I don't think it had anything to do with strength or will to fight him, but that she didn't consider the world worthy of saving it from him (Toohey). I.E. Would you run into a burning daycare to save the children? Yes! Would you run into a burning prison to save the criminals? No.

She believed the world was getting exactly what it wanted and deserved, and was going to get it good and hard. Dominique, ultimately, is the pessimism in all of us. We see the world crumbling all around us and wonder, "Should I step forward and save it?" Or "Should I go and get some gasoline and a match?"

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.

I can easily see AR thinking of (other) women that way. Reminds me of Dr. Laura Schlesinger, who at least got called on her hypocrisy.

it is like Rand wanted to be saved from herself. I get that. but...

I agree, kh.
Not admirable at all. Spoiled.
No serenade from me.

well, I don't know what you consider "kink" cg. I think this normal female/male dance

db calls me on this. Wynand in the book, wins over Toohey. It is not how I remember.

she lacks virtue. whiny, rich girl who doesn't get the world the way she'd like to see it. well what did you do to change it? be a cynic. hurt yourself. great plan. I really had no use for her, nor did I understand Roark's obsession with her. There are women who not only understand, but work for important ideas. Gail dies, Dominique gets a pass? gah. Eddie was worth 5 Dominiques. there. now you know what I think lol

What motivates their game (assuming it is a game) where she goads him into attacking her after dates? I took that as an ordinary kink, but maybe if I read it again I would get something more. Maybe she has a general feeling of apathy and is searching for anything that will make her feel like she cares about something.

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.

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'm not sure I buy into kinky, but everyone is different in their tastes. I think she could not feel. She was dead inside to some extent. and she was not used to being challenged. She did use sex as a tool instead of an expression of celebration of man (as I call it). I need to find the scene where she is in the cab and deliberating with herself whether or not to have a one night stand. anyone remember that scene? I think it displays her apathy, like Gail's

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.

great points. I spent alot of time yelling at her on first read. she was bored as well. someone come visit us LOL

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."