Toohey And Wynand Analysis

Ellsworth Toohey and Gail Wynand each epitomize the ultimate second-hander. They are intoxicated by power: the authority and manipulation they exercise against others. Despite their similar lust for power, the two men aspire to contrasting end goals. Whereas Wynand utilizes power as a tool, Toohey chases power as an end unto itself. In this way, both Toohey and Wynand serve to contrast and foreground the perfect egoist, Howard Roark.
Before Wynand encounters Roark, he holds that the perfect man is an unrealizable aspiration; an ideal actualized only within the realm of art. When Toohey baits Wynand with the statue of Dominique, Wynand contends that “She can’t have what that sculptor has given her. And to see that same face, but without any meaning, like a dead caricature — don’t you think one would hate the
Toohey is both a master and a slave, bound to the people who serve him. He provides a dramatic dipole to Roark, who is wholly independent. Likewise, Wynand offers a glimpse of what Roark could have been had the aspiring architect abandoned his morality in the pursuit of power. Unlike Wynand, Roark realizes from the start that egoism and collectivism are irreconcilable. He redeems the fallen capitalist and triumphs despite the “corrosive gas” (583) that is Toohey. Through his victory over Toohey, Roark proves that the heroic man is more than a myth.
In her writing, Rand champions the supremacy of the individual. When man accepts the will of others, he crumbles to the theocrats, the fascists, the communists; he is crushed by Wynand and subjugated by Toohey. The pursuit of validation by others, the worship of material goods, the sacrificial offering of oneself to the masses, the accumulation of power; none of these ever truly satisfy the soul. If water is the wellspring for life, mankind is best served seeking the