Sorry, missed this as HN doesn't have notifications about comment replies. My comment about rejecting authority was more about my relationship with my teacher,

Sorry, missed this as HN doesn't have notifications about comment replies. My comment about rejecting authority was more about my relationship with my teacher, not internal relationships within the book. Perhaps the paradox was my teacher then, no? Personally, I don't believe in Rand's philosophy. I think Roark is an unbelieveable archetype. If my teacher idolizes Rand and says she agrees with the philosophy, it's _her_ paradox for telling me "no, that's wrong" if I, for example, say that I agree that Roark is Rand's ideal man, but that I believe Gail Wynand is the antithesis of Rand's ideal man because he _has the power_ (and money) to reject the status quo but still refuses to do so (whereas Keating, whom most of the class and the teacher selected as the antithesis, is just a social climber and is working for that power).