The Fountainhead is a novel of gigantic proportions. It deals with great talent and great mediocrity, with great love and great hatred, with great ambition and equally great complacence. It unpretentiously chooses to steer clear of the much hyped common man, with his commonplace dreams and aspirations.
The theme of The Fountainhead can be summarized in the famous line by the author-"man's ego is the fountainhead of human progress". The novel exalts egotism, which is generally looked upon in our world with great dislike. The protagonist, Howard Roark, is a man used by the author to exemplify this philosophy. He is a man of outstanding genius whose only fault seems to be that the world is not ready for him. This man's genius remains unrecognized by the society, he is shunned and ridiculed, but no number of attempts to break him, to force him to confine his work within the parameters laid by the society succeed. The inborn talent in this man and the fountainhead of inspiration in his soul cannot be restrained by any force on earth.
Individualism is the doctrine on which the novel is based." No man can live for another". If a man has talent, and recognises the potential within him, he has the right to be an egotist. Egotism must not be equated with false pride. A man who believes in himself acquires the strength to combat the whole world. Such is the case of Howard Roark. What puts him on a plane much higher than every other character in this novel is the sheer power and self conviction he exudes in the face of the gravest adversity. Howard Roark is as powerful as he is not because he has any control over the society or the minds of others, but because he is the complete master of his own mind. He does not seek anybody's approval. The book completely disregards conventional virtues like charity and altruism as fronts that an insufficient man uses to hide his ineptness.
Roark is a man who lives up to the word "man". He believes that man alone has power over himself He does not believe in God or in destiny, simple because he doesn't need to. In order to be truly great a man must be physically, mentally and spiritually be involved in his work, the way Roark was. Roark treats his work with the respect and reverence that other men lavish over God. To him, insincerity towards one's work is the worst blasphemy possible. This is the line of thought that runs throughout the novel.
The hallmark of Roark is work is his complete irreverence for all precedents, traditions and conventions. His ideas are too revolutionary to be accepted, but he refuses, at any point of time to compromise with his ideals, no matter what his compulsions may be. He is a man of such immense integrity, that he would rather break stones in a quarry than make a substandard building. which is what the world demands of him.
The reason why some people seek to destroy Howard Roark is that his very presence evokes an unreasonable fear in their hearts. This quest to destroy the genius within him started from the very beginning of his career when he was expelled from The Stanton institute of Technology, where he had been studying architecture. All his teachers except his mathematics professor were against him
His boundless brilliance threatened to expose their ignorance. However talent cannot restrict itself within rigid boundaries, so Roark refused the chance of coming back to the college after an year which was offered to him-he knew that they had nothing to teach him.
Such was the brilliance of Howard Roark that the pillars of the science of architecture, the keepers of the art felt shaken. This was the first time they had encountered a man who would not allow anyone to make him, hence they could not break him either. One such man is Ellsworth Toohey. He is a man who is addicted to power, he wants to rule the world. However, his thirst for power can never be quenched for as long as men like Howard Roark exist on the earth. He wishes to establish control over the human mind,, but Howard's unbridled brilliance cannot be subjugated. As he has no sway over the man, the only course open to him is to destroy Roark completely, which he tries to do through negative propaganda, ridicule and often complete ignorance of his buildings. He wishes to "enshrine mediocrity".
It is interesting to note that the only people who dared to support Roark were self made people, people for whom practical worth held - more importance than public approval, be it Austen Heller, Steven Mallory or Gail Waynand. No one else dared to form an opinion of their own. The fact that Ellsworth Toohey said that Roark's work was ridiculous was sufficient reason for men like Hopton Stoddard to mock at it as well.
They chose to promote mediocrity over genius because the mediocre man was convenient for them. A mediocre man would work within parameters set by them, but genius could never be subordinated." In Toohey9s own words-"laugh at Roark and hold Peter Keating as a great architect. You've destroyed architecture." The vested interests of some men were the reason why an untalented man like Peter Keating was allowed to rise.
Dominique Francon had a completely different reason to wish to destroy him. She loved him with inconceivable passion, appreciated his work, but still tried all she could do to destroy his career. This was because she could not bear the fact that the world dared to be irreverent towards his creation. She intentionally snatched away all assignments from him because she felt that the world did not deserve such talent.
However, in reality, a man like Howard Roark can never be brought down. Roark cannot be destroyed by society because he does not allow other men any hold over him. He is a man whose soul remains untouched by external influence. He does not need any outside approval to prove his own merit to himself Howard Roark believes that "man's first duty is to himself" and his only moral obligation is' towards his work.
Howard Roark is unaffected by criticism, which is the tool his adversaries use to destroy them. He is not vulnerable to pain either-'lit only goes down to a certain point". There is just no way in which his enemies can inflict any pain on him, he can, by no means be destroyed. He can only be broken the day he feels he has not done justice to his work, and for as long as he lives he will never allow that day to come.
Howard Roark never tries to look for an easy way out of anything. That to him would be a compromise, a thing worse than death for him. He engages no lawyer at the Stoddard temple-trial and chooses the harshest jurymen at the Corlandt Building trial, which only goes to prove that this man is completely innocent of fear. He chooses to blow up a building he has planned and face the prospect of going to jail rather than to see it tampered with by his contemporaries.
Roark is a man who is not content merely existing, he lives life to
the fullest A man of such incredible strength can never be destroyed .he
may physically be open to destruction, but the fountainhead -of inspiration
within him and his amazing selfconviction can never be shattered.
Copyright 2000. Liberty Institute, New Delhi
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