Keating does not love Dominique; he does not even like her. Because Dominique sees clearly Keating's fraudulent nature and is unafraid to state the truth openly, she intimidates him. He jilts the woman he loves and marries a woman he does not love for the very reason he originally became an architect: to impress other people. Keating doesn't leave Katie just because she's plain. In addition to beauty, Katie lacks poise and elegance; she has none of the social graces that Dominique has. If Keating walks into the grand ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria with Katie on his arm, not one head in the room will turn; no one will be impressed. But Dominique is quite another matter. In addition to her beauty, Dominique possesses the charm and poise lacking in Katie. She impresses people. This is the exchange Keating makes: He gives up the woman he loves and a lifetime of happiness in order to impress other people with the "trophy" wife he has in Dominique. Love and happiness for prestige — this is the trade Keating makes. Again, Keating betrays what he wants, and what will make him happy, in order to gain social approval.
The deeper point in Keating's life is that, in giving up his values, Keating gives up his mind. His life is no longer ruled by what he thinks, knows, and wants — but by what others believe and want. Their values and thinking now govern his life, not his own. Keating has abdicated his self; he has betrayed it so fully that, by the end of the story — before he is even forty — there is nothing left of him. He is an empty shell of a man, with nothing uniquely his own. Every personal vestige has been sacrificed in order to please others. He has reached a state of selflessness in its literal meaning — he is without self. He is the opposite of Howard Roark.
The results of selfishness and selflessness are obvious. Roark, no matter the duration and difficulty of his struggle, is on a value-quest; his life is filled, from top to bottom, with the things he loves. A life full of designing structures like the Aquitania Hotel and the Enright House, of intimate moments with the woman he loves, of hours with friends such as Wynand, Mallory, Mike Donnigan, and, of course, Henry Cameron — this is the impassioned, value-driven existence of Howard Roark. Even though at times he struggles, Roark has surrounded himself from morning until night with the things, people, and activities most important to him. Roark's life, therefore, is an ongoing love affair.
