The Fountainhead, part 1, chapter 9
After months of hitting one dead end after another, Howard Roark finally gets a lucky break in his job hunt not that Ayn Rand ever acknowledged the existence of luck:
John Erik Snyte looked through Roarks sketches, flipped three of them aside, gathered the rest into an even pile, glanced again at the three, tossed them down one after another on top of the pile, with three sharp thuds, and said:
Remarkable. Radical, but remarkable. What are you doing tonight?
Why? asked Roark, stupefied.
Are you free? Mind starting in at once? Take your coat off, go to the drafting room, borrow tools from somebody and do me up a sketch for a department store were remodeling. Just a quick sketch, just a general idea, but I must have it tomorrow Can you stay?
Yes, said Roark, incredulously. I can work all night.
We never find out how Roark learned about John Erik Snyte the first time his name is spoken in the text is the first line of the passage I quoted above which is just a little strange. We saw last week that Roark had been unemployed so long and gotten so desperate, he was reapplying to firms that had already rejected him. How did Snyte come into this picture? From the evidence, his firm isnt brand-new.
Was he someone Roark had known about, but held in such contempt that he refused to interview there until he literally had nowhere else to turn? Or was Roark tipped off about a job opening there but by who, since he has no friends or colleagues?
An obvious answer is that he saw a help-wanted ad in the paper and thought the position might suit him, but were never told that if so. Its possible that Rand deliberately chose to omit this information, because she couldnt think of how to have Roark find out about the job opening in a way that didnt seem like a stroke of good luck.
As I said above, Rand was fiercely opposed to the idea that theres such a thing as luck or random chance, since that might call into question her view of the world as a perfect meritocracy. Having her hero stumble across a job opening that suits him, something that would have been easy to overlook or miss, wouldnt accord with her view of how the world works. (As possible evidence of this, I skipped a section where Roark comes across an editorial by an unfamiliar architect named Gordon L. Prescott, who claims to want fresh blood and originality; but when Roark goes to interview there, it turns out he just wants to build more copies of the Parthenon.)
Personally, my headcanon is that Henry Cameron told Roark to apply with Snyte, and then secretly sent the recommendation letter that Roark always refused to accept, figuring his protege was too stubborn for his own good. It does fit with a line where Snyte says about his new hire, saying, Thats just what Ive always needed a Cameron man, even though we never see Roark actually tell his new boss anything about his background. Did it ever occur to him to wonder how Snyte knew?
Heres how the text describes John Erik Snyte:
He considered Guy Francon an impractical idealist; he was not restrained by an Classic dogma; he was much more skillful and liberal: he built anything. He had no distaste for modern architecture and built cheerfully, when a rare client asked for it, bare boxes with flat roofs, which he called progressive; he built Roman mansions which he called fastidious; he built Gothic churches which he called spiritual. He saw no difference among any of them.
Snytes system is to hire five designers, each specializing in a different style, and to blend the best ideas from each of their sketches to create the final product. Roark is the modernistic designer in the room, although he dislikes being called that:
He met his fellow designers, the four other contestants, and learned that they were unofficially nicknamed in the drafting room as Classic, Gothic, Renaissance and Miscellaneous. He winced a little when he was addressed as Hey, Modernistic.
Roark takes individuality to comical heights. Hes so obstinate about it that he cant even stand to be described as part of a movement. Whatever he does, its important to him to believe that hes the only one doing it.
Of course, its impossible for every architect in the world to be a movement of one, with styles and aesthetic choices that are completely unlike anything else in the history of humanity. All culture is a mix of imitation and improvisation. We coin terms like Gothic or Modernist to describe broad trends and patterns that, yes, are influenced by the fashions of their era. This is as true for Roark or his real-life inspiration, Frank Lloyd Wright as it is for architects of the ancient past. But Ayn Rand conceived of herself as a special snowflake, someone who stood apart from the crowd, and she wrote her protagonists the same way.
Youd think that Snytes mix-and-match design scheme would infuriate Roark, since he hates anyone else altering his work with the ferocity of a Klan member opposing miscegenation. Instead, he grudgingly goes along with it:
Roark knew what to expect of his job. He would never see his work erected, only pieces of it, which he preferred not to see; but he would be free to design as he wished and he would have the experience of solving actual problems. It was less than he wanted and more than he could expect. He accepted it at that.
What explains this temporary outbreak of reasonable behavior? It seems that long months of unemployment have worn him down, to the point where hes actually angry with himself for feeling relief at getting a job:
Roark looked at the clean white sheet before him, his fist closed tightly about the thin stem of a pencil. He put the pencil down, and picked it up again, his thumb running softly up and down the smooth shaft; he saw that the pencil was trembling. He put it down quickly, and he felt anger at himself for the weakness of allowing this job to mean so much to him, for the sudden knowledge of what the months of idleness behind him had really meant.
Its difficult to tell what Rand intends us to make of this. Some commentaries, like this one from SparkNotes, call Snyte a supposedly progressive architect who is in fact the ultimate plagiarizer, but I dont buy that. I doubt even Ayn Rand could have believed that its plagiarism for a boss to use ideas from his employees.
I think this is the more accurate description of the fault were meant to find in him:
As a man willing to give the public anything it wants, no matter how vulgar or inane, Snyte represents conformity in yet another form.
Snyte is another illustration of Rands belief that selling what your customers want to buy is a sin in business. The proper attitude is to be like Howard Roark: tell your customers what theyre going to accept, rather than vice versa, and on no account consider their preferences or tastes. Her ideal businessman is someone who sticks so obstinately to this principle that hed rather go broke and hungry than accept money from someone who insists on having opinions of their own about what the end product should look like.
Other posts in this series:
Follow this link:
The Fountainhead: American Eclectic - Patheos (blog)
- Voices for Reason Blog | The Ayn Rand Institute - December 9th, 2016 [December 9th, 2016]
- Media, morality and the neighbors cow: When did Ayn Rand become the ... - December 14th, 2016 [December 14th, 2016]
- How Ayn Rands theories destroyed Never Trump conservatism - December 14th, 2016 [December 14th, 2016]
- Ayn Rand's Progressive Readers are Misguided | National Review - December 14th, 2016 [December 14th, 2016]
- The Daily 202: Ayn Rand-acolyte Donald Trump stacks his cabinet with ... - December 14th, 2016 [December 14th, 2016]
- The scary ghost of Ayn Rand looms over the Trump cabinet - December 18th, 2016 [December 18th, 2016]
- Fountainhead of bad ideas: Ayn Rands fanboys take the reins ... - December 18th, 2016 [December 18th, 2016]
- Ayn Rand Institute eStore : Ayn Rand - January 11th, 2017 [January 11th, 2017]
- Ayn Rand Made US a Selfish, Greedy Nation - January 20th, 2017 [January 20th, 2017]
- Ayn Rand and the Invincible Cult of Selfishness on the ... - January 24th, 2017 [January 24th, 2017]
- The Ayn Rand scene Sajid Javid reads every year - Spectator.co.uk - February 9th, 2017 [February 9th, 2017]
- The Ayn Rand in Donald Trump: The Virtue of America First | The ... - American Spectator - February 13th, 2017 [February 13th, 2017]
- Would Ayn Rand Have Cast President Trump As A Villain? | Zero ... - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- Jerome Tuccille, Author of It Usually Begins With Ayn Rand and More, RIP - Reason (blog) - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- Ayn Rand Contra Nietzsche - The Objective Standard - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- Judging Milo Yiannopoulos, ft. Ayn Rand (Episode #24 of MY PODCAST) - ChicagoNow (blog) - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- How Much Ayn Rand Is There in Trump's 'America First' Foreign ... - American Spectator - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- Who Is Ayn Rand? - The Objective Standard - The Objective Standard - March 8th, 2017 [March 8th, 2017]
- Cheer Up, Justin Amash! There's No Need to Cry Over One Missed Vote. - Slate Magazine (blog) - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- No sympathy: How Ayn Rand's elitism lives on in the Trump ... - Salon - Salon - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- How Ayn Rand's 'elitism' lives on in the Donald Trump ... - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Mick Mulvaney's snake oil: A blend of bad science, bad math and really bad politics - Salon - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Make the magic money tree work for everyone, not just the rich - The Guardian - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Neo-Tech Views On Ayn Rand and Objectivism | Good Herald - Good Herald - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Elate's Revival of Ayn Rand's NIGHT OF JANUARY 16TH Opens 6/3 - Broadway World - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Is Germany Blowing It? - The Awl - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Letter: Deregulation is not always best - Aiken Standard - June 11th, 2017 [June 11th, 2017]
- How the Dark Web's Dread Pirate Roberts Went Down - New York Times - June 12th, 2017 [June 12th, 2017]
- Trump's Credibility Problem - National Review - June 12th, 2017 [June 12th, 2017]
- Trump & Ryan's (Tryan's) Co-Conspiracy in Moral Bankruptcy - The Good Men Project (blog) - June 12th, 2017 [June 12th, 2017]
- Shall we all hang separately? - Nevada Appeal - June 14th, 2017 [June 14th, 2017]
- PBS Is Airing Right-Wing-Sponsored School Privatization Propaganda - The National Memo (blog) - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- South Fayette educator and coach has the music in him - Observer-Reporter - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- Tech Talk: Israel's Fortune 500 companies - The Jerusalem Post - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- NY Times, After 'Corrections,' Still Has Palin-Giffords 'Targeting' Myth in Scalise Shooting Editorial - NewsBusters (press release) (blog) - June 17th, 2017 [June 17th, 2017]
- Both parties responsible for economic failings - Alpena News - June 18th, 2017 [June 18th, 2017]
- Wayne LaPierre, Tomi Lahren, and a Rally Cry From Young Conservative Women - D Magazine - June 20th, 2017 [June 20th, 2017]
- Goodbye Reason, Hello Violence - Townhall - June 21st, 2017 [June 21st, 2017]
- Selfie by Will Storr review are the young really so self-obsessed? - The Guardian - June 21st, 2017 [June 21st, 2017]
- If You Saw Uber's CEO Testify Before the DC Council, His Downfall May Come as No Surprise - HuffPost - June 21st, 2017 [June 21st, 2017]
- Working toward graduation: 50 SPS students participate in credit recovery program - Stillwater News Press - June 21st, 2017 [June 21st, 2017]
- Ayn Rand | American author | Britannica.com - June 21st, 2017 [June 21st, 2017]
- Travis Kalanick may have resigned as Uber's CEO but he isn't going away - Washington Post - June 22nd, 2017 [June 22nd, 2017]
- 'Fargo' Season 3 finale recap: A mostly satisfying, but ambiguous ending - Baltimore Sun - June 22nd, 2017 [June 22nd, 2017]
- London Theater Review: Topical Drama 'Terror' - Variety - June 23rd, 2017 [June 23rd, 2017]
- Paul Ryan conflicted by Jesus Christ and Ayn Rand -- Norman Jensen - Madison.com - June 24th, 2017 [June 24th, 2017]
- BOB BARR: Goodbye reason, Hello violence - MDJOnline.com - June 26th, 2017 [June 26th, 2017]
- Lowell Thomas, the Original 'Voice of America' - The Weekly Standard - June 26th, 2017 [June 26th, 2017]
- This Classic Colonial Revival in Westchester Has Impressive Literary Ties - Mansion Global - June 26th, 2017 [June 26th, 2017]
- The Continuing Scourge of Tenant Harassment: If You Don't Like It, Move. - The Nonprofit Quarterly (registration) - June 27th, 2017 [June 27th, 2017]
- The least of these - Ashland Daily Press - June 30th, 2017 [June 30th, 2017]
- Why can't self-satisfied liberals admit that conservatives care about people, too? - The Week Magazine - June 30th, 2017 [June 30th, 2017]
- Letter: Things aren't going so well under President Trump - Detroit Lakes Online - July 2nd, 2017 [July 2nd, 2017]
- J. Talbot Manvel: Declaration of Independence joined morality and law - CapitalGazette.com - July 2nd, 2017 [July 2nd, 2017]
- I watched the sun set on my Sunset Boulevard romance - Los Angeles Times - July 2nd, 2017 [July 2nd, 2017]
- Republican states raising taxes, not lowering them | The Seattle Times - The Seattle Times - July 3rd, 2017 [July 3rd, 2017]
- Takers and Fakers - New York Times (blog) - July 14th, 2017 [July 14th, 2017]
- BOB BARR: Violent tribalism on display in Charlottesville - MDJOnline.com - August 24th, 2017 [August 24th, 2017]
- Is There Really an 'Insidious Libertarian-To-Alt-Right Pipeline'? - Reason (blog) - August 24th, 2017 [August 24th, 2017]
- 30 important life lessons Dirty Dancing taught us - EW.com - August 24th, 2017 [August 24th, 2017]
- Ayn Rand - Salon.com - August 24th, 2017 [August 24th, 2017]
- Anthem Essay Contest Ayn Rand Education - August 24th, 2017 [August 24th, 2017]
- What's Wrong With America? - Falls Church News Press - August 25th, 2017 [August 25th, 2017]
- Why Stephen K. Bannon was such a failure - The Washington Post - Washington Post - August 25th, 2017 [August 25th, 2017]
- Movie Review: In Pattinson, 'Twilight' sidles up to Ratso Rizzo - The Providence Journal - August 25th, 2017 [August 25th, 2017]
- Why Mark Cuban and Kevin O'Leary read Ayn Rand - January 29th, 2018 [January 29th, 2018]
- How Hillary Clinton Is Like Ayn Rand | The Weekly Standard - March 16th, 2018 [March 16th, 2018]
- Ayn Rand's Ideas - An Overview | AynRand.org - June 23rd, 2018 [June 23rd, 2018]
- The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, Paperback | Barnes & Noble - July 16th, 2018 [July 16th, 2018]
- In Defense of Ayn Rand, Monster Under the Progressive Bed - July 21st, 2018 [July 21st, 2018]
- Ayn Rand Institute eStore - September 6th, 2018 [September 6th, 2018]
- Ayn Rand, Objectivism - The Atlas Society - November 23rd, 2018 [November 23rd, 2018]
- Here's how Ayn Rand helped turn the US into a selfish and ... - November 27th, 2018 [November 27th, 2018]
- Is There a Proof of Ayn Rand's Ethics? - November 27th, 2018 [November 27th, 2018]
- Ayn Rand raged against government benefits but grabbed ... - November 29th, 2018 [November 29th, 2018]
- President Obama Jabs At Ayn Rand, Knocks Himself Out - December 9th, 2018 [December 9th, 2018]
- Column: This is what happens when you take Ayn Rand seriously ... - February 16th, 2019 [February 16th, 2019]
- Ayn Rand - The New York Times - March 25th, 2019 [March 25th, 2019]
- Atlas Shrugged: (Centennial Edition) by Ayn Rand, Paperback ... - March 25th, 2019 [March 25th, 2019]
- Ayn Rand - Philosopher, Writer - Biography - March 25th, 2019 [March 25th, 2019]