The Fountainhead

The Fountainhead

by

Ayn Rand

Nature Symbol Icon

Though nature is viewed positively in The Fountainhead, it is not glorified—it is simply the means to an end, with the end being a person’s desire to create something out of it. Since nature is pliable and subservient to people’s wills, it symbolizes the impressive power of human beings to  harness materials like steel and rocks to use as they wish. According to the novel, people have the right to shape the world into what they will—buildings, skyscrapers—and take freely from nature in the process. In Dominique’s words, “the earth […] [is] such a great background, but it has no meaning except as a background.” At the very beginning of the novel, Howard Roark’s thought when he sees a cliff of granite and a tree is that they are waiting to be “split, ripped, pounded” by him so they can be “reborn.” While his last name is a close homonym for “rock” and he is similarly hard and unyielding, the novel shows how Roark is in fact more powerful than rock, and he is seen drilling and breaking it when he works at the granite quarry. He builds his houses in hard-to-reach places, like the edges of cliffs, which makes his contractors nervous—but Roark ends up proving that nature always yields to his desires. Gail Wynand and Dominique discuss people who say they “feel small” when looking at nature, like oceans or the Grand Canyon, and they mock these sentiments as “vicious bromide.” They instead think of the “greatness of man” when they see these things, because man has conquered them.

Nature Quotes in The Fountainhead

The The Fountainhead quotes below all refer to the symbol of Nature. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Individualism Theme Icon
).
Part 2: Chapter 1 Quotes

Sometimes, not often, he sat up and did not move for a long time; then he smiled, the slow smile of an executioner watching a victim. He thought of his days going by, of the buildings he could have been doing and, perhaps, never would be doing again. He watched the pain’s unsummoned appearance with a cold, detached curiosity; he said to himself: Well, here it is again. […] It gave him a strange, hard pleasure to watch his fight against it, and he could forget that it was his own suffering; he could smile in contempt, not realizing that he smiled at his own agony. Such moments were rare. But when they came, he felt as he did in the quarry: that he had to drill though granite, that he had to drive a wedge and blast the thing within him which persisted in calling to his pity.

Related Characters: Howard Roark
Related Symbols: Nature
Page Number: 202-203
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 4: Chapter 5 Quotes

“Look Gail.” Roark got up, reached out, tore a thick branch off a tree, held it in both hands, one fist closed at each end; then, his wrists and knuckles tensed against the resistance, he bent the branch slowly into an arc. “Now I can make what I want of it: a bow, a spear, a cane, a railing. That’s the meaning of life.”

“Your strength?”

“Your work.”

Related Characters: Howard Roark (speaker), Gail Wynand (speaker)
Related Symbols: Nature
Page Number: 551
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Fountainhead PDF

Nature Symbol Timeline in The Fountainhead

The timeline below shows where the symbol Nature appears in The Fountainhead. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1: Chapter 1
Individualism Theme Icon
Howard Roark stands naked on a granite cliff, laughing as he recalls the events from that morning. He knows that some difficult... (full context)
Individualism Theme Icon
Integrity vs. Conformity Theme Icon
...the sunlight hitting the rock building and dreams of what he can build with that stone. (full context)
Part 1: Chapter 3
Individualism Theme Icon
Integrity vs. Conformity Theme Icon
...an architect, Roark says it is because he doesn’t believe in God but loves the earth. He wants to remake the earth. Cameron hires him, even though he can’t afford to... (full context)
Part 2: Chapter 1
Individualism Theme Icon
Rationality vs. Emotion Theme Icon
Roark has been working at the granite quarry for two months, and he likes the work of drilling and breaking the hard... (full context)
Love and Selfishness Theme Icon
...the quarry worker with the orange hair. The image of Roark’s hand resting against the granite captures the meaning of the day for her. She thinks of the contrast between her... (full context)
Part 3: Chapter 4
Individualism Theme Icon
Love and Selfishness Theme Icon
...sure Wynand has never experienced the “vicious bromide” of feeling small when looking at the ocean. Wynand agrees, saying he only feels “the greatness of man,” “of man’s magnificent capacity” to... (full context)
Part 4: Chapter 5
Individualism Theme Icon
...a spear or a railing—and that this is the meaning of life: “The material the earth offers you and what you make of it.” (full context)
Part 4: Chapter 18
Individualism Theme Icon
Integrity vs. Conformity Theme Icon
Rationality vs. Emotion Theme Icon
...“parasite fed by the minds of others.” While “the creator’s concern is the conquest of nature,” the “parasite’s concern is the conquest of men” and he “lives second-hand” and “preaches altruism.”... (full context)
Part 4: Chapter 20
Individualism Theme Icon
Integrity vs. Conformity Theme Icon
At the building site, machines tear up the earth, and the skeleton of the building rises skyward. Dominique thinks it looks like fire from... (full context)