman that has fortune by way of her father, Mr. Francon. However, Dominique is completely different from her father. She finds beauty in many things including destruction whereas her father, being an architect cannot imagine greatness unless it is comprised in  his own office. Dominique has set her life in her own values and much like Roark, she does not compromise her values. However, Dominique is a woman and during the 1920s women were expected to get along with society. Dominique is a cold hearted woman until she meets Roark. Roark breaks down her control of her world simply by knowing her. When Roark moves away, Dominique is cold again and she and Keating agree to court publicly but in reality Dominique constantly snubs Keating. Dominique punishes herself constantly because she always believes that she has done something wrong to the world or the world has done something wrong to her. When Roark returns, she meets him at a party and they do not discuss the rape because she is still not sure what to think of it. Roark instills emotion in her that she cannot understand because she has been such a cold hearted woman for so long. Eventually, Dominique punishes herself as a substitute for punishing the world because the world does not understand Roark. She does this punishment by agreeing to marry Keating. Now, Dominique is showing her ability to not care about society and the expectations in it. Keating and her do not get along and their marriage is somewhat of a joke. However, society is entranced with their marriage and Roark has become “the other man” in Dominique’s life. She does not have a problem with going against society like this. Roark and Dominique continue to meet at nights and Roark and Dominique admit their love to each other. This is significant because up until meeting each other, both characters were freezing out the rest of the world and showing little to no emotion. Dominique has shown a powerful emotion by loving Roark and they both understand the need to push each other’s limits. Dominique pushes Roark by talking out against him in her column. That is, until she is fired. Dominique is just like Roark in her lack of ability to compromise her own values. This makes her and Roark quite alike.