Toohey’s scheme to divert Wynand’s attention by introducing him to Dominique succeeds at one level, although at a deeper level it is an unmitigated disaster. Wynand’s love for Dominique does keep him from paying full attention to The Banner. But Toohey knows that Wynand’s marriage to Dominique means trouble. It is more than the specific danger represented by her knowledge and values. Dominique does warn Wynand regarding Toohey’s true motives—and she does urge him to destroy Toohey before it is too late. But Wynand is too contemptuous of Toohey to heed the warning. The real danger lies in that she (and, later, Roark) causes in Wynand a heightened sense of his own values. “What’s gotten into him?” wonders Alvah Scarrett, when Wynand kills pieces of trite conventionality. Toohey knows better. He fully realizes that Wynand’s true soul is committed to the exalted in life, not the trite, sentimental, or vulgar. It’s not a matter of what has gotten into Wynand, but of what is finally getting out. If The Banner becomes Wynand’s paper, and not that of the people, then there is no room on it for the views of Ellsworth Toohey.
The relation ofToohey to Wynand is utterly parasitical. Wynand, for all his errors, is a creative power, a life force. He has risen out of the slums to create a vast empire by means of his own talent and effort. His newspapers and magazines, his real estate developments, are his creations. Toohey cannot match this. Toohey is incapable of creative work. What Toohey does is insinuate himself into Wynand’s organization, then slither into a position of influence. Toohey cannot create The Banner; what he seeks to do is take it over.
In this way, Toohey’s relation to Wynand parallels Keating’s relation to Roark. Keating, incapable of original designs, needs Roark to create his buildings. Similarly, Toohey, incapable of any creative act, needs Wynand to provide him with a platform. When Wynand later pulls that platform away, Toohey is powerless. He needs to start over at a new paper, looking to worm his way into a position of power. Dependents like Keating and Toohey are helpless if the independent men they prey on refuse to carry them.
Roark’s independence continues unabated. Despite the Stoddard scandal and the Depression, he continues to build. The jobs are small, inexpensive, and not well known; he builds nothing in New York City for five years—but he is working. Rare clients who like his work seek him out. The owner of the Ohio department store that he constructs saw his buildings in New York and liked them. This is the reason for all the commissions he receives. The Enright House and the Cord Building are major structures. Pictures of the Stoddard Temple remain in existence. The Heller house has stood by this time for years. Roark understands that all he needs is one prospective client to understand his buildings—to recognize their brilliant efficiency—and he will have a job. This is, gradually, what happens. Despite all that Toohey and an uncomprehending public can do, Howard Roark moves forward as an architect.
