Knowing that brain is chemical, why do I still suffer?

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

These are the thoughts going through Dominique’s mind in the conversation with Alvah after returning to New York:

“Either course taken would be taken under compulsion.”

“She wondered whether they whipped convicts nowadays.”

“She had kept herself clean and free in a single passion — to touch nothing.”

“[…] she had liked the impotence of their hatred […].”

“She was not free any longer.”

~ Excerpts from ‘The Fountainhead’, by Ayn Rand

Question: The way Dominique is struggling when her tendencies are coming to the surface, and how even after choosing the toughest choice of all the ones available, she still feels defeated by Roark.

(Dominique and Roark are the main characters in Ayn Rand’s ‘The Fountainhead’).