Individualism In Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead

What the Synagogue taught us
“Individualism is what makes corporations worth living” once said Henry Ford. It proves difficult to be an individual today and it was not much easier in Ford’s or Howard Roarks time. Ayn Rand used imagery, illusion, and pathos in the form of dialogue in The Fountainhead to show the absence and necessity of individualism in society today. The book follows Howard Roark, Peter Keating, and Dominique Francon and how they react to society’s pressure to conform and prejudice. Roark stands for the individual who is unyielding in his morals and idea of greatness. Keating represents the man who bends for all, a chameleon, changing into who and whatever gets him further in life. Dominique has a balanced outlook, she gives up only when she finds society unforgivable .

Because your figures are more devoid of contempt of humanity than any work I’ve ever seen. . . . I came for a simple, selfish reason . . . to seek the best.” in the eleventh chapter of the novel’s second book. Roark makes clear that evaluating people by their abilities and honesty, disregarding status and personality. Roark only enjoys the company with “the best”—people who do original and influential work. He believes that because he feels enriched by his connections with good people the visit is “selfish.” This quotation sums up Roark’s ethos as he calls the works by those like Mallory and himself the “possible,” a contrast to the dull or “probable” everyday world.He emphesises that acomplishments can come “only through you”—you being the individual artist. Roark feels that benificial art must come from the artist alone, with no contribution from the