The Fountainhead Part 2, Chapter 5 Summary

  • Dominique returns to New York after her (not at all restful) vacation and meets Toohey at The Banner office.
  • The two of them bicker and debate and talk circles around each other. It seems like Toohey has an irritating superpower that allows him to turn all conversation intense and vague.
  • Toohey comments on a picture of the Enright House on Dominique's desk.
  • Dominique says the house is too good for him...and everyone else really.
  • Toohey pretty much agrees.
  • Roark totally designed the Enright House, and Dominique doesn't know that Roark is Roark as of yet.
  • Later Stephen Mallory goes on trial for trying to kill Toohey.
  • Toohey testifies at the trial and gets the judge to suspend Mallory's sentence. Mallory seems less than thrilled.
  • Later still, Toohey's Council of American Builders meets for the first time.
  • Keating is there and feels confused about the entire thing.
  • The meeting involves everyone complaining about the state of modern architecture, and then Toohey delivers a Socialist-lite speech.
  • Dominique is there, too, and Keating can't figure out why.
  • Neither can Toohey, actually. He and Dominique banter viciously as usual and Dominique says she's there for the story, as she is a journalist.
  • She and Keating then talk some.
  • Keating guesses that Dominique had a romance over the summer, but Dominique doesn't say much on the subject.
  • She suggests that they avoid each other, and Keating refuses. Wow. That's creepy and persistent.
  • Dominique shrugs and says he can suit himself.