Book Review: The Fountainhead: Part 1 ( Peter Keating)
Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand, came as a reading challenge to me. The book was bought and shipped to me by one of my book club friends. Then a person very close to me remembers Ayn Rand line by line. With a formidable array of stalwarts and fans of Ayn Rand hovering over me, I set to read the book. I thought of writing a review series rather than a single review because of the unusual interest.
The story has five characters than four. Firstly, Howard Roark is the protagonist. Second, Peter Keating, his classmate, and his antithesis. Third, Ellsworth Toohey, the antagonist. Fourth, Gail Wynand, the newspaper mogul. Finally, Dominique Francon weaves around Roark, Keating, and Wynand.
My first observation is that this book is best reviewed from Dominique’s point of view.
I read the adjacent literature before jumping into the novel. So don’t be surprised about the length of the review.
The construct of the review is to look at the men as pillars of a building and the woman, Dominique as the beam, the horizontal frame that holds the pillars together. One might wonder the reason for this visual. Here are some views.
a) A society is mostly nameless people, but a story pulls the characters out of them — they become the focal points because they are the samples of society. Because we know now that Ayn Rand did not present it as a simple novel for the reader, but as the proponent of a specific ideology, the characters become the vehicles of her views, along with their original role in playing a part in the story.
b) Relatability bias has seeped in early as some of the ‘Ayn Rand Legion’ or simply fans, brought out their associative views (not merely a reader’s view), where they related to each character. I fell prey to this temptation as I conversed with them, but I took a long pause to avoid this bias. But it is important to note that the legion is about reading the book and relating to the characters again over some time. Another dimension of Ayn Rand’s writing is that she can make the reader love or hate, but relate to almost all the novel's key characters.
c) Some of the fans said that they had read Fountainhead more than 25 times, and each time, their views changed. The book attracts its readers like moths, falling for the lure of its character arcs ( more than the ideology or the plot), and changing their views each time they read.
d) The book, while being about architecture, mirrors modern society, especially an urban society like New York with its splendor and squalor, glass-gilded skyscrapers, and dark sewer alleys, and how human principles stand the test of society.
If one had to capture my overall experience in reading the book, the path that Dominique traverses (even though this is too early to comment), from Peter Keating to Gail Wynand then her back-and-forth-and-finally with Roark, makes her the best candidate for the first person narrative of this story ( even if she is not present in some key parts).
The first part introduces Dominique as the 19-year-old girl of Guy Francon, the successful architect and one of the leading lights of architecture in the country. Peter Keating is intrigued by her looming in the background, as he combines his ambition and curiosity about her — it takes a while and some effort for him, and that too favored by a father who sees Keating as the man who tamed the ‘shrew’.
Dominique is not exactly the shrew though. Guy Francon remembers Dominique as a child who took an impossible leap over a hedge, her white dress and blond hair spreading like mats in the air, in the greatest burst of ecstatic freedom in his life. She is a woman with a clear view — she sees the world as a marketplace —people build relationships to fulfill their needs and leverage them to grow. She lives alone but appears in societal circles, and holds her own. She derives pleasure from non-conformance; his father is baffled by it and Peter Keating is attracted by it.
Two situations elucidate Dominique’s character — First, she mingles with Peter Keating freely, without any frills and fracas, and almost figures him out. She toys with him, while he sees her initially as formidable, but also as an opportunity to make it to the high table. Along with his extortive efforts that killed Heyer, Francon’s partner, and his successful sandbagging of Stengel out of contention for the position of chief designer, Peter Keating feels that Dominique is his ticket to the high table. Second, her conversation with Alvah Scarrett brings out her desire not to lean on other people, and mainly ‘non-conformance’ to the standard desires and interdependent thinking and lifestyle.
‘I take the only desire one can really permit oneself. Freedom, Alvah, Freedom. To ask nothing. To expect nothing. To depend on nothing.’ — Dominique Francon
The real power in a human is that detachment which allows her to be free from any expectations like how Alvah heard and Guy Francon visualized. Reread those lines. We feel that it could have been Roark’s line as well. Except that he won’t speak. Dominique is her own person, and so is Roark.
The reason we explore these incidents first is to set the possible arcs that connect Dominique and Roark. We will come to Roark now.
The touch points of Dominique and Roark are through Guy Francon and Peter Keating.
In a sense, Guy Francon is the path for Dominique’s tryst with Peter Keating (which I have covered earlier). Guy Francon appears as the keynote speaker in the graduation ceremony, where Peter Keating wins the Outstanding Student of the Year award and offers him a job at his firm. From there on, Peter Keating rises the ranks, mollycoddling, sideswiping, stepping over, threatening, cajoling, and blackmailing, to almost partner level. But when he meets Dominique, the first feeling he gets is ‘fear’ (let us recall his encounters with Roark too), the fear of independence and self-made people, who can’t be influenced for his purposes.
She allows him to court, date, and kiss her. She is comfortable and often lays out her views on him, almost mockingly, which is so predictable in the men of his type — so dependent on others, yet remorseless and unempathetic, where one abandons their self-esteem and principles in favor of achieving their goals. But when it comes to the final question — Peter asks her to marry him, and she refuses with disdain, and her kiss is cold, almost inanimate. She knows that he is uttering words to please her, but his purpose is different, and she points out that she could be friends with him, and he would get the partnership anyway.
Peter, if I ever were to punish myself for something terrible, if I ever want to punish myself disgustingly — I will marry you. ~ Dominique Francon.
It is important to notice that Peter Keating fears her, becomes desperate to woo and marry her, and finally, on her blunt denial, he feels a morbid disdain and hatred towards her.
Dominique operates in a space that men hate to acknowledge or decipher. She gives away or expects nothing, and does not lean into a man, and most men she has met are either romantic weaklings or self-serving creatures. She stands on her legs, independent yet almost cynical of the world which is so soaked in material desires and will bend its will and principles to attain those goals.
Alvah: ‘What do you want? Perfection?’
Dominique: ‘Or nothing. So you see, I take the nothing.’
The words that Dominique utters during the Alvah conversation at her penthouse apartment that evening, are exactly what Roark is living. He is looking for perfection in his designs — not just superficial beauty or aesthetics, but functional perfection.
‘A house can have integrity, just like a person. Just as seldom… Every piece of it is there because the house needs it — and for no other reason.’ ~Howard Roark.
We must note that Dominique hasn’t met Roark at this stage, but they echo the same values that Ayn Rand espouses — the human spirit’s purposeful, principled existence.
For a moment, we will visit Guy Francon, Dominique’s father and Peter’s boss. Guy has had some past successes, much like Peter Keating’s win over Cosmos Slotnick, and there were rumors that Guy had some excellent drafter or probably Heyer himself. The construct of the Guy-Peter relationship to that of Henry Cameron — Howard Roark's relationship is a stunning parallel.
Henry Cameron is a successful architect at some point, but fails because of his principled stance of modernist architecture, disavowing the usual practice of reverence to the past, being ‘custodians of the sacred heritage’ as Guy Francon declares. No wonder that Roark takes to Henry like fish to master, for he reveres him as his master. Despite the initial resistance, Henry understands the unwavering and cold, principled approach of Roark, and anoints him as his disciple and his successor. They go through similar struggles, often refusing jobs that compromise functional perfection in their design for the looks.
Francon operates in the upper echelon of the architectural society easily identifies with Peter, and eventually comes close to putting his name at the entrance. He promotes him without hesitation and encourages him to court Dominique.
The older men picking their proteges based on their ways of life is a noteworthy arc, and there lies the foundation and the path for Peter Keating and Howard Roark. Ayn Rand sets the two principal characters as two pillars — principled, independent suffering individualism vs conforming, mainstream, opulent collectivism.
I am parking Ellsworth Toohey, who has been introduced as Catherine’s uncle and hovers behind the scenes. Ayn Rand foreshadows his formidable influence through words and their impact on somebody like Guy Francon. We also note that the ‘plain buildings’ constructed by Roark often aren’t mentioned in Ellsworth’s writings. Dominique mentions highly of him in a conversation with Peter Keating.
This brings us to the final matchup of Part 1. Howard Roark and Peter Keating. The first part is titled ‘Peter Keating’. Most interestingly, Peter’s encounters with Howard Roark are of great interest, and that is how the idea of the four pillars plus one beam theory of plot construct came into my mind.
Howard Roark is like the tree with firm roots, deeply entrenched, but thick trunks, almost impervious to the vagaries of fickle nature, while Peter Keating is like the weed that can grow almost anywhere, and parasitic, that can feed and destroy its host. In the event of a storm, the tree would stand erect, and resist, despite being broken and beaten, and would not bend to the storm. The weed, instead, would bend and fold, adapt to the velocity and direction of the wind, remorselessly feigning deference, only to survive adversity.
Peter Keating starts at the top of his graduating class, while Roark walks indignantly out of the Dean’s cabin, expelled from the class; he stays as a tenant under Mrs. Keating’s quarters. Right after the graduation ceremony, Peter meets Howard to seek validation, but Howard parries the engagement.
‘If you want my advice, you have made a mistake already. By asking me. By asking anyone. Not on your work. Don’t you know what you want? How can you stand it, not to know?’ ~ Roark to Keating.
From thereon, at each stage of their growth levels, they meet — only that Peter clutching each step of the ladder with subterfuge and climbing up in Francon & Heyer, while Howard takes himself as the protege of Henry Cameron, the principled yet fallen architect of the yesteryears and now wallowing without work, yet turning that to a purposeful tutelage — each time, Peter seeks validation from Roark, who parries his approaches.
One time, Peter invites Howard for a drink and he refuses.
Peter: Can’t you ever be comfortable — and unimportant?
Howard: No.
Peter: Don’t you get tired of the heroic?
Howard: What’s heroic about me?
Peter: Nothing. Everything. I don’t know. It is not what you do. It’s what you make people feel around you.
Howard: What?
Peter: The un-normal. The strain. When I’m with you — it’s always like a choice. Between you — and the rest of the world. … I don’t want to be an outsider. I want to belong…
…
Peter: Howard, why do you hate me?
Howard: I don’t hate you.
Peter: Well, that’s it! Why don’t you hate me at least?
Howard: Why should I?
Peter: Just give me something.
Peter attempts to establish relevance and relative success with Roark; his vain efforts to provide financial or job support, more often than not, are refused by Roark. However, Roark takes up the job offer as a draftsman under Keating, and Keating feels like a temporary success. With an acerbic confrontation with Guy Francon ( who does not know Roark’s abilities, but treats him as a draftsman) where he loses his job, Roark reverts to his impoverished yet principled life as a jobless architect.
The final act in Part 1 between the two is when Peter Keating leans on Howard Roark’s cuts and slashes on his average design for the Cosmo-Slotnick competition, which he eventually wins. Once he wins, he goes to Roark to level with him, knowing well that it is Howard’s design that won the competition and he did not care about it anyway. Peter tells Roark he is not ungrateful. Since he knows that Roark gave him some advice, he would give some credit for it. He writes a cheque in Roark’s name, which Roark promptly returns with Peter’s name on the back leaf. Peter is offended and goes on a rant.
‘Who do you think you are?… So you are too good for that building?… a flop… a failure… and you stand there pronouncing judgment! You, against the whole world… You can’t frighten me. You can’t touch me. I have the whole world behind me…. I’ve always hated you! I always will! I will break you someday…’ ~Peter Keating to Howard Roark.
Though he immediately apologizes and appeases, it shows the ultimate polarization between the weasel-like Peter Keating and the lion-like Howard Roark. At this point, we all would assume that Roark is on top, but it is Keating who has won the most prestigious design competition the country had known, yet he stands at the bottom of the hill, while Howard comes on top.
He hated Roark. The reasons? It was not necessary to wonder about the reasons. It was necessary only to hate, to hate blindly, to hate patiently, to hate without anger; only to hate, and let nothing intervene, and not let oneself forget forever.
The relatability to Howard Roark is now unhinged hatred; there is no inner peace for Peter Keating, even when he is on top of the world.
If we compare this with the words uttered in disgust by Peter Keating after being ignored by Dominique,
Peter: Dominique, have you ever been kissed before? … Why do you want to kiss me?
Dominique: Yes, I wanted to try it. I wanted to try it.
Peter: You are not human, Dominique.
A few moments after that wooden kiss, Peter tries to steal the opportunity to propose to marry her. She rejects him, but still, he says that he will hang around and wait for her.
He walked savagely. If at that moment, someone had offered him sole ownership of the firm Francon & Hayer at the price of marrying Dominique he would have refused. He knew also, hating himself, he would not refuse it if offered to him the next morning.
That happens… when he finally is not afraid of Dominique any longer. He will try to win her over and marry her if the chance arises again.
Dominique and Howard stand as two independent pillars, not crossing paths but their characters progress through their relationships with Peter Keating, and Peter Keating evolves from fear to blind hatred towards Roark, and fear to opportunistic anticipation towards Dominique.
The principal arcs take the support of Mrs. Keating, Catherine, Guy Francon, and Henry Cameron and set up their positions for Part 2. Dominique is away, Howard is at the pits — the quarry of Guy Francon and Peter is at the peak, literally standing on the podium with his name at the door of Francon and Keating.
The weave of Dominique as the horizontal character is yet to evolve, as the other two principal characters — Ellsworth Toohey and Gail Wynand are yet to evolve. For now, the central role of Peter Keating in Part 1, is well deserved as he takes the other side of the spectrum versus Howard Roark and Dominique Francon.
The positioning of the characters’ ideology comes soon in the plot, and the story relies on character development in a linear narrative. This makes the plot simple, but the interweaving of characters helps the reader understand the developments thoroughly. Ayn Rand deploys simple language but deploys short dialogues, and she sets the scene with vivid descriptions. The timelines jump forward seamlessly, allowing the story to pick pace in places where the scene changes from one character to another.
Here are some questions going forward:
Who is Ellsworth Toohey?
What happens if and when Roark and Dominique meet each other?
Will Roark rise from the pits?
What happens to Peter Keating who is now the partner of Francon & Hayer, and building arguably the most beautiful building in the world?
Too eager to jump into Part 2… Ellsworth Toohey.
~Ashok Subramanian © 2024
