“Cast”

This is a continuation of the previous item, in the form of a brief character list. Notable here is a formulation about the four main characters: Roark as “the man who can be and is,” and the characters of Gail Wynand, Peter Keating, and Ellsworth Toohey in relation to him. This was not the only place that Rand used that formulation, but it indicates that she was thinking about the characters in this essentialized way early in the novel’s development.

This is also one of many places in Rand’s early notes where she had not yet finalized the names of several characters. Notable changes include Peter’s last name from “Wilson” to “Keating” and Toohey’s first name from “Everett” to “Ellsworth.”