The Echo Maker

Weber coaxes Mark to do some puzzles to test his brain function, but Mark finds ways to explain why he can’t do them and eventually becomes angry, accusing Weber of sabotaging him. Barbara Gillespie enters the room, and Mark immediately calms down. Weber is also taken with her, and she seems strangely familiar. Mark assures Weber that Barbara is the only reliable person in the clinic and his most trusted ally. Barbara appears to know who Weber is. She assures Mark that he can trust Weber. Mark asks Weber to get in touch with his real sister. Weber asks Mark more questions about the real Karin, but Mark evades them.

Karin tells Weber that Mark is glorifying the “real” Karin, ascribing to her all her best traits and laying all his resentments on the “fake” one. Weber considers that Karin has an unrealistic confidence that he will be able to cure Mark.

Weber thinks about one of his subjects, Neil, who, after a brain injury to his right hemisphere, was unable to observe or conceive of anything to the left of his sightline. Weber liked Neil, but after the evaluation was over, he never saw Neil again.

Weber consults with the neurologist who first treated Mark. They theorize that Mark’s amygdala (emotion center) and inferotemporal cortex (visual recognition center) are intact, but their connection has been interrupted. Thus, Mark can recognize that fake Karin looks like real Karin, but she doesn’t arouse the emotional response he expects. Weber concludes that Mark’s pre-frontal cortex is making up stories to explain that lack of connection. As Weber puts it, “It’s not what you think you feel that wins out, it’s what you feel you think” (131).

Weber and Karin meet to talk about Mark. She tells him about their father, who was prone to belief in conspiracies. Their mother had extreme religious beliefs that included speaking in tongues and regular exorcisms of their house to expel the souls of tormented children. She shows Weber a picture of Mark’s truck and his Homestar modular home, which Mark calls “the Homestar” as if it is the only one in the world. It is a source of pride to him.

Weber meets with Mark again and does more tests to measure Mark’s emotional reactions to familiar faces. Mark shows normal responses to his car, his home, his friends, but he doesn’t recognize a picture of Karin as a teenager, and he sees pictures of his parents as models made up to look like his parents: “This one looks like Harrison Ford, pretending to be my father” (144).

Afterward, Mark demands to try the test on Weber and Karen to find out whether they are lying, but he ignores Weber’s explanation that he has to calibrate the device first, so the reaction of the device only confuses Mark more.

Weber then ponders other cases of agnosia (the inability to remember or recognize familiar objects/people). Each is different, and the subjects have different ways of compensating. Consciousness depends on complex coordination between many different “modules” of the brain. As he considers various cases, Weber sees himself as split apart—every isolated moment a new self, unique from the moment before.

Weber returns to the clinic and finds Mark and his friends playing a driving video game. On the screen, the three cars they are playing crash together and flip off the road––a crash resembling the one that injured Mark. Karin arrives, sees what the young men are playing and is outraged that the guys are apparently forcing Mark to relive the crash, which Mark doesn’t remember. Karin accuses Mark’s friends of causing Mark’s crash by playing a game of chicken.Weber and Karin meet to talk about Mark. She tells him about their father, who was prone to belief in conspiracies. Their mother had extreme religious beliefs that included speaking in tongues and regular exorcisms of their house to expel the souls of tormented children. She shows Weber a picture of Mark’s truck and his Homestar modular home, which Mark calls “the Homestar” as if it is the only one in the world. It is a source of pride to him.

Weber meets with Mark again and does more tests to measure Mark’s emotional reactions to familiar faces. Mark shows normal responses to his car, his home, his friends, but he doesn’t recognize a picture of Karin as a teenager, and he sees pictures of his parents as models made up to look like his parents: “This one looks like Harrison Ford, pretending to be my father” (144).

Afterward, Mark demands to try the test on Weber and Karen to find out whether they are lying, but he ignores Weber’s explanation that he has to calibrate the device first, so the reaction of the device only confuses Mark more.

Weber then ponders other cases of agnosia (the inability to remember or recognize familiar objects/people). Each is different, and the subjects have different ways of compensating. Consciousness depends on complex coordination between many different “modules” of the brain. As he considers various cases, Weber sees himself as split apart—every isolated moment a new self, unique from the moment before.

Weber returns to the clinic and finds Mark and his friends playing a driving video game. On the screen, the three cars they are playing crash together and flip off the road––a crash resembling the one that injured Mark. Karin arrives, sees what the young men are playing and is outraged that the guys are apparently forcing Mark to relive the crash, which Mark doesn’t remember. Karin accuses Mark’s friends of causing Mark’s crash by playing a game of chicken.

That afternoon, as Weber is doing more tests with Mark, Barbara enters, and Weber feels sure he has seen her before. He asks her questions, trying to pin down how he recognizes her, but she dodges some of his questions.

Weber asks Karin to telephone Mark to see if he can recognize her voice as the real Karin. Mark does and demands that she come to the hospital, but when she does, he still sees her as the fake Karin and realizes it was the fake on the phone.

Weber is unsettled by Mark and has a sense that he is missing something about Mark’s experience. He announces to Mark and Karin that he will be leaving. He has collected all the data he can from Mark. Mark is dismayed that Weber isn’t declaring him fully cured, as he believes himself to be. Karin feels betrayed that Weber apparently has no intention of trying to cure Mark. Weber recommends cognitive behavioral therapy to help Mark get back to reality.

Weber’s final visit is to Barbara. He tells her about the cognitive therapy, and at first, Barbara doesn’t seem to know what that is although she should. She quickly covers her ignorance. Weber has developed an attraction to Barbara and doesn’t know how to take his leave of her. They part awkwardly, and Weber returns home to Pennsylvania.