1) Gail Wynand is a brilliant individual who rose out of the slums by means of his own talent and effort. But despite his reverence for man's noblest achievements, his newspaper presents lurid, loathsome values to the most vulgar people. Why does Wynand pander in this manner? What is the meaning of such a self-betrayal?
2) On her way to Reno to secure a divorce from Keating, Dominique stops in Clayton, Ohio to visit Roark. Why is Dominique willing to marry Roark only if he renounces architecture? What is the meaning of Roark's response that if he wanted to be cruel, he would accept her proposal? Aside from the obvious fact that she loves Roark, what does this visit show the reader about Dominique?
2 comments:
1. Gail grew up in Hell's Kitchen, a bad area of New York. For his entire childhood, he was told "You don't run things around here." He hated not having any power, and he had to work hard to become what he wanted to become. Since he never had power as a child, Gail had a thirst for power. He is condescending, and he likes his paper to point out the flaws in people. When Dominique tries to defend Roark in her column, she is fired. Wynand wants control over his paper entirely, and he is determined to bring people down when he sees fit. Ellsworth Toohey is the same way. They both use the newspaper to manipulate people's opinions to match their own; and they won't have it any other way.
2. Dominique doesn't want Roark to be an architect because she thinks it will destroy him. She knows that Toohey and others are against his work, and she doesn't want his career to be ended by them. However, Roark knows that Dominique loves his work, and she couldn't stand it if he gave up. She hates to see him alone, working on such small buildings when he deserves so much more. She wants to force herself to live a simple life just so she can be with him and so things can be normal. She doesn't truly want to marry Gail, and she never wanted to marry Keating, but she stays away from what she truly wants to keep her life interesting. She wants to be with Roark and control him, and him to control her.
1. When Gail was growing up he was deprived of any self-confidence and wasn't given any sense of what potential power he could own up. As he grew up he realized he had no power therefore began his conquest of other people's power to gain his own. He brings people down who try to defend boldy what they see fit; as if it were a way of lowering him so he could see himself up higher. He's lying to himself, creating a self illusioned fantasy;making beleive of something that isn't there just as long as it makes him appear with more power.
2. Dominique beleives if Roark were to stay an architect he would be destroyed by those who dislike his work (such as Toohey). Roark can see past Dominiques offer because he knows how much she truly loves his work and that it would just about kill her if he were to stop.
Dominique doesn't want to marry anyone but Roark. The only reason she marries Gail or Keating is to force herself to be unhappy, and she realizes thats all she wants is not happiness, but unhappiness just so she won't have to face the true cruelties of the world.
Roark can see past her proposal and into her thoughts. He can see if they were together everyhting would simply be controlled. But to Roark and Dominique control is not happiness, its the unstructured values of the world that make them realize whether they are truly free or in bondage.
To the reader it shows that Dominqiue is willing to go after what she wants, as long as it is actually worth going after.
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