The Similarities Between Toohey And Gail Wynand

In the simplest of terms, Ellsworth Toohey and Gail Wynand create a formidable relationship in the sense that their intrications are nonetheless separable, but not indifferent enough to contrast greatly from the beliefs, motifs, and motivations of Howard Roark. Ellsworth Toohey resents anyone who is more talented than himself, and realizes that the only way to cover his talentless abilities is through the overpowerment of others. Gail Wynand is the “almost” hero, but his constant dependability on society only allows him to take the same route Toohey takes. Both the men’s journey’s take on parallelism in a subliminal extremes, but their quest for power is divergent.

Toohey takes on his power seeking route by acquiring followers who blindly

Wynand, unlike Toohey, was born into a poor family and was forced to overcome many devastating life events. Both his mother and father died before he was even 18 and he found himself enveloped in a growing cynical personality. His reaction to many of the rest of his altercations fell on his childhood. “He felt no bitterness against the world of wealth, no envy and no fear.” (404). Wynand’s psychological development began to fall between a crevice that was far from both Toohey and definitely Roark’s. Instead of feeling pity, or as if the world owed something to him, he reasoned he owed something to the world instead. His later work in The Banner would reflect this. “Gail Wynand delivered his paper, body and soul, to the mob” (409). Wynand’s upbringing created a hero turned sour and his greatest weakness developed in his approach in trying to please the “mob.” Wynand’s motivations then become to overpower but with a twist on the public, a dependency on the public, and a need of acceptance from the public. Differing greatly from Roark, who aparts himself from the crowd from the get go, Wynand’s short-lived power is born from the same mob who could destroy

The tabloids in which he preaches oppose many of the ideas and creations of Roark. However, the critiques Wynand introduces to his readers are exactly what the crowd has urged for and his power is in that way bred. Through such a practice he garners wealth and influence, but his motivation is limited to an obsolete and thus weak sense of what the societal monster he has created wants. In reality, Wynand loves Roark’s work but can not enjoy it in the public eye. In fact, when he does attempt to create any sort of substance on Roark’s architecture, the response is only avail to him. His audience returns it to him like he wrote it, unmatched, unworked, and without any interest. This “hit and miss” creates a power struggle for Wynand that resonates heavily on Howard Roark. “Build it as a monument to that spirit which is yours… and could have been mine” (693). Wynand’s motivations followed closely to Roark’s but his realization of a society that controls him creates short-lived aspirations. When asking Howard to design his own building, Gail accepts the position he deserves from allowing society to take his place in authority. Gail Wynand’s motivations were different from Toohey’s and Roark’s but were not entirely indifferent. Regardless, his dependency on a society that did not care for him created empty