The Fountainhead: Part 4: Chapter 15 Summary & Analysis

Toohey writes in the Banner that the district attorney is in possession of a piece of evidence that confirms Roark’s guilt, and that “we must crush the forces of selfishness and antisocial individualism” as embodied by Roark. Wynand, who has been on a trip out of town to convince an advertiser to not pull out of the Banner, cannot believe he is reading his own newspaper since he had forbidden Toohey to write about Roark. In his office, Scarret looks nervous and says he wasn’t there since he had laryngitis. He says that two other employees were working on the copy desk, and Wynand asks Scarret to fire both of those employees and Toohey, and to have them out of the building immediately. Scarret says they can’t, since they are all longtime employees, but Wynand asks him to get out. He then gives an order to immediately stop distribution of that day’s paper.

Wynand writes an editorial criticizing Toohey, calling him a “contemptible blackguard” and seeking his readers’ forgiveness for letting Toohey write. Toohey walks into Wynand’s office, laughing, and Wynand is curious how Toohey made it in, despite his orders to have him removed from the building. Toohey says he will be back soon, at his job, and that when he is back, he will run the paper. He tells Wynand that Wynand wanted power but wasn’t “enough of a scoundrel” to really understand how to get power over men.

Right after, the city room of the Banner and the union walk out in a strike. They are mid-level, crucial employees, most of whom Toohey has hired in the past eight years. Several other employees walk out, too—some because they have always hated Wynand, others because they are simply afraid to stay. The strikers demand reinstatement of those who were fired and “a reversal of the Banner’s stand on the Cortlandt case.”

Wynand works with a skeletal staff to continue publishing the Banner, but the articles are laughably bad. Many employees get beaten up by angry mobs and the advertisers withdraw. Wynand tries to hire a new staff and no one responds. He does several jobs himself, never leaving the building. Alvah Scarret stays back to help him, but finds it hard to process the changes and cannot understand how Toohey got so much power. 

One day, Dominique shows up to help and she writes several articles for the paper. She sleeps on a couch in the building, and even sweeps the office. Wynand learns that “her endurance is greater than his.” When he feels defeated, she kisses him and tells him that it will be all right.

After three weeks, Wynand goes to see Roark and tells him that the Banner is not helping him out but is ruining him. Roark says “of course,” and he says that it doesn’t matter because he isn’t counting on public opinion in any case and he doesn’t expect Wynand to save him. Wynand asks if he should stop campaigning for Roark, and Roark asks him to hold out until the end, because if he does, he won’t need Roark anymore.