rachel’s blog

I am going to keep a running summary of the novel (chapter by chapter) as I read because by the time I get to the end of about 800 pages I may have forgotten what exactly happens when. So here goes…

Chapter 1:
The main character, Howard Roark, has just been expelled from the Stanton Institute of Technology (for architecture). He was expelled for his modern designs even though he is a very good student.  He returns to where he is boarding (Mrs. Keating’s house) and Mrs. Keating reminds him he has a meeting with the Dean. Mrs. Keating’s son Peter is a student at the architecture school.  Roark goes to meet with the Dean who tells him he can come back once he matures but Roark refuses the offer.  This offends the Dean but Roark does not care. 

Chapter 2:
After commencement, Peter Keating returns home and asks Roark his opinion on whether to take a position offered by a great architect (Guy Francon) or to take a prestigious scholarship.  Roark says Keating should make up his own mind, but Mrs. Keating says Peter should accept Francon’s offer.  Roark agrees. 

Chapter 3:
Keating begins working for Francon & Heyer inNew York.  Much to Keating’s surprise, Francon doesn’t do much work at all – a man named Claude Stengel does everything.  Roark tries to get a job with Henry Cameron (a now unpopular architect), and after Cameron tells Roark, “I’m perfectly happy with the drooling dolts I’ve got here…”, he tells him to show up for work the next day.  Cameron works hard, but is not much of a people person; he loves his buildings – as does Roark. 

Chapter 4:
Keating remembers a girl named Catherine (Katie) Halsey who lives inNew York.  Katie tells him that her uncle is Ellsworth Toohey, a well-known architecture critic, but Keating tells Katie he does not want to meet Toohey.  On the other side, Cameron says Roark will design the most beautiful building in the world, but the world will refuse his design.  He says this will happen because Roark has integrity, similar to himself.  He also predicts Roark’s future by telling his own life story. 

Chapter 5:
Keating has gotten his best friend at the firm (Tim Davis) fired by taking over his job.  He tries to talk to Roark but feels as if he is “knocking against a sheet of iron in Roark’s unmoving eyes…”  Keating then gets Stengel out of the architecture firm but telling Mrs. Dunlop about him.  With both Davis and Stengel, Keating calls himself “unselfish” and “helping”.  Keating gets help from Roark with a project; he later tries to help Roark pay his bills but Roark refuses.  Cameron loses a commission and is upset that Gail Wynand will (in a few years) rule the world.

Chapter 6:
Ellsworth M. Toohey publishes a book - his history of architecture. This book is called Sermons in Stone and is very popular. Cameron retires from practice and asks Roark to close the office and burn everything. Keating still works at Francon and Heyer and lives in an apartment with his mother. His mother wants Peter to meet Francon’s daughter, but Francon does not want that to happen. Peter goes to see Katie, however, and they now have a secret engagement and are to be married in a year or two.

Chapter 7:
Francon hires Roark after Keating asks him to. Roark agrees but declares he will not do any designing; he only wants to be in the engineering department. Roark does everything he is asked, and frustrates Keating (who keeps asking him for help). One day when Roark is out inspecting a building site, he shows an electrician a better way to do his job. The electrician disagrees, so Roark takes the torch and does the job himself. Roark and the electrician, Mike, become friends.

Chapter 8:
Keating leaves for Washington and Francon asks Roark to design a building – based on one of Cameron’s buildings – the Dana building. Roark and Francon disagree about the style and Francon is insulted by Roark when he refuses to do it the way Francon wants. Roark is fired on the spot. Roark makes a list of all of the architects and attempts to find a job but no one is interested in him. He thinks he has hit the jackpot when he interviews for Gordon L. Prescott but again, Prescott thinks Roark’s work is “not practical”.

Chapter 9:
Finally, Roark is hired by a man named John Erik Snyte. At that firm there are five designers, each of who has their own style (Gothic, Classic, Renaissance, Miscellaneous, and Roark is Modernistic). Each project then uses bits and pieces of each architect. The building-trades unions go on strike to demand higher wages. Gail Wynand’s papers voice their antiunion stand. Ellsworth Toohey (Katie’s uncle) supports the striking workers. He can’t come out and say he supports them however because he writes for the Banner (one of Wynand’s papers), and to support the strikers would end his career in journalism. Keating goes to the rally and tries to persuade Katie to leave when Toohey begins to speak of unity and selflessness. Wynand decides to give Toohey a substantial raise (a bribe to keep him quiet perhaps?) The strike is settled. Francon’s daughter writes a nasty review of one of Francon’s buildings in the column she writes for the Banner; he is not happy with her.

Chapter 10:
Finally, Keating meets Francon’s daughter, Dominique. She attempts to chase him away. Snyte’s firm is commissioned Austen Heller’s home. Roark visits the site many times and prepares a distinctive building. Snyte uses pieces of Roark’s work and shows it to Heller who is not quite satisfied. Roark then grabs the paper and reworks it to Heller’s surprise and satisfaction. Snyte fires Roark on the spot (how many times has he been fired now?), but Heller is impressed and gives Roark the commission afterward (the first check is made out to “Howard Roark, Architect.”

Chapter 11:
Roark opens his own office; the first visitor is Keating. When Roark signs the contract for the Heller building, he visits Cameron who wants to see pictures of Roark’s office. At the Heller building site, Roark sees Mike again. Roark and Heller become friends as Roark visits frequently.  When the house is finished, it does not appear in any news anywhere. 

Chapter 12:
Dominique Francon investigates the living conditions in the New York slums after being assigned to by Alvah Scarret (the editor-in-chief of the Banner).  She then insults the owner and speaks to a group of social workers about the conditions of the tenements and the laziness of the people in them. Keating won’t admit he wants to see Dominique but Francon sets them up again; Keating continues to see her frequently. Katie comes to see Keating one night and asks him to marry her as soon as possible.  Mrs. Keating does not know of any of this, and after Katie leaves she tells Peter he should marry Dominique and get settled at the firm.  Keating tells Katie they will wait to get married and she agrees but after they talk they realized they may have missed their chance. 

Chapter 13:
Roark designs a gas station for Jimmy Gowan, who admired the Heller house.  Roark turns down many commissions, never settling for something someone wants in an old style; he will only design a house in his own style.  Finally, Roark gets a commission from a former customer of Cameron, Whitford Sanborn. Mrs. Sanford objects at many of Roark’s sketches; Roark refuses to compromise and Mrs. Sanborn ends us refusing to live in it. 

Chapter 14:
Keating is going to enter the huge Cosmo-Slotnick skyscraper competition but knows he cannot win; he goes to see Roark, who, of course, fixes it up for him.  Roark is running out of money after not receiving any work for months. Roark goes to see Cameron in New Jersey after his sister calls to ask Roark to come. Cameron gives him one last piece of advice before dying – never compromise.Keating convinces Katie to wait to get married until the winner of the huge competition is announced.  He thinks if he wins, he will become a partner in the firm and everything will be fine. Keating spends a ton of time with Dominique and tries to kiss her but she says she believes she is frigid. He then asks her to marry him, after remembering she is Francon’s daughter (What about Katie, right?!) Dominique tells him she will marry him if she ever needs to punish herself.

Chapter 15:
Heyer is dying, and Keating is anxious about the building competition – if he doesn’t win someone else might get Heyer’s spot in the firm.  Keating finds blackmail material and goes to Heyer’s house to attempt to get him to retire before the results of the competition come out; Heyer suffers a second stroke and dies while Keating is there.  A few days later, Francon calls Keating in to tell him that Heyer has left him everything he has and that he has won the Cosmo-Slotnick competition.  Keating becomes popular immediately, but he knows that Roark deserves the credit.  Dominique leaves for the summer to live in Connecticut.  Keating goes to see Roark and writes him a check for $500 to get Roark to stay quiet about his help on the competition but Roark returns the check so as not to be blackmailed. Keating breaks down and before leaving vows to break Roark.  Roark shuts down his office after refusing his only customer who wanted a simple Greek design. Roark asks Mike for a job and Mike tells him about a granite quarry in Connecticut.