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Hero

I will be focusing on Howard Roark the architect, though one can argue that he isn’t much of a hero, more of an idea of a man who exemplifies a philosophy.

Plot Summary

Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead follows the viewpoints of five different characters: Peter Keating, Dominic Francon, Ellsworth Toohey, Gail Wynand, and Howard Roark. The book itself is broken up into separate sections, and focuses on the background of the characters, meanwhile the rest of the plot takes place in the architecturally booming backdrop of New York City, during the beginning years of the skyscraper. Against societal conventions, Howard Roark designs buildings according to his vision of beauty, and defies the norm by rejecting the popular values of the collective world. This is unquestionably different from the adventure story of Alanna, where a hero’s journey might be more easily followed. Howard Roark’s journey, on the other hand, might take a bit more analysis.

Departure

Call to Adventure – It’s debatable whether Howard Roark’s call to adventure is intentional on his end or not; regardless, it probably is spurred on by the fact that he is expelled from the Stanton Institute of Technology. Why? Because he didn’t want to abide by his professors’ outdated ideas of architecture. Instead of designing sleek and efficient buildings, the most exciting “creative work” his colleagues are made to do is to mimic the style of Gothic and Greek architecture. So all in all, instead of joining the rest of the graduates in celebration, Roark breaks free and tries to make it out in the world on his own.

Refusal of the Call – I highly doubt that Roark has ever doubted his abilities one bit; he’s practically a straightened arrow. If the story itself was a fairy tale, Howard Roark would be the prince with one goal in mind: to break the enchantment and marry the princess. In his case, it’s to do what he loves, and to do it well. I suppose, however, at some point he does compromise his beliefs in order to create a livelihood for himself (he agrees to work for Guy Francon’s firm, albeit his utter hatred for the idea behind the man and the company).

Supernatural Aid – Barring his engineering talent, I doubt there was anything “supernatural” in the aid he received, if any. Perhaps the uncanny way a few rich and powerful men flocked to him in the end might have proven to be useful in his case, but Roark was practically a do-it-myself character. Frankly, I’m pretty sure everyone else around him either made things worse or made things worse than worse.

Crossing of the First Threshold – There are two ways of looking at Howard Roark’s life early on in the novel: the Henry Cameron and the post-Henry Cameron eras. So really, the first threshold he crosses would be right when his boss, mentor, and friend retires and eventually passes away. Cameron is probably the only other architect that respects Roark, and has been, for some time, the only one employing him. After his retirement, Roark moves on and works for the Francon group in New York City.

Belly of the Whale – Post-Cameron, working in New York City for Guy Francon’s group is probably the hardest thing for Roark to undertake. Not only is he submerged into a city that is still majorly a proponent of the “old ways”, he is also working in a company that doesn’t suit his own aesthetics. The strain definitely does get to him at some point, as it should when he’s in the belly of the whale.

Initiation

Road of Trials – Howard Roark is both successful and unsuccessful in his trials, depending on which characters are asked. When asked to design houses and buildings for the capitalistic moguls, Roark shines; in fact, most of those who requested him absolutely loved his designs. Yet the bigger architectural critics and moguls have panned him as being one of the worst architects of the century, even claiming his designs to be tasteless, ugly, and unrefined. These are trials Roark faces throughout the story.

Meeting with the Goddess – I’m pretty sure when Howard first laid eyes on Dominique Francon, he immediately abandoned his atheism and began to worship nothing but her. The sight of the golden-haired beauty looking down on him in the quarry probably inspired him in ways he hadn’t expected she would. Before Dominique, all Roark really loved were buildings. So this was definitely a welcome change.

Woman as Temptress – Here’s another man for ya. While I would have liked to say that Dominique was somewhat of an impediment to cross for Roark, it was mostly Hank Rearden that really posed as a “temptation.” Rearden was a publishing mogul, who took the time and effort to make friends with Howard Roark, the brilliant architect. Even to the point where he whisks Roark away on vacation, letting him rest while the other architects collaborated on Roark’s design plans. Did I mention that they were best friends, and that Rearden later marries Dominique Francon herself, and still Roark and Rearden remain friends? Now that’s bromance for ya.

Atonement with the Father – The only two people who really hold some sway and power to Roark (though he denies it) are Rearden and Dominique. In fact, at some point, Rearden risks the ruin of his publishing business when he turned against the mold and began to campaign for Howard Roark’s designs. Unfortunately, the power Rearden held was through the use of yellow journalism, and this doesn’t so much brings Roark into the public’s favor, as much as pushes the public away from Rearden’s presses. Still, it was Rearden’s way of atoning for the bad press he’s maintained for most of his life.

Apotheosis – Howard Roark experiences a sort of spiritual death when he allowed the compromises that Peter Keating and the other architects threw in for the temple project. “The People’s Temple” project was designed by Roark, and while it was a community project, his condition for working on it was that none of his aesthetics were meddled with. When at last he took the sight of the changed architecture, it dawned on Roark that he couldn’t just let his aesthetic integrity take the sort of beating that he took from the temple. So, with clarity and focus, he blows the temple up. Talk about the calm before the storm, eh?

Ultimate Boon – This can mean a lot of things, really. Mostly, Roark’s goal at the end of the book was to get acquitted, and to be able to freely design buildings without the overall hatred of the public. Oh, and to get the girl, as well. I think he managed pretty well on that department, too.

Return

Magic Flight – The scene I wanted to depict was Howard Roark’s “transforming” the temple that killed his integrity. In the book, Roark blows up/sets fire to the temple, knowing full well that there would be no turning back. It didn’t take much time for people to figure out that Roark was the one responsible for the explosion, however, as far as the security for the night, Roark was pretty much undetectable.