The Fountainhead: Part 4: Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

When Wynand shows Dominique the drawing of the house that evening, she immediately recognizes it as Roark’s style and is shocked. She asks Wynand how he found Roark, and he tells her that every building he liked in the country had been built by him. Wynand says he has read the articles Dominique wrote about Roark for the Banner, and he can see that she admired his work but hated him personally. She says that was a long time ago and she hasn’t seen him for years. Wynand says she will see him in an hour, at dinner.

Dominique and Roark greet each other formally, and she compliments him on the house’s design. She is shocked when she realizes that Roark and Wynand seem to like each other, and she feels sidelined as they converse. After Roark leaves, Wynand wants to know what Dominique thought of him, and she is angry and says Roark reminds her of Dwight Carson. Wynand asks her to forget Dwight Carson.

Wynand goes to visit Roark in his office a few days later. Roark thinks he has come to see the drawings of the house, but Wynand says he just felt like seeing him. He says he feels at home in Roark’s office. He finds a copy of the Banner and points to an article about the exhibit for the World’s Fair that Roark had refused to be a part of, and says he admires Roark for refusing to collaborate with the group of architects who had been chosen for the job. Roark says it wasn’t just a gesture, and that “one can’t collaborate on one’s own job.”

Wynand tells Roark he had to attend a convention of advertisers earlier that day and he’d been irritated by the sales talks, but had remembered suddenly that Roark wasn’t “touched by an of it.” This thought consoled Wynand, and he came to find Roark. They decide to go eat dinner together at a restaurant, and when Wynand calls Dominique to tell her, Roark eavesdrops. After Wynand hangs up, Dominique thinks that she had resisted her urge to go visit Roark, but Wynand had given in. She knows Roark’s office is in the Cord Building.

Wynand calls Toohey into his office and orders him not to write anything about Roark. On the wall on Wynand’s office now hangs an enlarged picture of Roark. Toohey readily agrees.