Summary: Chapter 11
Tell man that he must live for others.
. . . Not a single one of them has ever achieved it and not a single one ever
will. . . . But don’t you see what you accomplish? . . . He’ll obey.
See Important Quotations Explained
When most of the work on the Cortlandt project is done,
Roark agrees to go on a long yacht voyage with Wynand. As Roark
and Wynand sail, they talk about the true definition of selflessness. Roark
defines selfless people as “second-handers” who live their lives
through others. Roark says the greatest enemy of the second-hander
is an independent spirit.
Summary: Chapter 12
When Roark returns to New York, he visits the
Cortlandt construction site and finds that his plans have been altered.
His substructure remains unchanged, but new features cover the building’s
façade. Toohey’s protégées secretly made these additions. Keating
fought desperately to uphold the integrity of the building, but
the interlopers overwhelmed him. Roark goes to see Dominique and
asks her to drive past Cortlandt Homes the following Monday. She
must stop in front of Cortlandt to pretend she is out of gas and
send the night watchman to a gas station over a mile away. Dominique
agrees, knowing that Roark only includes her so that she will not
suffer later.
Dominique follows Roark’s instructions. She parks in
front of the Cortlandt building and asks the night watchman to help
her get gas. When he leaves, Dominique steps outside and
sees the Cortlandt building explode in a brilliant ball of fire.
Dominique returns to her car, part of which has been crushed under
a piece of machinery. She crawls into the front seat and tries to
make it look like she never left the car by slashing her neck, legs,
and arms with a splinter of glass. When the police arrive, Dominique
is unconscious and nearly dead.
Summary: Chapter 13
Dominique wakes up in Wynand’s penthouse, where Wynand scolds
her, even though he approves of destroying the building. Wynand
has not yet guessed the nature of Dominique’s relationship with
Roark, and she feels sad when she thinks of the pain this will cause
Wynand. Roark has been arrested for destroying the building. After
Wynand pays Roark’s bail, Roark comes to visit Dominique. Roark
says if he is convicted, he wants Dominique to stay with Wynand,
but if he is acquitted, he wants her to leave Wynand for him. The
public denounces Roark as the enemy of the poor. Some people speculate
that Roark was bitter because Keating and Webb borrowed his ideas.
Wynand orders all of his papers to defend Roark, but the support
of the Wynand press hurts Roark more than it helps him. Wynand begins
to realize how thoroughly Toohey has corrupted his organization.
Summary: Chapter 14
Toohey goes to see Keating, who is hiding from the media.
Toohey asks Keating to admit that Roark designed the Cortlandt home because
he thinks this fact will hurt Roark. Keating has become so dependent
on Toohey that he cannot bear to think about Toohey’s true nature,
but Toohey forces Keating to understand his evil, explaining that
he gains power over men by forcing them to join the cult of selflessness.
Toohey’s speech devastates Keating. He begs Toohey not to leave
him alone. Toohey laughs.
Summary: Chapter 15
Toohey publishes a column criticizing Roark, and Wynand
has Toohey and the editors who approved the column fired. Toohey
promises Wynand that when he returns, he will own the paper. The
Union of Wynand Employees, which is made up of dedicated Toohey
followers, goes on strike to demand the reinstatement of Toohey
and the other editors. They also demand a complete reversal of the paper’s
pro-Roark policy. Wynand runs the paper with a skeleton crew. The
picket lines outside become violent, and a few of the remaining
employees are injured when they enter the building in the morning.
Wynand works fiercely and Dominique moves into the Banner building
to help him in any way she can. Every day, however, they print fewer
copies of the Banner, and even those copies go unsold.
Analysis: Chapters 11–15
Roark’s bombing of the Cortlandt building is the novel’s
climax, as the opposing forces in the novel come into all-out conflict.
The bombing marks the first gesture of defiance by the talented
few against the mediocre majority. Although Roark is the one who
actually bombs the building, all of the major figures are involved:
Keating officially designs the building, Toohey corrupts it, and Dominique
aids and watches Roark’s destruction of it. Roark never before reacts
to Toohey’s provocations, but never before does Toohey physically
alter Roark’s work. When Roark reacts, he does so in characteristic
fashion, taking firm, irrevocable action that leaves no room for
counter-arguments. A less ideal man might have filed a lawsuit or
even, like Stephen Mallory, made a futile attempt to kill Toohey,
but Roark takes final action to destroy the blasphemy against his
design.
Roark reacts differently to the Cortlandt building than
to the Stoddard Temple because the temple is completed according
to his specifications and altered later. He does not care what the
world does with his finished buildings but insists on finishing
his buildings as he wishes. The Cortlandt complex perverts Roark’s
ideas before they have been implemented. Unable to tolerate this
kind of compromise, Roark must destroy the mediocrity to maintain
his integrity.
The bombing seals Dominique and Roark’s love. Dominique
has been unable to abandon the world completely and has been torn between
society and Roark. Now she signals her renewed allegiance to Roark
by helping him bomb the building. Dominique has always been
stimulated by violence, and the bombing sets her free and makes her
ready to resume her relationship with Roark. Her lifelessness following
the explosion is part of her rebirth; with the annihilation of the Cortlandt
comes the annihilation of her resistance to the world. We later
learn that when Dominique cuts herself in the car, it is her final
act of masochism. The violent destruction of the Cortlandt building
heals Dominique and reconciles her with the man she loves.
In the chapters before and after the novel’s climax,
Rand sums up the ideology of the novel by giving both Roark and
Toohey two lengthy philosophical monologues. These two monologues
serve the same role as closing arguments in a courtroom, a last
chance for each side to make its point. Rand employs setting and
tone to indicate that we should prefer Roark’s monologue. Roark,
the novel’s idol and savior, discusses his beliefs on the importance
of the ego in the serene setting of a luxury yacht trip. He speaks
to Wynand, his close friend, and his speech is calm, amicable, and
reassuring. Toohey goes on his tirade in Keating’s claustrophobic,
shabby apartment. He expresses his philosophy of selflessness as
he terrorizes the pathetic, beaten-down Keating. By giving Roark’s
monologue such a serene tone and Toohey’s such a fearful one, Rand
does not so much ask us to choose a side as remind us that Roark’s
has always been the correct one.
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