Summary

In chapter 11, Howard Roark decides to open his own firm. He goes to see Henry Cameron after he signs his first commission with Austen Heller, and Cameron feels his life has been validated when he sees a photo of Roark’s office. Roark’s first office visitor is Peter Keating. Although Keating is outwardly filled with praise, inwardly he is jealous and resentful of Roark. Roark runs into Mike, the electrician, at the Heller site, and Mike says he would not miss Roark’s first building for the world. Roark and Heller become good friends. The house is built to little fanfare.

In chapter 12, the editor-in-chief of The Banner, Alvah Scarret, gives Dominique Francon the assignment of investigating living conditions in the slums of New York. Dominique does so fervently, and for two weeks, she lives in a tenement. At the end...