Quote 3
He
was not the corrupt publisher of a popular empire. He was an aristocrat
aboard a yacht. He looked, she thought, like what one believes an
aristocrat to be when one is young: a brilliant kind of gaiety without
guilt.
Rand uses physical characteristics to
illustrate her characters’ personalities. This quotation from the
ninth chapter of the third book of The Fountainhead shows
a physical symbol of Wynand’s redemption. Dominique looks at Wynand
sitting on his yacht and muses that his gestures and carriage reveal
his true self. She thought him an evil publisher at first, but now
sees that he has become an idealized aristocrat. Like Roark, Wynand
is tall and carries himself with confidence. He moves quickly, showing
his vibrancy. He is on a yacht, surrounded by luxury that would
overwhelm most people, but his “brilliant kind of gaiety” overwhelms
his surroundings. The once-suicidal Wynand has changed his worldview,
becoming optimistic, and his new personality is so forceful that
it overwhelms the facts. Technically he is still a “corrupt publisher,”
but his good intentions so overwhelm that technicality that the
quotation says Wynand “was not the corrupt publisher.”
