The Fountainhead: Part 2: Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis

Roger Enright, who is now an oil millionaire, started life as a coal miner in Pennsylvania. No one helped him on his way to the top, while many stood in his way—but he never noticed them. He now owns many ventures, like a publishing house and a restaurant, and he works hard on all of them. When Enright decided to erect a building, he spent six months looking for an architect and decided on Roark minutes after meeting him. Roark didn’t mention that he’d tried to meet him before, but Enright somehow found out and fired the secretary responsible for keeping Roark from him.

Roark reopens his office and hires some young draftsmen to help him on the big project. He doesn’t ask for recommendations but chooses them solely on the basis of their drawings. Roark never speaks to them about anything except work, and they all work hard, with Roark working hardest, spending even his nights at the office.

Right before the construction of the Enright house, Roark meets Joel Sutton, a successful businessman who loves everyone. He wants to hire Roark for a project only because Enright has hired him, but he needs some time before he makes his final decision. Later, Heller asks Roark to go with him to a party Kiki Holcombe is hosting because Sutton will be there, and Heller wants Roark to get the project. Roark is reluctant but decides to attend when he hears that Dominique will be there, too.

At the party, Ellsworth Toohey mocks Mrs. Gillespie’s diamond necklace by saying that it is vulgar to display one’s wealth. But she says she won’t take it seriously because she knows he is not “the dangerous kind” who are “dirty and use bad grammar”—Toohey has such a “beautiful voice.” Toohey says he is merely “a conscience, […] conveniently personified in the body of another person.” He is one of the most popular guests at the party, dishing out witticisms and advice.

Peter Keating is also popular at the party, and is pleased at all these people who “stand in homage” in front of him. Looking at his reflection, he almost forgets who he is and wants “to join in the general admiration of it.” When Keating meets Toohey, Toohey acknowledges Keating’s popularity that evening but says that it’s a shame that Dominique is ignoring him. Keating tries to talk to her, and she is polite and answers all his questions with a “monotonous precision” that makes him walk away.

When Heller and Roark walk in, Kiki Holcombe welcomes them while deciding that she doesn’t like Roark’s face and his “insolence.” When he walks up to Dominique, she doesn’t betray any emotion, which gives Roark “a violent pleasure, because she seemed too fragile to stand the brutality of what he was doing; and because she stood it so well.” Dominique wishes Roark would acknowledge the bond between them, but he speaks to her like “a stranger.”

Later, Roark meets Sutton, who feels that Roark’s presence at the party confirms his choice. He tells Roark the commission is his, but when Roark tries to talk to him about the building, he doesn’t want to. He instead wants to discuss his hobby, which is badminton, and he is very disappointed that Roark can’t and won’t play. Keating talks to Roark after, telling him he should have handled Sutton better by praising badminton, and that by “always be[ing] what people want you to be […] you’ve got them where you want them.”

People at the party approach Roark kindly, telling him that his work is “almost as good as the Cosmo-Slotnick Building” and that he’ll soon be “another Ralston Holcombe.” Roark finds these comments to be “more offensive than hostility.” Dominique watches him speaking to everyone, thinking that Roark knows how hard it is for her to see him being “delivered to the crowd.”

Toohey, too, is fascinated by Roark and stands watching him, even though he does not yet know who he is. When he finds out, he says, “Of course. It would be.” He is then “conscious of no one but Roark. Roark did not know that Toohey existed in the room.”

When Kiki Holcombe asks Dominique what she thinks of Roark, Dominique says she finds him “revolting” but also “terribly good-looking.” Kiki is surprised to hear this, but Toohey, who overhears the comment, says to Dominique that the two of them “see things, at times, which are not obvious” and that they can be useful to one another. Dominique tells him that he’ll make a mistake someday, and he says that she has already made hers.