Story:
This novel has four prominent characters
who emerges and get their height one by one in this book and after some time
fade away, only one of them remains stood like a watchtower till the end of
book(and not surprisingly till eternity) at where he was in the beginning(the
functioning watchtower). The other ones, who are like coming and going- waves,
try to shake the watchtower. However it is firmly standing on its grounds. There
is a lady too in this novel that is indeed another prominent character. But she
does not fade away. She is the heroine of our hero- the watchtower. Now it is
time to reveal the names of the coming/going waves and the watchtower and the
lady character in the order of their appearances- Peter Keating, **Ellsworth
Toohey(what a name!), **Gail Wynand
(again, What a name!) , Howard Roark
(Roark, Howard Roark, Architect Howard Roark - that’s a name, Roark, Howard
Roark, Architect Howard Roark) and our beautiful and brainy Dominique(I want to share one fact
about this lady, she gets married two times before she finally comes in the
arms of her true love).
Peter who is the son of landlady
of Howard, is a bright student of architecture just like Howard is. He does his
graduation from a top institute of America and he has some great prospects
ahead. On the other hand, Howard has been expelled from the same institute when
he is in his third year. The reason of his expulsion is that he does not agree
with one of his teacher over some principles of his subject, and he(Howard)
decides to firm on his grounds and accept his expulsion. Seemingly there is no
future ahead to Roark but in the end **She(Dominique)
saw, on the fence surrounding New York’s greatest building, a small tin plate
bearing the words: "Howard Roark, Architect". *
As sand slides
through the pore and time runs past, we see that Peter is now an employee of a
greatest firm of architects and after some time gets married to his boss’s
daughter(Dominique). He has bagged some such assignments and projects which
can get him the reputation of being the greatest architect of his age. However,
he fears that he has no deep knowledge and that is true. Indeed he lacks the
vision and sense of creativity that these modern age projects’ demand. And every
time he goes to Roark to seek help. Meanwhile Roark is getting some small
projects to earn his bread and butter(once he has to work in a stone quarry as
a laborer).
Again, as sand
slides through the same pore, and time runs past on its track, Ellsworth Toohey
comes into picture. He is a top architectural critic, or in simple words, a pseudo
intellectual who thinks himself that he knows about architecture. He thinks he can
raise someone to the top or make someone to fall into dust. And yes, he has to
face Howard Roark who does not fear and does not give a damn to anyone. He has
to get his fate as losing his ephemeral shine in front of illuminating persona
of Roark(how?).
Sand, pore, and
running time! Here we meet Gail, who is a top businessman of Newyork city and
the owner of a newspaper that has employed Ellsworth Toohey and Dominique
(yes!). He later becomes the second hubby of lady Dominique, and befriends with
Roark even a true friend of his. He finishes himself and lost everything he has
in support of his friend Roark. and at last we all knew what has happened with
our hero Howard.
Oops, I did reveal the story? I am a spoiler?
Umm, wait a minute, did I?(Again asking) really?
No, nopes, not at all! Whatever I have said
in above 619 words do not tell you anything. You do not know yet why and how
Roark became the greatest architect; why Dominique loved him throughout her
life even when she did not meet him; why and how Gail who once had been
responsible for the(seemingly) comedown of Roark’s career, got so much impressed
by him that he gives Roark the job to design Newyork’s greatest building. And what
happened with Peter and Toohey.
Facts: This book is a fiction with the underlying
philosophy of Objective Reality. It was published in 1943. This book had become
one of the bestseller of its age despite its negative review and rejection from
many publishers.
References:
1.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountainhead
2.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivism_%28Ayn_Rand%29
- https://aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=index
Lastly I want to thank’Swan’, whose encouragement has made me to write my first review.*