Ellsworth Toohey’s character is stressed in this section. Up until the construction of the Enright House, Toohey has had to take no action against Roark; the originality of Roark’s designs was sufficient to keep a convention-following society from recognizing him. But at this stage of Roark’s career, a series of independent men hire him for major projects. Roger Enright is the first. Enright, a tough and innovative entrepreneur, understands that Roark is the only choice for the new type of apartment building that he has in mind. This is the chance that Roark needs. The brilliance of his design attracts to him Anthony Cord (for the construction of an office building) and Kent Lansing (for the construction of a hotel).
Roark’s success threatens Toohey. Toohey, a powerful critic, seeks control over the field of architecture as a means of gaining wider power. Roark’s independence stands in the way of this control. He launches a multi-front campaign designed to stop Roark. First, he will not mention Roark in his column, even to attack him; he convinces Dominique to do the same, refusing to grant Roark free publicity. Further, he enlists Dominique’s support and, together, they convince prospective clients to reject Roark and hire Keating, a jellyfish thoroughly under Toohey’s control. Finally, when Roark succeeds despite these measures, Toohey conceives and executes the Stoddard Temple plan, a brilliant scheme of manipulation and character assassination. By the end of Part Two, Toohey’s machinations have reduced Roark to the second and last nadir of his career; Toohey now stands at the high point of his power. In the book’s final half, Toohey’s ability to impede Roark’s practical success is gradually reduced to naught.
The complex relationship of Roark and Dominique is further developed in this section. Though Dominique loves Roark with intense devotion, she willingly joins with Toohey in the attempt to destroy him. She does this because the reason she loves him clashes with her understanding of what is and is not possible in society. She loves Roark for the unbending independence of his spirit, the creative originality that designs revolutionary masterpieces. But she believes that society does not and will not value these innovations. Dominique looks at the career of her father, Guy Francon, and at the lives of Peter Keating, Henry Cameron, and Howard Roark. She sees that her father, a mediocre architect, charms his way to great success; that Keating, a manipulative fraud, uses deceit and flattery as a means to climb the corporate ladder; that Cameron, the world’s greatest architect, ends as a drunken failure; and that Roark, the brilliant young designer, is forced to work in a quarry. She observes that Wynand’s pandering leads to great success and, above all, she sees Ellsworth Toohey—whom she knows to be monstrously evil—embraced as a saint of virtue by society. Because of events like these, Dominique comes to the conclusion that men of integrity have no chance in human society, that only the most corrupt and evil will succeed. She thinks that Roark has no chance; that his genius and unbending integrity—the very qualities for which she loves and admires him—are the reasons for which he will be rejected. Watching the process by which greatness is destroyed by a crowd of envious mediocre people is agonizing for Dominique. She cannot bear to observe as society drives Roark to the same fate as Cameron. Because she believes that she is powerless to save Roark, her only recourse is to destroy him herself—not as the act of spiritual murder that Toohey seeks, but as an act of mercy killing. Roark must die by her hand, the hand of one who understands and loves him, not by the hand of an indifferent or corrupt society. This is her motivation in forming an anti-Roark alliance with Toohey. As Toohey observes, though their reasons may be different, they are working toward the same end.
Ellsworth Toohey has been a power seeker since childhood. He was a sickly and frail child, bitterly resentful of the healthier boys capable of excelling at physical contests. Instead of embarking on a constructive program of building his strength, Toohey chooses the destructive path of tearing down others. He seeks power over them in every possible way. Even as a child, he cultivates a following among the hapless and downtrodden. Under the guise of friendship and support, he takes over their souls, telling them how to conduct their lives. First he embraces Christianity; later, the socialist philosophy of Marx. Either way, he stands for one constant—the morality of self-sacrifice—for he intends to be the beneficiary of those sacrifices.
Toohey preaches a doctrine of selfless service to society. He is an altruist and collectivist. He believes that the group is more important than the individual, and that an individual exists solely to serve others, which stands in stark contrast to Roark’s completely opposite views. Toohey is virulently opposed to the individualism of Roark, to the principle that an individual has “inalienable rights” and that a man has the right to live his own life. Toohey’s values are those that underlie Communism and Nazism—the supremacy of the State or “the People” over the individual. Roark’s values are those that underlie the original founding principles of the United States—the sovereign right of the individual. Roark’s commitment to independent life stands in direct opposition to Toohey’s goal of establishing a Communist or Fascist dictatorship in the United States. “Great men can’t be ruled,” Toohey states. “Therefore, we don’t want any great men.” Given the book’s theme, this statement should be understood to mean, “Independent men can’t be ruled. Therefore, we don’t want any independent men.”
