=======
As 19-year-old Lisa continues to read The Fountainhead, she identifies with the 19-year-old character Dominique Francon. When the character Peter Keating sees Dominique for the first time, he is amazed by her beauty.
Her slender body seemed out of all scale in relation to a normal human body; its lines were so long, so fragile, so exaggerated that she looked like a stylized drawing of a woman and made the correct proportions of a normal being appear heavy and awkward beside her.A gray, tailored suit! Just a hint of color in her appearance! These beauty concepts were new and thought-provoking for Lisa.
She wore a plain gray suit: the contrast between its tailored severity and her appearance was deliberately exorbitant -- and strangely elegant.
She let the fingertips of one hand rest on the railing, a narrow hand ending the straight imperious line of her arm.
She had gray eyes that were not ovals, but two long, rectangular cuts edged by parallel lines of lashes; she had an air of cold serenity and an exquisitely vicious mouth. Her face, her pale gold hair, her suit seemed to have no color, but only a hint, just on the verge of the reality of color, making a full reality seem vulgar.
On this first occasion when Peter sees Dominique, he does not know who she is. He sees her in the office building of the Francon and Heyer architecture firm. Afterwards, someone tells Peter that the young woman is the daughter of the firm's co-owner, Guy Francon.
Dominique has been summoned to her father's office. There he reprimands her for her recent article, published in her interior-decorating column in the New York Banner newspaper. Dominique's article has publicly mocked the elaborate decorations of the home of Mr. and Mrs. Dale Ainsworth, where Dominique recently had attended a party. Dominique's article included the following passages:
You enter a magnificent lobby of golden marble and you think that this is the City Hall or the Main Post Office, but it isn't. It has, however, everything: the mezzanine with the colonnade and the stairway with the goitre and the cartouches in the form of looped leather belts. Only it's not leather, it's marble.Guy Francon is furious at Dominique, because the Ainsworth home was designed by the Francon and Heyer architecture firm. Peter, who was the home's chief designer, stands outside the office door and listens as the father reprimands the daughter loudly:
The dining room has a splendid bronze gate, placed by mistake on the ceiling, in the shape of a trellis entwined with fresh bronze grapes. There are dead ducks and rabbits hanging on the wall panels, in bouquets of carrots, petunias and string beans. I do not think these would have been very attractive if real, but since they are bad plaster imitations, it is all right. ...
The bedroom windows face a brick wall, not a very neat wall, but nobody needs to see the bedrooms. ...
The front windows are large enough and admit plenty of light, as well as the feet of the marble cupids that roost on the outside. The cupids are well fed and present a pretty picture to the street, against the severe granite of the façade; they are quite commendable, unless you just can't stand to look at dimpled soles every time you glance out to see the whether it's raining. If you get tired of it, you can always look out the central windows of the third floor, and into the cast-iron rump of Mercury who sits on top of the pediment over the entrance. It's a very beautiful entrance.
... to expect such an outrage! From my own daughter! I'm used to anything from you, but this beats it all. What am I going to do? How am I going to explain? Do you have any kind of a vague idea of my position?Peter hears Dominique laugh out loud at her father's reprimand.
======
Dominique's defiance of her respected, accomplished, powerful father amazes Lisa, who would have broken down, weeping, under such a reprimand from her own father.
Lisa envies Dominique for writing her home-decorating column so hilariously, so brilliantly.
From the novel's descriptions, Lisa tries to develop a mental image of Dominique's appearance, style and bearing.
======
On a later day, Peter approaches Dominique at a party. By now, she has learned that he had designed the Ainsworth home that her article had mocked. She treats him somewhat contemptuously.
Peter's mother had suggested that he court Dominique, his boss's daughter. However, Peter is afraid that he could not control her. Peter feels that he would enjoy a much more convivial relationship with his long-time girlfriend -- now practically his fiancée -- Katie Halsey.
After the party, Guy Francon drives Peter Keating home. Guy confesses that he cannot control his daughter. Guy too fears Dominique's contempt and mockery,. Guy encourages Peter to try to court Dominique:
.... I don't regret you're meeting her now. ... I think you're the one man who could handle her.Peter imagines that marrying this beautiful young woman, Dominique, might enable him eventually to inherit ownership of the architecture firm.
You're quite determined -- aren't you, Peter? -- when you're after something.
======
Reading such a complicated, thought-provoking, magnificent novel makes Lisa feel much more adult.
Lisa appreciates Robbie Gould's annotations. On several pages, he has underlined Dominique's name and written the word Individualist or Individualism in the margin. Lisa figures out that Katie symbolizes altruism, whereas Dominique symbolizes individualism.
Lisa wants to impress Robbie with her ability to discuss the novel with him in a philosophical manner. Lisa thinks about how she should mention these words, concepts, contrasts and symbolisms in her conversations with him about the novel.
======
Continued in Part 12
======
No comments:
Post a Comment