Notes on early Dominique/Roark interaction

Some scenes had to be crafted with extra care to achieve the effect Rand wanted. In the early scenes between Roark and Dominique, they have conversations that are ostensibly about other topics, but are actually a cover for the sexual tension and mutual attraction between them. Rand wanted to make sure that she was getting that subtext right, so she wrote out in these notes what was actually being implied under the cover of their other conversational topics (such as Roark’s living conditions).

As discussed previously for one of the outlines, although Roark and Dominique’s first sexual encounter is termed a “rape” in Rand’s notes and in the story, it was a fully consensual (if antagonistic) encounter. The conversations Rand was working out on this page of notes are part of what makes that mutual interest and desire clear. “A man who would force himself on a woman against her wishes would be committing a dreadful crime,” Rand wrote to a fan in 1946, “What Dominique liked about Roark was the fact that he took the responsibility for their romance and for his own actions.…The lesson in the Roark–Dominique romance is one of spiritual strength and self-confidence, not of physical violence.” For further discussion of this issue, see this webinar episode.