The Fountainhead: How did this book affect you?

[Tough Love]

Firstly: I am about to read this book again. I would like your thoughts on this before i do.

When i was in school i was a very troubled and needy child. At about the age of 14-15 i was given The Fountainhead to read by another girl in my class.
I do not remember the book in full, but i do remember it had a massive effect on me and the way i saw life, love and interhuman relations (or lack thereof).

I remember one particular part where she breaks something (a statue? Architectural design?) because she doesnt want anyone to see it/ have it if she couldnt, and i remember it hit such a nerve with me, i just wanted to be him, i wanted to be her. I wanted to be fucked up because i saw their ''fucked upness'' (if indeed it was that is how i perceived it at the time)as very romantic and straight down the line. Now i feel that it is that particular way of thinking that has got me into so much trouble :P

I know im generally very easily influenced and very changeable, but how did this book affect you if indeed it did at all?

[Necrosis]

Quit frankly the book kind of scared me because a lot of the thoughts I had were right there in writing. But it made me ask more questions about myself and how and if I was letting society limit what I could do. I got more into finding out about myself as a direct result of it. I might have to read it again myself. :-D

[MaleVolentworld]

The central character is Howard Roark and one of the main characteristics he has that is admirable is his independence.

He has independence in the sense of knowing what he knows and wants and never seeking approval or acceptance from others if they disagree. He does not exist to please others, he exists to pursue his own values. He is not influenced by people but nor does he seek to influence or manipulate them. He has high self esteem and enjoys being productive.

In contrast, Peter Keating does not know anything, he doesn't have is own values, he merely seeks approval, acceptance and prestige in the eyes of others. He seeks to be popular and manipulates people to get to the top of his profession, only so he can be considered great. He has low self esteem and this is manifested by the influence of his mom and also Roark. He has no idea whether his work is good or not, he doesn't even like architecture and only went into it because his mom told him to.

I love the sense of purpose, confidence, integrity and independence that Roark has in contrast with the directionless, needy, manipulative people pleaser of Keating who seeks to be whatever other people want him to be.

[Clockwork]

I like many of Rand's books, but this one is my favorite of her works (of all books, actually) because of the explanations of the different philosophical conclusions that the characters all draw: Roark's individualism, Toohey's Machiavellian beliefs, Dominique's forced apathy. A thought-provoking philosophical clashing.

I think Roark as a character is amazing and is what humans should be - but can someone live with that kind of isolation when all of the subjectivists reject him? I'm wondering if communication with others has come bred into us with evolution, and if someone who attempted to live like a Roark would end up like Steven Mallory or Henry Cameron. If you liked that book and the philosophy, pick up "The Virtue of Selfishness."

...or buy the audiobooks for both, they're great :D

That part where you were referring to:
Dominique holds contempt for the world and people for being vile and corrupted, for being unwilling to be perfect. She loved a statue of helios, which she bought from a museum where it wasn't for sale and had a difficult time convincing them to let her buy it. She ended up throwing it down an airshaft and having it break against the ground so that nobody would ever see it - so that its greatness couldn't be defiled by society at large.

[WaeV]

I wrote my college application essay on Howard Roark.

I only wrote this six months ago, and it seems so immaturely written to me now.
I first met Howard Roark in an armchair near the fire at my dad's house in Maine. My friend
Casey had loaned me a copy of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead just a few days earlier. I instantly
appreciated Roark, and as I later told Casey, it was the first time upon reading of a main character's
successes I wanted to stand up and clap my hands.
Later, while reflecting on why Roark had such an impression on me, I realized that the greatest
of his successes closely mirror those achievements of mine which I hold in the highest regard. Roark's
first real project, the construction of the Heller house, is a good example. He does not add useless
columns, false arches, or other purposeless decor with the intent to impress. Instead, the building is
designed to fit the needs of the landscape and in turn the needs of the client who selected that
landscape. Roark's buildings are to trees as Roark is to a bonsai master, who guides his structures
towards the perfect product he envisions for each setting.
While reflecting on that chapter I was strongly reminded of one of my private QBASIC
projects. Using the simple set point command and QBASIC's 16 colors, I managed to create a
fullscreen paint-style program complete with over 160 unique colors. Given my personal goal and
QBASIC's cold logic, the program evolved to fit the form of the language just as Roark's building fit
the needs of the landscape. That they perform their given tasks in innovative ways while preserving
their integrity of design is what makes them beautiful. Even though my program has no specific
purpose, I am proud of the fact that I was able to supersede the intent of the language without
compromising it. Years down the road when I am coding for IBM, Novell, or perhaps my own start-up,
I hope to stand for the beauty of programming as passionately as Roark does for architecture.
Yet Roark represents not only clean design and clarity of focus, but for doing what one enjoys in
life. As he stated, “I do not build in order to get clients, I get clients in order to build.” I have always
enjoyed constructing more than the construction itself, and I plan to program for a career not because of
the pay, but because I love doing it. Though I am happy to present a well-written application, I hope I
have inherited Roark's attitude. My QBASIC teacher once said, “It takes a special type of person to
enjoy scanning code over and over to find that one critical bug,” and I like to think he was addressing
me. Some tasks can be menial, to be sure, but it's all just part of the process. Having to work for
something often makes it that much more enjoyable. When I know my goal and the rules of
engagement it's as though the rest of the world falls away – it's just me and the program, however I
choose to shape it.

[Clockwork]

The suspense! Did you get accepted?

[WaeV]

5/6, I got put on RPI's priority wait list.

[SimplyOtter]

Do you know Tough Love, I had never thought about it before, but reading your post I realized I experienced the same things ...
I was only 10 when I read The Fountainhead and I still can remember how MUCH I had been blown away by Roark character (ok, maybe this is not exactly poignant but I even named one of my cats Howard, after him, and for a 10 years old that means you have been blown away !!)

I instantly thought "this is the way I want to live, actually this is the only way one should live."

Thinking back, it's really weird thinking that it was my mom who gave me the book; a brave choice indeed, I have to say, as I can see many things of that book in me today. I wonder if she had a clue of what sort of radical individualist she was creating :p

[rara avis]

I read this book when I was about 14 or 15. It has certainly stayed with me in several respects - everytime I think about architecture, for sure. Journalism, too.

There is certain element to Ayn Rand's fictional heroes that is as ridiculous as Marxism, in its way... very nice on paper, but not entirely practical, I think, for whole, healthy human beings. But at the heart of it, she introduces some wonderful ideas about self, freedom and responsibility... some great and important values which are amazingly underrepresented elsewhere.

I really swallowed it whole as a kid. My 20s took the edges off some of my Objectivist fervor, gave me a softer, slightly more fluid outlook on it. But still- yes, an important book to me. I liked it better than Atlas Shrugged. The character of Dominique, her similarity and contrast to Roark, is really interesting.



My mom gave me this book, too - I think I'd been shooting my mouth off about how I thought the world should work, and she said, "Well, maybe when you're older, you'll like to read some Ayn Rand. Though they're really college-level books. You might be a bit young." Which was as good as a dare to read it immediately. So I did. Damn reverse psychology.

[Solaris]

This was not the first of Rand's works that I read. It is, however, my favorite. It helped to solidify my decision to embrace Objectivism (which I have since toned down, but not renounced, and mixed with my Christian beliefs -- messy, I know). Roark is, of course, amazing to me. I go between finding him amazing and foolish, and the same for Dominique. I see Dominique as an exaggeration of what I once wanted to be. I am at once highly idealistic and judgmental, but realize I never make good decisions with my emotions (almost), and am driving to just do what must be done -- no matter the cost, triple if it's something I hold dear.

[Plane Stress]

I also read this book when I was quite young, a Freshman or Sophomore in high school if I remember right. I don't remember it very well but I identified very well with Howard Roark. Since then I read a few of her other works, and they put me off a bit just because they are so forcefully idealist and venture a bit too close to science fiction for my liking. They all do have characters that I feel connected to, though.

[Shadowgraphs]

My experience seems to be similar to that of other posters. I read it when I was 15, identified very strongly with Howard Roark, and ended up going through an Objectivist phase for about a year or so. More so than any other book, The Fountainhead spoke to the person I was at the time, especially since it offered a message I needed to hear: I wasn't a freak and my way of thinking had inherent value to it.

I don't know what I'd think if I reread it today. While I'm willing to admit that Ayn Rand has a few very good ideas about things (her essay "The Comprachicos" is perhaps the best critique of the American education system I have ever read), I disagree with the vast majority of her philosophy and find many of her opinions overly flamboyant, arrogant, and ill-considered. That said, she did play a major role in my intellectual development and there are parts which I'm sure would speak to me just as strongly now.

[2obvious]

Apparently I came across the book too late? A teacher's aid recommended it to me in college.

While I very much liked certain aspects of the narrative (an emphasis of ideas over plot points, strongly defined characters driven by philosophical principles), from page one, the writing was comically romantic. We pretty much start off with a world that hates Roark for existing? This ain't real life. The world at large has been fairly indifferent to me, until I did something to provoke it.

Secondly, there's the redefinition of terms like "selfish" (within the context of the story in specific, but I suppose more generally, with objectivism). Language is a consensus that we reach for the sake of communication. If society decides that "bad" means "good," (which we actually have), then hello, for the sake of understanding, that's what it means. The spirit hasn't changed: a positive is still a positive; whether we call it "good" or "bad." But Rand was actually trying to change the spirit of the word, which has more to do with morality and ethics than semantics.

Lastly, I think I inadvertently learned too much about the woman herself. She peddled her books as more than good stories, but as a window into the way the world could be, believing her life to be an example. Unfortunately, writing about captains of industry isn't quite the same as being one. (It reminds me of the socialist philosopher who writes about the vision of a perfect society, then assumes that, by dreaming it up, he's the best equipped to run it.)

This "exemplary" life included leading a cult of sorts, where the middle-aged novelist exerted a tremendous amount of influence over impressionable and idealistic young adults. That stuff creeps me out. (Hell, when I was fifteen, it creeped me out knowing that the bands making music for my demographic were 30ish.)

[phantasma]

It's one of the few books where I can actually relate with the main character. That says a lot in itself.

[jakeordie]

I remember admiring Roark's ability to design with utter disregard for convention & tradition. The one unforgettable idea I took from The Fountainhead is that of a design's function & purpose displayed proudly in the aesthetics of the work itself. But in some ways I couldn't identify with Roark, and I relate more to the characters in Atlas Shrugged & even Anthem.

[Tough Love]

Thinking back, it's really weird thinking that it was my mom who gave me the book; a brave choice indeed, I have to say, as I can see many things of that book in me today. I wonder if she had a clue of what sort of radical individualist she was creating :p


My friend gave me the book, and i remember her telling me ''this is gonna blow you away'', when i started reading it, i was more reading it to say i had :P i really liked the entrance but got a bit confused about the characters. Did you understand it at the age of ten?

[SimplyOtter]

I don't know if I understood it as an adult would do, as I haven't read the book again since, most likely the answer is no; but I still remember the strongest perception I got, that you could live following your own principles no matter if other people liked it, and I instinctively knew what sort of feeling a life like that could give you.... an amazing sense of freedom.

In a way, reading such a powerful book when your mind is still unstructured and with no tools to understand it conceptually, it's much better; you go straight to its essence, you absorb the meaning with no judgement. Maybe today I would be more critical, and see also the faults. I will read it again , and then will tell you. :)

[Tough Love]

I hear you. I do actually agree in a way. I didnt get the book or what it was trying to tell me, but it caused me to change the way i lived my life. now this gonna sound stupid, but i took on alot of roarks characteristics after i read the book (im alot like that if i see something admirable i imitate it) such as signing my signature in straight jerky lines, thnking ''how would roark deal with this situation?'' hehe sounds stupid now but i was young and impressionable. I do beleiev it changed me and it definately left a huge impression on me as i actually remember this book out of the millions ive read through my life. I was so surprised when i saw it mentioned here on the forum!!

[Orion79]

I can't say anything about this book that hasn't already been said in previous posts, so I'll just quote my favorite passage from the book:

Toohey: "Mr. Roark, we're alone here. Why don't you tell me what you think of me? In any words you wish. No one will hear us."

Roark: "But I don't think of you."

Brilliant.

[charolastra]

I had always heard about the Fountainhead so when I happened to browse through the Rs in the library when I was 14, I picked it up.

It was the first book up until that point that I thought was SO horrific that I couldn't continue to read it.

Several years later, my younger brother was reading Atlas Shrugged. He was spouting off with the immaturity of a 16 year old boy as to how great Ayn Rand was. As my eye began to twitch visibly to everyone at the table, I decided I'd try to get through the Fountainhead once more. Maybe the years would have softened my perspective. Quite the opposite- I made it through and was enraged at the popularity it had.

I might one day read it again. I can't imagine my opinion will be changed. My personal philosophy clashes so essentially with that of Ayn Rand's that I can't reconcile anything in the book. Even moreso, as a victim of rape in a sort of similar situation as in the book, I hate the character of Dominique with every fiber in my body- and Ayn Rand for furthering the idea that "no means yes". It gives me no end of rage when I hear arguments saying the scene was anything but rape. Then again, Ayn Rand's views towards other women tend to model her flippant attitude toward rape anyway.

[CarenRose]

I had to read it in English class my sophomore or junior year for a specific project. I remember it was one of the few books that year that I read all the way through. (Well, except the few I actually liked, those don't count. I'm talking about all the books I hated and didn't finish.) I don't remember a lot about the plot or anything, I just remember hating it.
I do remember thinking how Roark (whose name I had to stop on *every single time* I read it because I thought it should be Roak or Rork) could have very easily designed stuff the normal way for most clients that were, in fact, paying him to do that, instead of being so stubborn and being practically unable to do that. Then once he has some money, he can cater to clients who want him to design his kind of buildings, and then he would make an *extra* big sum on those projects ...
And I remember in the end where he blows up some building or something because someone else changed his design ... ? ... I thought that was absolutely ridiculous ...