The Fountainhead

Another development in Part Two is the introduction of Steven Mallory's character. When we meet him, Mallory is going a direction similar to that traveled by Henry Cameron. He is a brilliant young sculptor, whose work possesses "a magnificent respect for the human being." Roark chooses him to do the sculpture for the Stoddard Temple because his figures "are the heroic in man." But Mallory is tormented by the same evils that defeated Cameron and plague Dominique. His genius and originality are neither recognized nor valued. He is characteristically rejected by society in favor of sculptors who give the public works, not of man the hero but of trite conventionality. Mallory is already becoming bitter and cynical. He misses his appointment with Roark; he is drunk when Roark comes to his apartment; he is rude. But Roark recognizes him as an ally in his crusade. He encourages the boy; he shows him how much is possible; he hires him and, later, pays for his time so that Mallory can work as he wants. Most of all, by being the independent man he is, unconcerned with society's rejection, Roark inspires Mallory. Mallory was on his way to cynical dissolution, because he thought that the innovators have no chance. Roark shows him, in action, that they do. Mallory, like Cameron, is, in effect, a part of Roark's family. The elderly Cameron, Roark's teacher, is a father figure; the youthful Mallory, whom Roark mentors, is like a younger brother. Mallory's career will soon receive an upward boost from the same source as Roark's — the patronage of Gail Wynand.