A Feminist Critical Reading Of The Fountainhead English Literature Essay

Ayn Rand was born on the 2nd of February, 1905 in Soviet Russia. She was born as Alisa Zinov yevna Rosenbaum. She died on the 6th of March, 1982. She was a novelist, philosopher, playwright and screenwriter. She was passionately into politics and even more so after the beginning of the Russian revolution. When the Bolshevik party came into power in Russia, they nationalized a major chunk of her father’s assets which reduced her father’s financial assets considerably. Since then Rand staunchly believed in Capitalism and the influence of this belief has been seen in most of her books including The Fountainhead.

Ayn Rand graduated from the Petrograd University with the highest honors in History and Philosophy. She moved to Chicago in 1925 to become a screenwriter and had her plays staged on Broadway in 1935-36. Her first book, We the Living was written in 1933 and it was published by Macmillan Publishers in the United States of America in 1936. She began working on The Fountainhead in 1938. It was published by Bobbs-Merill in 1943. Atlas Shrugged, her other major work, was published in 1957.

Ayn Rand was a part of the modern period of writing. That period was a time of great sexual repression for women. Despite all of that, the characters in her books were brave, bold and fearless. They defied convention and stuck to what they thought was right and moral. The philosophy propagated throughout all of Ayn Rand’s books is of “Objectivism”. Briefly, it says that any person, system or social structure that blocks a person’s freedom or talent is evil. The Fountainhead was the foremost embodiment of Objectivism.

This book appeals to me because Ayn Rand is a revolutionary female author who has gone against convention of her time. She has shown a lot of courage and more so, steel to take the kind of stand that she has taken. The female characters in her books, like Dominique Francon(The Fountainhead) and Dagny Taggart (Atlas Shrugged) were extremely powerful, resourceful and symbolic for freedom for womankind. The characters that she built then have stood the test of time and their value systems and personalities are relevant and appeal to audiences of today’s times as well. The character of Dominique Francon is built in a manner that reflects an independent and powerful woman, and even yet, some of her actions seem to be driven totally by dependency. The intimate scene between Howard Roark and Dominique Francon is often termed by feminists as rape. That notion is a matter of great debate throughout readers and critics.

Ayn Rand has paid minute attention in constructing the female characters of her book. Even the minor characters have been constructed with the plot of the story in mind apart from asserting her views about women and life of women. Her women maintain one steady stance throughout the book. Their characters do not fluctuate or change. They are stable in their own ways. The more powerful women characters are shown to be individualistic and ones who stand apart from the crowd. Where as, the less powerful characters are shown to be collectivist and conforming to tradition, general belief and the kinds who would not oppose the state of things.

Mrs. Louisa Keating is shown to be a self sufficient woman who has raised her only child based on whatever little income she could accumulate. She has worked very hard in her life but it has never had any kind of direction. She has one son, Peter Keating. He is the whole and soul of her life. All of her ambition is directed into making him a success, at any cost. She propels him into taking up architecture with subtle manipulation. Peter Keating has been conditioned into introjecting Mrs. Keating’s thought process as his own thoughts. So when she said that fine art is not meant for him and that architecture is a more respectable and safe field, he accepted that point of view and convinced himself that it was his own. He internally mocked himself at ever having considered fine art as a career option. Another instance is where she moves in with Peter Keating into his New York apartment. Even though Keating is skeptical about that, he doesn’t argue. Simply because he knows that he will lose the argument to her manipulation. She didn’t approve of Keating’s relationship with Catherine. Although she didn’t mention Catherine by name, she talked to no end of men who have had their careers ruined because of falling in love with the wrong girl. She felt no guilt for such atrocities as she considered them to be essential for her son’s well being. Here, Rand applies another stereotype which says that women are meddlesome by nature. Even with such power, Mrs. Keating is shown to be of a collectivist mentality. She is shown to be the kind who relies on other people, which is being a stereotypical feminine quality, is shown to be weak.

Catherine Halsey is Peter Keating’s fiancée in the story. She is shown to have a single minded approach to life. She has only one aim in life: to get married to and settle down with Peter Keating. She is a very simple girl, with simple value systems and in want of a simple life. She is neither individualistic and neither collectivist. She is like clay, which could be molded as needed. Her uncle and famous writer, Ellsworth Monkton Toohey manipulates her into the collectivist culture with his gift of lucid yet convoluted speech. She readily accepts this conversion to fill the void left by Peter Keating and his betrayal of her. She is deeply hurt by the turn of events. Ellsworth Toohey takes advantage of the situation to make her into a small replica of himself. In this manner, Rand shows that women are fragile and can be easily manipulated. While talking to Keating, Catherine says, “….. and here I am, helping him, me, just nobody….”. This line clearly points to her low self esteem. Hence she is manipulated easily by her uncle Toohey.

Dominique Francon, is projected as a character in complete contrast to all the other female characters in the book. She is shown to be strong, fiercely independent and extremely individualistic. She understands human potential and respects it to the highest degree. She is at one level very cold and rational and at another level absolutely confused about her love life. Even with her female protagonist, Rand throws in the stereotype that women lose their head when they fall in love. Domique’s strength of spirit and the direction towards which it is channelized make her a perverse unusual woman. She believes that Howard Roark should not succeed at life because the world doesn’t deserve someone like him. But how she is allowed to judge that is not justified anywhere in the book. She makes a lot of judgments during the book which are taken to be facts without any evidence or backing. She is a very forceful woman whose words have a great impact on the masses. And yet, she doesn’t fight for what is right because she is hopeless about Howard Roark’s victory.

The main characters of the book, i.e. Howard Roark and Dominique Francon have been given no sentimental qualities. They are cold and precise, almost like machines. Their reasoning is very individualistic and sure. Howard Roark has been given the quality of not being able to understand human emotion. He is very good with work but very bad at interpersonal relationships. Dominique Francon on the other hand is afraid of losing her freedom and hence stays away from any kind of attachment. Sentimentalism is seen to be a very feminine quality and hence is manifested only in the weaker characters or antagonists of the book. Peter Keating, Catherine Halsey and Mrs. Keating, all have moments of sentimentalism.

“The mad woman in the attic: The women writers and the 19th century literary imagination” by Gilbert and Gubar was a study which said that, “Women writers need especially to conciliate a suspicious and largely hostile antagonistic patriarchal culture.” Techniques of concealment and evasion concentrate on the “madwoman”. This madness or frustration that Dominique expresses towards the world is concealed by Ayn Rand in her own life. Dominique’s detachment from the world for the sake of freedom is mirrored in Rand’s own troubled relationship with Nathaniel Branden.

There are many socio-economic constructs in the book that comply with the patriarchal structure of society. All the major businesses are owned by males. Francon & Heyer, The Banner, Wynand industries, Henry Cameron’s architectural firm and Howard Roark’s firm are all owned by males. When talking of Guy Francon, the book says, “His clothes displayed an artist’s infinite attention to details. He wished, as he descended the steps, that this were a co-educational school”. The thought process of Guy Francon reflects the thought process of Ayn Rand in her regret about education not being made freely available to girls. Howard Roark is shown as supreme in the book. Dominique Francon is shown only as a foil to his creativity. It is because she appreciates him so greatly do we realize his talent.

The most debatable topic from a feminist point of view in the whole book would be the intimate scene between Howard Roark, a construction worker and Dominique Francon, heir to the Francon & Heyer firm. It takes place in chapter 2 of part 2 of the book. The moment Roark lays eyes on Dominique, he looks at her as if he owns her. He enters her house, grabs her roughly and has sex with her like “a master taking shameful, contemptuous possession” of a slave and then leaves without a word.

Because Dominique had extremely high psychological defenses erected, she had lost all capacity to feel emotion. She could feel only indifference. Any kind of gesture, friendly or fiendish which managed to reach out to her was perceived as a threat. Thus, although she wanted to, she could not relate to anyone. Howard Roark reached out to her in a way no one else had. He understood her to be exactly who she is. Any less of a gesture than violent sex would have met with cold indifference from Dominique. Roark did exactly what was needed to shake her out of her shell. For the first time, she felt the pleasant discomfort that excitement provides.

Ayn Rand, in the book says, “She fought like an animal. But she made no sound. She did not want to call for help”. Also, “…the master taking shameful, contemptuous possession of a slave was the kind of rapture she wanted. These 2 quotes together explain why the incident cannot be called rape but only an act of consensual sex, albeit violent.

The Fountainhead is exultation to feminism. It talks very frankly of raw emotion that every woman feels. It does away with a lot of stereotypes only to have the freedom to examine the man-woman relationship without constraints. We can conclude with confidence that Rand has successfully managed to bring out new possibilities. It is a very interesting book to read from a feministic point of view.