Summary

In New York, Hunter and Saul freebase and discuss whether it is possible for science to offer “a unified vision of the world” (55). Saul, upon taking the drug, becomes excited at the idea of creating a pyramid of human knowledge. Lucy joins Olivia at her childhood home, where Olivia’s parents, both psychoanalysts, maintain home offices. Martin Carr, Olivia’s father, mentions one of his schizophrenic patients. Martin treats the “disordered language of schizophrenics” as a “communication that needed to be understood” (58). The Carrs comfort Lucy after she divulges the news of her cancer; they also agree with her decision to hide her diagnosis from Hunter. Lucy later joins Hunter for a meeting with William Moorhead. Hunter angrily reminds Moorhead that he is funding Moorhead’s work, and he tells the professor not to “patronise” (62) him.

In Chapter 8, Francis monitors the number of...