Assignment #3

The Fountainhead essay

1.      In dynamiting Cortland Homes, Howard Roark breaks the law. What is his moral and philosophical argument for the rectitude of his action?

         The Fountainhead written by Ayn Rand primarily revolves around the protagonist, Howard Roark’s struggle to retain his individuality in the face of forces bent on bringing him on the edge. The book make the reader realize the value, altruism, and individualism that leads to human egotistic decisions. In the last scene of the novel, Roark undermined the law creating an ignition of the ethics and moral of the novel.

         First we need to consider the moral side of the problem. Howard never compromises when it comes to defending his designs, copyright, originality and creativity. He agreed to help Peter Keating under one condition and that promise was broken, thus he had no choice but to break the law and make it a test case for the court and jury to decide. Howard is so passionate about his work that he will not compromise his creativity in order to accomplish his personal goals; he will never give in no matter how enormous outside pressures he faces. There is only black and white. He stands for an individual’s right to his own mind, believing strongly in intellectual property rights of an individual. Roark is not concerned with what others think because he relies on his own thinking to form his own conclusions. Gail Wynand was trying to defend Roark through his newspaper “The Banner” and went for the first time in his journalistic career against the public opinion. The articles published on that subject compared Howard with other trials of unjustly convicted innocent men in history, such as Socrates, Pasteur or Galileo. Unfortunately, because Roark blew up a housing project for the poor, even though he made sure that nobody was there at the time of explosion, Wynand faces more opposition from the public and eventually reverses his position publicly under pressure. Toohey is power hungry, sets a standard of mediocrity in order to manipulate the masses, thinking he is above the law, he is fostering collectivism. An advocate for altruism, Peter, cannot stand on his own when deserted; he achieved success only with help of others. Howard is the opposite, he stands on his own. Or as he states in his court speech: “The creator originates. The parasite borrows. The creator faces nature alone. The parasite faces nature through an intermediary”. (http://bookstove.com/classics/why-did-howard-roark-dynamite-his-own-creation/)

         “A man’s ego is the fountainhead of human progress (Ayn Rand).” The whole issue of Roark breaking the law was the ethical concept of what is law? Law is created by an individual and random words written in an official document does not mean rule to follow by people. Laws are created to keep the society in perfect fit, without any condemned nation, and to avoid overpowering an egotistic individual. Roark believed that by breaking the law, he saved his own personal goals.