Ayn Rand posits that life does not, as the conventional view has it, require

compromise. She instead views complete and utter independence of thought and mind as
the ideal for which to strive to attain. This view is shown in Rand’s The Fountainhead.
The prevailing idea or opinion against which Rand writes is that which tells us
that in order to achieve anything that we want in life, we must compromise. Rand gives
us the example of Howard Roark, an uncompromising man of solid convictions.
Throughout the novel, Roark is under extereme and nearly unbearable pressure to change,
to give in, to cave to the demands of society for conformity. He is able to resist these
pressures through his unwavering knowledge of what he wants to do, and that there is no
reason for him to change from his position. Roark is joined in his belief of
uncompromising ideals by other artists with firm convictions as to what is right and
wrong for themselves.
The Fountainhead shows a clear conflict between the forces of the entrenched
society and that of the outsiders, the fringes, those who think independently, and act
accordingly. Howard Roark moves into one of those professions in which if given the
chance, an artist can express oneself with as much or little recycled thought used as the
artist feels necessary. However, as Roark found out (although it didn’t seem to either
surprise or perturb him much), the architecture buisiness is also one that is very difficult
to break into- one in which if not given any chances or legs up, it is very near impossible
to build that grand feat of engineering or design. On the other side of the table, the
architecture buissiness in one in which those who pander to the status quo can find it
frightfully easy to hop, skip, and jump to the top.
As her answer to compromise, Rand created Howard Roark. Rand created Roark
without a single compromise in his being. She envisioned him as a man of sharp and
angular lines, as a man who even in his movements did not compromise or waste motion.
To juxtapose such a uncompromising man, Rand envisioned Ellsworth Toohey to be a
man for whom every motion is an if not wasted, superfluous motion. Toohey never
climbed up to a position of power, he started wielding enourmous power, even when he
didn’t have any. As the epitome of entrenched conformity and compromise, Toohey
perfectly acts his part. He trawls for new catches on the edge of society with his
discussion groups, and brings them into the mainstream with his contacts within the giant
design houses, architectural designers, and newspapers.