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Part 4: Chapter 19
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Fountainhead, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Individualism
Integrity vs. Conformity
Rationality vs. Emotion
Love and Selfishness
Religion and Morality
Summary
Analysis
More than a year later, Dominique visits Roark at the site of the Wynand Building. She looks at the skyscrapers of the city, which rise in “unexpected spots, out of the low roof lines” and look as though they are springing up.
The skyscrapers in the city represent the heroes in society who defy expectations and rise up, just like Roark who came from humble origins and has now achieved success on his own terms.
Themes
At the building site, machines tear up the earth, and the skeleton of the building rises skyward. Dominique thinks it looks like fire from the “heart of the earth” has shot upwards. On the fence surrounding the building is a small sign that says, “Howard Roark, Architect,” and she feels great satisfaction to see it. Though she’d never known Henry Cameron, her feelings are akin to his when he’d told Roark that if he fights and wins, it will vindicate others who have struggled like him.
Roark is living his dream by getting to reshape the earth into buildings. By staying true to himself and his vision despite all his struggles, he has won against the world. Dominique, like Cameron, believes he is a symbol of victory for all who struggle for their individuality.
Themes
Dominique and Roark are now married. She rides a hoist to go see him, as he is up on the water tank. As she goes higher, she sees the various buildings of the city around her get smaller, and she even leaves the other skyscrapers behind. She sees Roark standing on a platform above, and he waves to her. She rises above banks, courthouses, and churches, and at the very top, “There [is] only […] the sky and the figure of Howard Roark.”
The final image of the novel is of Roark standing on a platform higher than the other skyscrapers that surround him. He stands above banks, courthouses, and churches, symbolizing that he is superior to money, laws, and religion. Roark is at the very top, by the sky, establishing his position as the ultimate hero and the embodiment of perfection.
Themes
