Narrating Style In Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead

“A house can have integrity just like a person,” (Rand 136) Howard Roark says to Austen Keller, the first client of his independent architecture firm, to describe why Austin likes Roark’s style so much: integrity and purpose. Roark is the main character of Ayn Rand’s 1943 The Fountainhead; he is a daring modern architect who does not follow the rules set by society for how buildings should be designed. The events of the story take place during the 1920’s and 1930’s in New York, Connecticut, and a few other settings. The Fountainhead has a third person omniscient narrating style, and it chronicles the lives of many people involved in the world of architecture. Architects, journalists, and critics are all focuses of the book. The characters each struggle with internal conflicts that the reader can see through their individual thought processes and actions. The main example of the character’s struggles comes in the form of Roark’s desire to break away from the traditions of society and design unique, original buildings. He both fails and succeeds various times in the book at achieving this goal, but such an achievement comes at a bit of a cost. …show more content…
He has no sense or consideration for other people, manipulating others extensively just to ensure that he will gain a higher pay, position, or commission. He cheats many people out of their jobs, even pushing his boss’s partner to the point of a deadly stroke. Keating constantly seeks Roark’s approval and assistance away from the public eye; Keating cannot succeed without relying on the help of others. The greed that drives Keating ends up being his downfall, as he does not change. He has success for a short while, but his career crashes and burns towards the end of the novel as the architecture world learns that he has taken credit for Roark’s