Well, Publius, you kinda threw me for a loop with that essay about Lily Powers. If I were going to choose a similar character from a novel, it would be Dreiser’s Sister Carrie rather than Rand’s Cherryl Brooks.
There is no way that Jim Taggart would have been taken down by a little guttersnipe from Erie. That would have been contrary to his character. He would recognize the gold digging guttersnipe for what she was. He would bed her and move on. But Cherryl didn’t fit that mold. Taggart recognized that she was different. Unlike most women and men Taggart encountered in his miserable existence, this young lady didn’t have an agenda. She doesn’t want anything from him; she is simply honored to be in the presence of someone she believes is a great man on his night of triumph.
And how intoxicating this is for Jim Taggart! Cherryl fulfills a need of his that no gold-digger would have been capable of doing. As Taggart bathes in her oblivious and honest admiration of him, he is able momentarily to believe his own press releases. The lies become his reality for most of the evening until he catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror. Rather than feeling any remorse, Taggert feels smugly satisfied that he has conned this innocent young thing. And he feels superior.
It is because of Cherryl’s goodness that Taggert is going to pursue her. She doesn’t hide her poverty ridden past. She isn’t ashamed of it or guilty because she has taken steps to escape it. She has a moral sense of values that makes her reject and rise above the sloth of her family. She simply wants to achieve something in her life. She doesn’t affect a phony sense of sophistication with her move to the Big City, but readily admits that she has a lot to learn. She’s eager and excited to face what her new life has to offer.
Poor Cherryl. Little does she realize that she has jumped from the proverbial frying pan into the fire with her chance meeting of Jim Taggart. Little does she realize that he is the kindred spirit of the relatives from whom she fled.
Correct. Which is why Rand artfully avoided that cliche.
And how intoxicating this is for Jim Taggart! Cherryl fulfills a need of his that no gold-digger would have been capable of doing. As Taggart bathes in her oblivious and honest admiration of him, he is able momentarily to believe his own press releases. The lies become his reality for most of the evening until he catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror. Rather than feeling any remorse, Taggert feels smugly satisfied that he has conned this innocent young thing. And he feels superior. [...]
I noticed another element in the relationship between Jim Taggart and Cherryl: His interest in her is almost solely based on the amount of 'good' he is seen to be doing 'for' her. He sees her as a welfare case and his pride in showing her off in public is saying in effect "look how magnanimous I am, and how good I am for saving this wretched pathetic creature from her life". Cherryl's social awkwardness is a (if not the only) point of pride for him, and serves to back up his misperception of her.
It isn't real, of course, and (perhaps later in the story) his annoyance with her develops when she begins to lose that awkwardness and her modest background becomes less obvious to his socialite peers.
She is a prop in the stageplay that is his false existence. She doesn't really need him any more than Taggart Transcontinental needs him. But he needs *her* to justify and showcase his shallow worldview.