Book review - The Fountainhead

You know how there are books or movies, or any other works of art for that matter, that you grow out of? I mean these make a big impression when you first experience them and as you grow older or grow out of that particular phase in your life, you come to know that they were actually pretty stupid – at least not as good as you thought they were. We have all been there, of course. I mean I remember watching – and loving – movies like Armageddon, Independence Day, Kuch Kuch hota hai among others. And many of us loved Backstreet Boys back when we were in our teens. To be fair, sometimes I do go back to these for that guilty pleasure once in a while or to just relive those days and feel like being a child again. Anyway, I digress. The point I want to make is that this Ayn Rand book is one of those works I seem to have grown out of.

There was a time when I used to swear by this book and its ideologies. Howard Roark was the greatest hero for me – possibly even greater than Vito Corleone – and Elsworth Toohey was the most evil of the villains. Perhaps, it had something to do with the fact that it was one of the very first books I had read. But, as I have said already, I seem to have grown out of that phase. I have realized that I would rather not fill my world with the Roarks and Tooheys and Dominiques.

This book then is about a young architect Howard Roark and his fight against a society that is prejudiced towards the traditional. Roark is against all the archetypes in the architecture and is for efficiency over beauty. He despises any element that doesn’t serve any purpose in a structure. For his convictions and beliefs he has to drop out of college and survive by working on construction sites. Then there is Elsworth Toohey; a noted socialist who is out to destroy Roark by destroying his work and his credibility. He feels Roark’s free will is the major obstacle against his grand plans for society. Toohey, in every sense of the word, is Roark’s antagonist. He has no particular talent and he is a collectivist to Roark’s individualistic attitude. He plots and schemes to manipulate the society around him as opposed to Roark who doesn’t really care. Joining them is Dominique Francon, who is the lady of the book and she has probably the most complicated character in the novel. Hers is a character very much in the mould of Roark with an additional feminine touch. Again very much her antithesis is the character of Peter Keating. He is an architect like Roark but fully devoid of the flair and creativity required for architecture. And Gail Wynand, who is an editor of a respected daily makes up the cast of the main characters.

There isn’t much by the way of the plot in the book, yet to make sense of all the characters in their entirety it is essential to put them in their proper context in the story. As I don’t wish to reveal anymore than I already have, I will let this be an exercise for the readers and will try and keep any further discussion free from any plot details.

It will, I believe, be a folly to judge this book as or on the same lines as a typical novel. Because, as I have mentioned, there is nothing by the way of the plot in this book. Nor is there any suspense, humour and no real romance. The appeal of the book lies in the philosophy it preaches and the characters it portrays. And it will only be fair to the novel and the author if it were to be judged on these parameters only.

The good thing about the characters is that they all – well almost – are moved by their ideologies and not by worldly pursuits. But the thing that doesn’t work for me with the characters is their black and white nature. I mean it in two ways – the characters are portrayed as either good or bad, no shades of grey are present and also, the characters are pretty colourless. That they are either good or bad is self explanatory once you have read through the novel. The only character that has any shades of grey is that of Gail Wynand. And that’s why I found it easiest to relate to him. Other characters, while well portrayed, just lack that human touch and seem distant and unrelatable. That they are colourless becomes evident once you analyze them. For example, I cannot seem to remember a single relationship in the novel that was happy and contented; not a single moment of rhapsody and none of the characters seem to have any inclination towards art. Overall tone of the novel is bleak and probably that’s why I have never read it being described as ‘unputdownable’ (a favourite adjective among reviewers).

That is another aspect that I have found puts the general reader off – it is exhausting. Not only because it is bleak, but also because it is preachy. I agree, that a novel of this kind has to be preachy, still as I said, it is a little off putting. It can be a drag at times and the general conception is that it is hard to understand. The language and sentence construction is a little complex and the philosophy a little heady, but if read with a fresh mind understanding it shouldn’t be a problem.

Now, any discussion about this book is incomplete without discussing its philosophy. And that brings us to Objectivism (or Individualism). I have always been aware that Ayn Rand was a staunch advocate of Objectivism but didn’t know that she was the one who had coined it till I started researching it for the sake of writing this review. And the deeper I went the more impressed I was with the thoroughness with which she has documented it. It is based on certain axioms and has many facets to it, but for the scope of this review it would suffice to say that in a nutshell Objectivism asks us to put our individual interests above everything else. And considering her roots in Russia and her loathing for communism, it is not difficult to see where her beliefs come from. There is much more to it, of course, to the philosophy as well as to the way it has been portrayed in the novel. Howard Roark becomes the human manifestation of her philosophy in the Fountainhead. Howard Roark puts his interests and his happiness before anything else and goes on to do what his heart desires. It is not hard then to understand why it appealed so much to a much younger me. The ideas that form the basis for Objectivism are revolutionary and appealing. For a young and fresh mind eager to find its own identity they are attractive. But a balanced outlook can reveal some of the drawbacks. The offshoot of Objectivism – which sometimes rears its head in ‘The Fountainhead’, but is much more prominent in Ayn Rand’s later work ‘The Atlas Shrugged’ – is that personal interests gain more importance than those of the society. The advocates of Objectivism argue that interests of the individual actually are the interests of the society. And although, I do not necessarily subscribe to this branch of philosophy, I would rather let all of those who read this book form their own opinion and rather not influence future readers through this review.

The novel though is not without its share of moments. Most of them happen in Howard Roark’s presence. Take for example when the dean of his architectural college tells him – incredulously – while expelling him from the college that he cannot possibly take his ideas to the outside world. Or better still, when Toohey asks Roark what he thinks about him (Toohey) – to both these questions Roark’s answers are simply extraordinary – simple and extraordinary.

Ayn Rand always believed that her later novel ‘The Atlas Shrugged’ was an extension to what she started with ‘The Fountainhead’. That the two novels weren’t really to be considered separately. And so, in a way ‘The Atlas Shrugged’ – which I consider vastly inferior to ‘The Fountainhead’ – has skewed my opinion towards the latter. Yet I cannot deny the initial impression this novel had on me. This is a book I sincerely believe everybody should read at least once. If for nothing else then at least to gain an insight into a philosophy not usually taught in schools and colleges.

I may be guilty of portraying this book in a bit of – fine, a lot of – negative light, but my final recommendation is for everybody to read this book to gain a different perspective on life.