Gail Wynand - Characters, The Fountainhead | The Fountainhead - Summary, Themes and Characters - Novels PDF Download

Like Marlon Brando in On The Waterfront, Gail Wynard could have been a contender. Wynard had so much potential, and he could've given Roark a run for his money in the hero department. But Wynand couldn't quite make it.

A self-made man, Wynand at first seems like the poster boy for living the American Dream. He grew up in a rough slum and managed to work (and fight) his way to the very top. But Wynand embraced a bad system, largely out of cynicism:

Gail Wynand delivered his paper, body and soul, to the mob.

[...]

"I am serving that which exists on this earth in greatest quantity. I am representing the majority—surely an act of virtue?" (3.1.169)

Society might be partly responsible for Wynand's life choices, but he definitely opted to embrace a bad system. His trajectory from the streets to a swanky penthouse apartment has made him too callous and cynical to battle for individualism like Roark does. He's beaten down.

Also, unlike Roark, Wynard is a dynamic, three-dimensional character. His story is a roller-coaster: he grows up on the mean streets and makes good, he becomes embittered by the crass world of the media, he meets Dominique and Roark and starts to feel yearnings towards integrity. He even defends Roark publically, only to take back his defense when the social pressure gets too strong.

Ultimately, Wynard doesn't have the brass to stand alone against society. He's weak in comparison to Roark, and his weakness helps Rand drive home her Objectivist viewpoint that caring about society in any way, shape or form, is symptomatic of spinelessness.

Fun fact: Wynand has a bunch in common with media mogul, William Randolph Hearst. Back in the late 1800s, Hearst helped popularize so-called yellow journalism. This brand of journalism involved printing highly sensational stories to try to up readership. Sounds like The Banner, right?

Gail Wynand's Timeline

• Wynand develops a growing interest in Dominique Francon, encouraged by Ellsworth Toohey.
• Toohey sells Wynand the nude statue of Dominique and he agrees to meet her.
• Dominique basically propositions him on Keating's behalf, in order to get Keating a commission.
• The two bond, and Wynand decides to marry her.
• So he buys her away from Keating and they get hitched.
• Wynand has trouble reconciling his lifestyle and his feelings for Dominique.
• He hires Roark to design them a dream home, unaware of Roark and Dominique's relationship.
• Wynand bonds with Roark.
• During the Cortlandt debacle, Wynand defends Roark with his newspaper.
• But Toohey arranges a strike and Wynand's paper nearly goes under.
• Wynand finally caves to pressure and rehires Toohey. He also takes back his defense of Roark.
• Dominique makes her affair with Roark public and Wynand covers it in his paper.
• He also later divorces Dominique to set her free.
• Wynand shuts down his paper in order to be a better person and to get Toohey out of the limelight, at least temporarily.
• He hires Roark to build him a giant skyscraper, which Roark works on at the very end of the novel.