The Fountainhead Conflict

From the book The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand there is a dispute between an architect and his boss. The architect (Howard Roark) wants to design buildings of unique style that doesn’t match anything that has been done in the past while the firm that he works for wants him to design only what people tell him or follow some style of architecture that has been done in the past.  The architect was recently expelled because of a lack of working with other people and making the designs that were asked by his professor. He didn’t believe in following the instructions of the professor because his beliefs were that if the architects were to only design and follow old architectural models then there will never be an advance in the designs and everything will plateau. Although he had this type of independence about him he was still undeniably considered a genius and was hired by one of the biggest architectural firms in New York. At one point in his early career his boss asked him to design a house for an important client, but it had to be done in the same style as an old British house. Howard was torn between actually following the guidelines given to him or doing his own design on the house and trusting that his skills to convince the buyer that his design would be more practical and prettier. Without telling anyone about his plans he started working and a while later his boss found out about Howard’s intentions but by the time he found out the foundation for the house already started and a lot of money has been put in. The disputes between Howard and his boss started. Howard was a shy person that kept to himself most of the time and he would only give a one-word answer most of the time but regardless of his personality he believed in his design and stood up for it even if it meant that he would get fired. His boss was furious at the subordination of his employee and was ready to fire him but after he saw how much money has been invested he took a chance with Howard threatening to sue/fire him if the building would not be to the customer’s expectations. Later that year when the house was finished it become one of the most popular/beautiful houses in New York.

            After the gain of trust and gaining some popularity amongst other architects he quickly moved up in rank in his firm, to the point where his life took a turning point and he was asked by his boss to try to “woo” one of his biggest client’s daughter in order to get in a better relationship with him. This caused many problems with Howard because he already had a girlfriend and this looked unethical to him. Because Howard liked to be independent in his thinking and do whatever he thought was best didn’t want to pursue this request and had a hard time deciding what to do. His mother also urged him to try to purse this woman but the way he saw everything is that in doing this he would be lying to himself and secondly since the woman was the lead editor of an architectural magazine it would like he was only trying to get to know her for the sole reason to better himself in the architectural world. Also, another conflict was that one of his better friends was currently trying to talk with her and had a little bit of history with this woman. Ultimately in order to keep both his boss happy and his mom happy he gave in and started talking with the woman (Dominique Francon). Although he gave in and for the first time he followed someone’s orders he didn’t feel himself anymore and he believed that because of this his architectural integrity was breached and at most times felt inadequate to design his style of buildings anymore.

            He felt that he could not keep this up anymore and the only solution was to break up with Dominique and quit his job if this is what it took to regain his personality again. This solution lead to him getting a single bedroom apartment in New York and starting his own practice but it wasn’t easy for the young architect to gain traction because of the negative comments that were published in the papers by Dominique and his former boss but at least he now felt like himself again and even though he didn’t receive many orders and mostly did small inexpensive building designs he was finally happy again. Throughout the book he once again gains fame and popularity but this time by doing things his own way. Analyzing the conflict that happened between Howard and his boss we see that following direction is not always the best for the individual and conforming to society leads to one forgetting who they are. Although not always best it is important to break rules once in a while, believe in yourself and do things the way you think should be done. By doing this Howard was able to escape the feeling of being trapped and love himself again. The one regret that he mentions that he had is that he waited that long to resolve his conflicts and take action.