The Fountainhead

664 Words2 Pages

Howard Roark, the protagonist in the classical novel “The Fountainhead”, embodies the perfect man which the author Ayn Rand deemed the world lacked. Howard Roark is a self generated, independently thinking man who under no circumstances genuflected to the demands of society. Dominique Francon believes the world to be based upon collectivization, where the altruistic minds are praised to be the most appealing trait, which often leaves the self satisfying independent people such as Roark unsalaried. Francon has faith that Roark is a creator in the purest sense, never has he let the demands of society and the pressures of the speculators influence his beliefs. Dominique’s love for Howard, but hatred for the world is what drives her to destroy him. Dominique believes that the type of power that she and Howard possess is vital to society and by withholding it she is depriving the world what it needs to survive. Dominique Francon struggles not only to destroy Roark, but also to rid the world of all that is beautiful and unique. Francon believes that society will corrupt and eradicate all that the individualistic minds- such as Roark labor to produce. Dominique’s love for Howard isn’t enough to quell her fear that society will force Howard to conform to their misguided beliefs. Society perpetually praises mediocrity while disregarding real talent and creativity. Howard and Dominique share a myriad of qualities exhibited throughout the novel however, Roark has a quality that Dominique herself lacks. Howard doesn’t allow society to dictate his actions, rather than accepting the society around him, Roark endeavors to alter the mind and the view of the collectivist world. Building after building, Roark strives to transform the ideology of t... ... middle of paper ... ...ce on your own terms” (375) This shows that to fight successfully on Roarks behalf would mean resorting to the tactics she despises and Dominique cannot allow herself to do so. Howard is not deterred by the voices of the people tearing him down or demanding him to conform to the environment around him. To Roark, architecture isn’t a way to get money, glory or fame; architecture was a way for him to express himself, a soul burning with self-discovery and independence. Dominique sees his artistic freedom as his downfall and because of that, she aims to destroy him and all his creations before society euthanize him first. Dominique loves Roark, but she cannot find it in herself to give into her feelings of desire, she knows that to enjoy anything in life is to surrender a part of herself to the evil and the corrupted people who control the minds of the general public.

Show More
Related

  • The Maltese Falcon

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Pacific coast port city of San Francisco, California provides a distinctively mysterious backdrop in Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon. Unlike many other detective stories that are anchored in well-known metropolises such as Los Angeles or New York City, Hammett opted to place the events of his text in the lesser-known, yet similarly exotic cultural confines of San Francisco. Hammett used his own intricate knowledge of the San Francisco Bay Area - coupled with details collected during a stint as a detective for the now defunct Pinkerton Agency - to craft a distinctive brand of detective fiction that thrived on such an original setting (Paul 93). By examining the setting of 1920’s San Francisco in The Maltese Falcon, it becomes apparent that one of Hammett’s literary strengths was his exceptional ability to intertwine non-fictional places with a fictional plot and characters in order to produce a logical and exceedingly believable detective mystery.

    Read More

  • Birth of a Nation

    631 Words  | 2 Pages

    On March 3, 1915 the movie The Birth of a Nation was released at the Liberty Theatre in New York City. This film was financed, filmed, and released by the Epoch Producing Corporation of D.W. Griffith and Harry T. Aitken. It was one of the first films to ever use deep-focus shots, night photography, and to be explicitly controversial with the derogatory view of blacks.

    Read More

  • hARRISON BERGERON

    787 Words  | 2 Pages

    The theme statement of Harrison Bergeron is that egalitarianism is inefficient, and will eventually be resisted by society. Competition is what drives society forward, and if everyone is equal, we are not developing as one. Many of the people in the story are unable to complete their basic tasks or jobs. “It wasn’t clear what the bulletin was about, since the announcer, like all announcers, had a serious speech impediment.” this is unreasonable as it is the announcer’s job to broadcast the news, and when he is unable to do so, he has lost his purpose (61). Equality is everyone receiving the same, while justice is everyone receiving what they require. “She must have been extraordinarily beautiful, because the mask she wore was hideous.” This is an example of the corrupti...

    Read More

  • The Folly of Bergeron

    1067 Words  | 3 Pages

    11. When ability is confused for opportunity, society takes the blame. When freedom is traded for happiness, society takes the blame. When total equality is achieved, there will be no more achievements. It is obvious from this story that total equality diminishes everything. It causes complicity in stupidity. It causes hubris in those above of the fray. It paves the way for the authoritarians to corrupt under the guise of “perservativation”. What the story of Harrison Bergeron, more specifically Kurt Vonnegut, is telling us, is one of warning. And it must be heeded.

    Read More

  • The Green Mile

    1075 Words  | 3 Pages

    Frank Darabont (writer-director-producer) in 1999, returned to the director’s chair for the first time in five years. Darabont, who not only directed Shawshank Redemption, but adapted it from a Stephen King story, followed the exact same path with The Green Mile. The film was released by Warner Bros. Pictures, and Produced by Castle Rock Entertainment, Darkwoods Productions, and Warner Bros. David Valdes is the producer, David Tattersall, B.S.C. is the director of photography, Terence Marsh is the production designer, and Richard Francis-Bruce is the film editor.

    Read More

  • Fountainhead

    1308 Words  | 3 Pages

    The courtroom verdict at the Courtlandt trial had an immense impact on the lives of each main character in The Fountainhead. The revolutionary Roark is acquitted of the felony of destroying a public building. This verdict shakes the world of the evil Toohey, ultimately destroying him. It means the psychological destruction of Gail Wynand, a hard working businessman and friend of Roark's. It also brings on the collapse of the spineless Peter Keating, and it is the last event that lets Dominique fully accept Roark's philosophy and free herself of his negative ways.

    Read More

  • The Shining

    930 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Shining is about a white middle class dysfunctional family that suffers from natural and supernatural stresses in an isolated Rocky mountain hotel. .The father, a former teacher turned writer, is portrayed as a habitual drinker, wife- and child-abuser, with a kind of evil streak The mother is shown as a battered woman. The film suggests that due to the abuse at the hands of his father and the passivity of his mother, the child of this family developed psychological problems. He had imaginary friends and began to see frightening images.

    Read More

  • All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy - Individualism vs. Society

    1676 Words  | 4 Pages

    The concept of what is "individuality" and what is not has plagued and delighted man since the dawn of time. “All the Pretty Horses” by Cormac McCarthy adds 302 more pages to the pile of all the works that have been on the quest to define individualism. In this novel, McCarthy takes us through four faces of the key character’s life, John Grady, to portray the idea of illusory individualism. He contends that John Grady is simply a product of a society in contrast to his (Grady) notion of free will. Simply put: Grady has no alternatives but an obligation to conform to society. McCarthy uses him to create the platform in which to comment on oppression of individuality, expectation of conformity to the values of the society and the fact that the concept of individualism is a myth.

    Read More

  • Birth of A Nation

    905 Words  | 2 Pages

    It has been said that the Declaration of Independence was more democratic and for equality and the Constitution was more for a republic that benefited only some people. The Declaration was idealistic the Constitution realistic. That 1776 gave us liberty and 1787 gave us order. Although as unfair as it may sound this seems to be true. After gaining liberty this country had to establish a system that would have order.

    Read More

  • Comparing the Philosophies of Brave New World and Anthem

    1185 Words  | 3 Pages

    The books Brave New World by Aldus Huxley and Anthem by Ayn Rand are both valuable twentieth-century contributions to literature. Both books explore the presence of natural law in man and propose a warning for what could happen when man's sense of right and wrong is taken from him. In this essay, I hope to show how these seemingly unrelated novels both expound upon a single, very profound, idea.

    Read More

  • Alice Walker’s The Color Purple And Kate Chopin’s The Awakening

    1054 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history society has been controlled by men, and because of this women were exposed to some very demanding expectations. A woman was expected to be a wife, a mother, a cook, a maid, and sexually obedient to men. As a form of patriarchal silencing any woman who deviated from these expectations was often a victim of physical, emotional, and social beatings. Creativity and individuality were dirty, sinful and very inappropriate for a respectful woman. By taking away women’s voices, men were able to remove any power that they might have had. In both Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” and Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening”, we see that there are two types of women who arise from the demands of these expectations. The first is the obedient women, the one who has buckled and succumbed to become an empty emotionless shell. In men’s eyes this type of woman was a sort of “angel” perfect in that she did and acted exactly as what was expected of her. The second type of woman is the “rebel”, the woman who is willing to fight in order to keep her creativity and passion. Patriarchal silencing inspires a bond between those women who are forced into submission and/or those who are too submissive to maintain their individuality, and those women who are able and willing to fight for the ability to be unique.

    Read More

  • Citizen Kane

    1196 Words  | 3 Pages

    this one letter in a circle can now sum up his life, that people just

    Read More

  • The Notebook

    1593 Words  | 4 Pages

    I spent a lot of time considering what movie I would watch to write this essay. I listed off the movies that I would like to watch again, and then I decided on The Notebook. I didn’t really think I could write about adolescence or children, so I thought that, maybe, I could write about the elderly. The love story that The Notebook tells is truly amazing. I love watching this movie, although I cry every time I watch it. The Notebook is about an elderly man that tells the story of his life with the one he loves the most, his wife. He is telling the story to his wife, who has Alzheimer’s Disease, which is a degenerative disease that affects a person’s memory. She has no recollection of him or their life together, or even her own children. She wrote the story of their love herself, so that when he read the story to her, she would come back to him. There are three things that I would like to discuss about this movie. First, I would like to discuss their stage of life and the theory that I believe describes their stage of life the best. Second, I would like to discuss Alzheimer’s DIsease and its affect on the main character who has it and her family. Third, I would like to discuss how at the end of the movie, they died together. I know it is a movie, but I do know that it is known that elderly people who have been together for a long time, usually die not to far apart from one another.

    Read More

  • Good Will Hunting

    1448 Words  | 3 Pages

    An individual is shaped and molded by how they are treated by those that surround them. Most people value the opinions of those they care about and want to act in accord. Consequently, the choices people make are greatly influenced by the people in their lives. Sometimes, someone will become close with people who are different from each other. Such is the case in Good Will Hunting. Will Hunting (Matt Damon) struggles between the people that created him and the people that discovered him.

    Read More

  • Movie: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

    1167 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind stresses the importance of memory and how memories shape a person’s identity. Stories such as “In Search of Lost Time” by Proust and a report by the President’s Council on Bioethics called “Beyond Therapy” support the claims made in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

    Read More

More about The Fountainhead

Open Document