Ayn Rand has based her novel on the ideas of objectivism, being concerned with how things ought to be, not how they are. This very broad topic largely applies to the main theme of a great innovator being suppressed by the idealism and common hatred of an unrelenting society.

Howard Roark, a great architect of his time, is more concerned with the fundamental aspects of his architectural work rather than the glamour in its appearance, a standard not accepted by the early 20th century society. His fight is not so much for acceptance rather than to achieve perfection. To do this he need no one else's help, a fact that he is well aware of. He is confident and sometimes arrogant, but to him, it is justified because his largest duty is to himself. This idea is different from the widely accepted notion that...