The Fountainhead Chapter Summary & Analysis - Part 4, Chapter 16 Summary

Part 4, Chapter 16 Summary

The board of directors of The Banner meets. The paper is hemorrhaging money, hundreds of thousands of dollars a week. "Are we losing our shirts for principles or something?" Scarret, with the board, creates a compromise. They will reverse their position on Roark and rehire everyone except Toohey. It's either that or close the paper, and Wynand is beaten. He leaves the boardroom feeling that his position is reversed. He doesn't own the city. The city owns him. He never escaped Hell's Kitchen. He does not run anything. Instead, he is run by the masses, by "public opinion." A letter that bears his signature in the new edition of The Banner condemns Roark. Wynand realizes that he was not born to be a follower, but he has been swallowed up by mediocrity, by the public voice.

Part 4, Chapter 16 Analysis

Rand demonstrates here that the purpose of a corporation is firstly to make money...
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