Point of View

Bewilderment is narrated in past tense by a 45-year-old astrobiologist named Theo Byrne. Theo is troubled by internal conflicts related to the death of his wife, Alyssa, and the challenges of parenting their neurodiverse son, Robin. This situation is complicated because Theo does not wish to medicate Robin, nor does he particularly believe in the various diagnoses Robin has received from doctors over the years. When the doctors told him that Robin might be “on the spectrum,” referring to autism, Theo wished to respond “that life itself is a spectrum disorder, where each of us vibrated at some unique frequency in the continuous rainbow” (5). This is to say, Theo thinks that Robin is simply unique, not in need of medical treatment. However, as a scientifically-minded person, Theo is willing to consider alternative options, which is why he sends Robin to Martin Currier's lab for neurofeedback...