Sample Essay On The Fountainhead By Ayn Rand: An Analysis

"The basic need of the creator is independence. The reasoning mind cannot work under any form of compulsion. It cannot be curbed, sacrificed or subordinated to any consideration
whatsoever. It demands total independence in function and in motive. To a creator, all
relations with men are secondary”.
These words were uttered by Howard Roark in court as he was being tried for dynamiting Cortlandt Homes, a low-income housing project that he was commissioned to design. Hearing these words gives one a clear understanding of the kind of person Howard Roark is, a creator who only follows his own ideas without any regard to what the society has to say, a creator who creates for the sake of creating and establishing the truth that defines him. In a society that is not willing to let go of the familiar and traditional, he was considered an egotist. This was the reason why despite his genius in architecture, he constantly found himself and his designs shunned by the society. Still, he refused to be shackled by conformity that had everyone enslaved.
Dominique Francon was cut from the same cloth, a person who sees with her own eyes and understands with her own brains. She was an idealist who reserved the highest respects for people who have a vision and the potential for greatness. Like Roark, she did not blindly follow the trend set by the society. However, she was disillusioned by what she considered vulgar mediocrity that personified the success of the people in the society, including her own father’s. When she met Roark, she was able to find the noble hero that she has been searching for.
As Dominique fell hard for Roark, she realized that his creative work and uncompromising character would not stand a chance in a society such as theirs. She deeply feared and believed that Roark’s greatness would not only be ignored but mercilessly crushed. She was aware of the prevailing corrupt success that has drugged the people of the society and not wanting to take part in this atrocity, she chose to distance herself from the society and contented herself with a career that was of no great consequence. This illustrated her pessimism and a certain degree of cowardice that she continued to display in the story.
While Roark continued to live courageously by standing by his designs, Dominique chose to take drastic measures that she thought would protect him from further hurt and disappointment. This is where her battle between loving Roark and wanting to protect him started. She married a man she believed was the most despicable in order to kill off in herself the greatness of soul that enabled her to love a noble man like Roark. Later on, when her first husband was offered money by Gail Wynad to break his marriage with her, she married Wynad thinking that he was more despicable than her first husband Keating. She immersed herself to an unbending society that unscrupulously pandered to malignant devices to achieve success. Despite her love for Roark, she chose to protect him by destroying his career. In order to do so, she worked with Toohey, a man blessed with the wisdom to recognize greatness but chose to turn against it to further his selfish cause. Together they campaigned on destroying Roark’s career but with different intents - Toohey to eliminate a threat to his quest to dominate in the architectural world, while Dominique believed it was mercy killing. She wanted Roark’s careet to end as quickly and painlessly as possible to avoid the same fate that Cameron, Roark’s previous employer who also had an independent spirit like himself, suffered. Dominique wanted to make sure that Roark will fail nobly and not see him struggle towards his doom.
Dominique endeavored to take away Roark’s commissions by sabotaging his projects. However, it was also interesting to notice that even while she was doing this, she only took away a number of small commissions. She did not manage to prevent Roark from getting the clients that would enable him to exercise his creativity, such as Gail Wynad who commissioned him to build Wynad Building. This highlighted Dominique’s inner struggles and clashing desires. While she worked on destroying Roark’s career by day, she spent her nights with him.
With Roark’s acquittal in the case filed against him, his career started to pick up again. Dominique then realized that she was mistaken in her previous belief that noble men like Roark do not stand a chance in a corrupt world. Instead, Roark’s idea which he shared with Cameron, that men who allow themselves to think freely and act on their judgment will eventually get the recognition that they deserve, that success is sure to come to those men are defined by the integrity and achievement that they live for. Dominique did her best to destroy Roark despite her love for him, and with her failure, she was finally liberated from her fears and was able to pursue her love for Roark.