The Fountain Head

Individualism

An individualist is someone who sees their view in the world as important, so they do not conform to social norms. Howard Roark and Lois Cook are two characters that display this characteristic. While each one displays their individualism in different ways, both of these characters realize that conforming hides each person’s ability to make changes and succeed in life. Howard Roark attacked the idea of building anything that looks similar to older classical buildings. Lois Cook attacked the ideas of modern society such as sanitation. Both characters saw that being an individual in the collective world is very important, but both combated the conformity in different ways.

Howard Roark is a young man who gets suspended from his school. He worked his way through school, but he does not like doing the simple assignments that are assigned to him. The school that Roark attends tried to teach the future architects to build classical buildings. Roark instead considered himself a modernist. “Every problem you were given, every project you had to design-what did you do with it? Everyone done in the incredible manner of yours. It is contrary to every principle we have tries to teach you, contrary to all established precedents and traditions of art. You may think you are what is called modernist, but it isn’t even that. It is…it is sheer insanity..” (Rand 21). The dean is telling Roark that he is insane for trying to deviate away from the traditional building style. After this conversation he is offered a chance to come back in a year, but Roark denies and tells that he has nothing more to learn. “A building is alive, like a man. Its integrity is to follow its own truth, its one single theme, and to serve its own single purpo...

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...th of these characters are individualists, but they get to this goal in two different ways. Roark has morals and applies these morals to everything he does in life, no matter if everyone accepts them else or not. Cook does not seem to follow her morals, but instead goes against the public opinions. She rebels just to rebel. She does not quite fit the definition of individualist because she does not see her views as important. She enjoys standing out in a crowd, because she stands for something different than most people do. She does however not conform to societal views, even though she does not have the right intentions. While these two are both individualists, both of them have a different reasoning and style of showing their individualism and not conforming.

Works Cited

Rand, Ayn. The Fountainhead. 50th Anniversary Edition. New York, NY: Signet, 1993. Print.