I found Dominique to be a very sympathetic character -- but perhaps I come from a different space-time continuum. The most vivid image I have of her is the second-hand image that her father carried -- that of an ecstatic child making a leap out of the sheer joy of freedom and movement. However it happened that she lost that ecstatic child in the ensuing years, she still had that quality. For example, the statue that she smuggled out of Europe and then broke in the airshaft because she couldn't stand to have anyone else see the glorious man that he was. She recognized the greatness in Roark, and the near-greatness in Wynand, and used Wynand to finally understand and then free herself from being constantly afraid that loving someone was too dangerous, that inevitably the kind of person that she desired would only be destroyed by society.

It would be interesting to imagine what Dominique [and Roark] would have been like if they had met when they were both much younger, and before Dominique became so scarred and fearful. High school sweethearts? But then of course the book is wholly different....

She was ruled by fear for all those years, and was just as damaged in her own way as the sculptor. They both lived in fear of the drooling beast that would find what you loved and destroy it. Roark was a revelation to each of them, a man unafraid, a man who just didn't think about the people whom they feared so much. He was almost like a mythological being that changes the world as he moves through it, as each person reacts to him, while he is unchanging.

I can sympathize with those who prefer Atlas to Fountainhead, but I enjoy the Fountainhead as a purely psychological study of the independent man vs. the second-hand man. Toohey and Wynand are compelling characters, and I think that their motivations are laid out brilliantly. In Atlas, the heroes are so, well, heroic, that the villains seem puny by comparison. Toohey, on the other hand, is a big character; I can see him in a Hitchcock drama, and Wynand is far more of a tragically-flawed man than anyone in Atlas. I see him as a counterpart to Dr. Stadler, in a way, as the counterpoise to the hero, but Stadler feels evil, while Wynand just feels lost for the most part.

Dominique is a diamond in the rough. She understands that talent and even genius is crushed or taken advantage of and feels helpless to do anything about it. Hence, she acts like the ice queen until she meets Roark. She recognizes that he may be a great man, but she doesn't feel as if she can be disappointed by having an idol with clay feet. As a result she tries to distance herself from him even as she forces interaction with him.. However, Roark recognizes the truth buried under the iceberg, as well as the magnetism enveloping him from her when they interact. The famous "rape" scene was explained cogently by A.R. herself. "It was rape by engraved invitation."

She was in despair. She did not want to fight a
battle she could not win against the world. She
left Roark and married Keating as a sort of satire
against the world, as her form of protest. I found
such things very unpleasant to read. To tell the
truth, I liked Atlas Shrugged much better.

I felt a connection to Dagny, but I felt no connection to Dominique at all. It seemed to me that the character of Dominique was written at a time when most women did not work outside the home, especially a rich woman, and, yes, she was defined by her man. I am probably completely wrong, as I can't really see Rand thinking of women in this way, but it was the only way I could try to "get" Dominique.
And thanks for the big belly laugh. "K is bored."

When I read Fountainhead it was my first endeavor into Rand's writings. It is still today my favorite. I did admire Dominique. I admit that her methods were unusual, however, I found that Rand connected the dots in such a way as to give credibility to her character. Yes, she came from privilege and yes she was surrounded by high society and she rebelled against the hypocrisy. In several occasions her discussions, her responses/writings for the newspaper were brilliant. By seemingly agreeing to what you knew she despised she, with derision and caustic sarcasm, revealed the absurdity of the thought or action. It made me think of Marc Anthony's speech at the death of Caesar. She was an enigma yet she had a definite objective, either to discover in another the absolute indivisible integrity and the courage to stand against and face the absurdity, the degradation, the compromising of oneself into oblivion that was the modus operandi for the movers and shakers of society OR be destroyed by these very means.

She was an extremist in all things and she was attracted to an absolute heroic person in Roark.
Even in love she could not break him, could not defeat his principles. I think Rand was brilliant in her juxtaposition of characters in Fountainhead.
I agree with cranedragon's comments the heroes and the villains are both strong and formidable individuals. In Fountainhead you have to be willing to delve into the realm of idealism, as such, Rand's refrain returns- "...not with the way things are but the way they should be".

And I am not bored. Darn. I would have enjoyed reading/commenting on this thread but today was busy.

Jan

Rand described Dominique as herself on a bad day. I think she represented a person smart enough to see the evil of Toohey for instance, without the strength or will to fight him. So Dominique makes the best out of a bad situation by amusing herself with cynical quips and actions and seeing if anyone is smart enough to notice.

I think she wanted Roark and went after him. They met doing that stare-down game b/c she wanted someone who was after what he wanted for himself, as she was, without regard for others and without regard to the society views toward their current jobs. A woman going after what she wanted was, I imagine, a radical notion at the time.

I'm not clear whether the kinky nature of their relationship was part of her philosophy of selfishness. Its being in the book in such detail suggests Rand saw it as related to philosophy, but I saw it as just a kink. Writing about the kink feels radical today, and was probably very radical at the time. While I don't get the philosophical point, I like that they proudly fly their freak flags in search of what they want in life.