Individualism In The Fountainhead

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Roark is an egotistic individualist who fights to break the normal conformist styles of architecture in society in The Fountainhead. When Roark and his crew of builders finally finish the Heller house it receives much more negative than positive attention. Rand narrates, “The Heller House acquired fame throughout the countryside surrounding it. People drove out of their way to park on the road before it, to stare, point, and giggle. Gas-station attendants snickered when Heller’s car drove past. Heller’s cook had to endure the derisive glances of shopkeepers when she went on her errands” (137). Nobody accepts the Heller house because they are confused by it. They laugh at it because they have never experienced such a drastic change and …show more content…

Roark breaks down the wall of typical, over-used styles and replaces a small part of it with his unique house, which begins his career as an architect. Roark eventually fulfills his role as an individualist when he gets commissioned by Wynand to build a monument for the city. Wynand tells Roark to “Build it as a monument to that spirit which is yours… and could have been mine” (692). The public finally accepts the modernist aesthetic that Roark incorporates into his buildings, thus distancing themselves from the normal conformist architecture that they are used to. Literary critic Tore Boeckmann explains Roark’s battle by stating that it’s a “battle to erect his own kind of buildings against the opposition of a collectivist society…this rounding out of Roark’s battle exhibits the same essence as does the battle itself: pro-individualism, the nobility of architecture, mind-body union” (142). The individualist character, Roark, values his own views and opinions above those of others who have nothing original to offer. Roark, while still in school, must meet with the Dean because his architectural work is too modern and different. After the Dean tells Roark that he most likely does not care about opinions, Roark responds, “That’s true…I don’t care whether you agree with

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