Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- Are Roark and Dominique likable characters at all? How might their lack of likability be important to the overall story?
- Is Gail Wynand an antagonist, or is he a tragic hero?
- How does New York act like another character in the story? What are its personality traits?
- How does Roark's red hair act as a character-defining trait for him? Why might Rand have decided to make Roark a redhead?
- Dominique spends much of the novel being (and choosing to be) miserable. Is this an act of bravery, or is it an act of cowardice? Why?
- Is Ellsworth Toohey an evil mastermind or the most inept villain ever? What examples do we get in the text of him being super scary and/or pretty incompetent?
- How do Roark's and Keating's respective architectural styles reflect their personalities?
- Roark and Keating start off their careers working for two very different men: Henry Cameron and Guy Francon. How do Roark and Keating grow more like their respective bosses over time, and in what ways do they differ from their influential mentors?
- Moral dilemma time: Roark blows up a housing project for poor people in order to defend his own individual integrity. Do you think his actions were justified? Do you agree with Roark's defense of his actions or would you argue that he's wrong?
- The movie version of The Fountainhead, Gary Cooper played Howard Roark. If you were remaking The Fountainhead today, what actors would you cast in the movie?
- Based on the themes and details in the book, what sort of life could we predict for Dominique and Roark after they get married in 1940?
- Ayn Rand has a pretty definite and very controversial view of America in the 1920s and 1930s. Do you agree with her view of America in this period?
- The Fountainhead is basically Rand's way of exploring threats to individualism (more or less). Do you think her book is still relevant today? How is individualism challenged today?