Considering, perhaps, one of the most controversial and, at the same time, innovative philosophies of the twentieth century, Ayn Rand's philosophy of objectivism has gathered an unprecedented following precedents. Demonstrated and explained in detail through the use of the characters Howard Roark, Ellsworth Toohey, Peter Keating, and Dominique Francon in his infamous novel The Fountainhead, Rand creates a plot that effectively portrays all aspects of society: its evils and its goods. Rand's employment of Dominique and Roark's positions in society, her explanation and justification for Dominique's seemingly cruel acts against Roark, and her weaving of Dominique and Roark's love for each other into a further application of fundamental ideals selections of objectivism, creates a perfect forum for both a promotion of the novel's central philosophy and a model of an impeccable work of literary fiction. Throughout the novel, Dominique is characterized as a pillar of resistance; although his demeanor is casual and calm when interacting with other characters, his overall position in the novel is conflicted. It is contrasted with society in a non-traditional way; it does not exist as a violent external force attempting to change society to understand its ideas, but, instead, a silent enemy of the collective, subtly manipulating the right threads only when necessary to serve itself. Furthermore, Dominique sees no purpose in openly fighting against the machine that is society as a whole. Instead, his sole focus is Howard Roark. Dominique's love for Roark is congruent with her instinctive human nature; lean towards pain and turn away from conventional sources of happiness. Roark, on the other hand, is a man who is not against society, but, rather, society... middle of paper...; a renunciation of oneself for another. In objectivism, there is no time when one achieves greater personal and selfish gain than when one is in love; you need to have a strong sense of identity. Roark states Rand's belief best in his confession to Dominique that he loves her "[is] selfishly like the fact that I exist... to say 'I love you' you must first know how to say 'I'" (Rand, The Source 328 ) The philosophy of objectivism that Ayn Rand projects throughout the Source, through the use of Dominique Francon and Howard Roark's love for each other and Dominique's simultaneous act of marrying Peter Keating, is very similar to Roark's buildings; beautiful in their appearance, functional in their application and understood only by a small, enlightened part of society. Works Cited Rand, Ayn. The Source. New York: Plume, 1994.