Howard Roark: A Literary Analysis of Ayn Rand’s Ideal Man

Abstract

It has often been argued that The Fountainhead contains Ayn Rand’s first fictional ideal man. However, critics have not yet investigated the stylistic aspects of this portrayal. This thesis analyses the way in which Rand presents the character of Howard Roark, her manifestation of the ideal man, by using Peter Keating as his foil. A close reading in terms of emotions, values, appearances and interactions brings to light the ways in which narrative perspectives and techniques function to establish this foil relationship. What Keating says, does and thinks highlights the absence of such behaviour patterns in Roark, establishing him as Rand's ideal man. Her use of narrative techniques in The Fountainhead implicitly communicates her philosophical ideal of objectivism.