Visions of America - Themes, The Fountainhead | The Fountainhead - Summary, Themes and Characters - Novels PDF Download

The Fountainhead totally believes in the American dream: the idea of America as a land of opportunity, where it is possible to work hard and achieve great things. Howard Roark, American to the core, is an idealized American hero: self-made, hard-working, individualistic, and at liberty to achieve greatness.

While Rand's America might be a place of opportunity, it is far from a paradise. Among the problems America has in this book are intolerance, persecution, and (the #1 thorn in Rand's side) collectivism.

Rand imagines an America that is falling prey to dangerous influences, like the socialist ideas preached by Toohey. Rand's portrayal of America is part warning and part praise: America has a lot of problems, but people like Roark could still make it great.

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Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

Rand adopts a very gloomy view of America. The Fountainhead suggests that she thinks the country is facing steep obstacles.

Rand exaggerates certain historical facts and features of 1920s and 1930s America in order to explore her ideas, but The Fountainhead would have been a stronger novel had she created a historically accurate vision of America.