On the surface, Jim Holt’s Code Breaker tells of the life and death of Alan Turing. But there is so much more to this essay. It talks of isolation, loneliness, rejection. Turing parents chose to give their son up and place him in the care of a retired Army couple. He was rejected at birth. Undoubtedly, his childhood was considerably different from that of his peers; he was adopted, had no siblings, and his caregivers were much older then his peers' parents. Setting him apart even further was an interest in “exploring esoterica like Einstein’s relatively theory” (Holt, J. in The New Yorker, February 6, 2006). Although he managed to have one friend who shared his interest that friendship only lasted a year before the friend died and “Turing seems to have been left with an ideal of romantic love that he spent the rest of his life trying to duplicate” (Holt, 2006)
Due to his sheltered life, Turing's college years proved no different. He wasn’t accepted by the aesthetic set so spent his free time performing solitary sports like as rowing and long distance running. He was also an intellectual and spent hours contemplating abstract concepts which didn’t require the companionship of others. He devised the ‘turing machines;’ by the age of 23 he had “dispatched the decision problem…;” had a Ph.D. by age 26; managed to break the German coded messages in WW2 and finally conceptualized the early computer. He was brilliant. However, he was a homosexual which, in the early 1900's when views of sexuality were much less liberal then today was unacceptable. These people were referred to as diseased and much like the leppers who were sent to Darcy Island to be set apart from society so were homosexuals. They needed "... treatment by a duly qualified medical practitioner” (Holt, 2006) and Turing was no exception. He was rejected by society and under an 1885 act, he was persecuted for “gross indecency. The crime … punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment.” (Holt, 2006). Turing was forced to submit to a chemical castration to ‘cure’ him. Holt continues saying that although Turing’s crime received no national attention he descended in “a slow, sad descent into grief and madness” and committed suicide three years later during a period of societal anxiety about spies and homosexuals. Turing, a man capable to enormous scientific accomplishments may have deduced that the only solution to treating his sexuality was that of death. Do you think Turing’s death was an escape from his homosexual tendencies?
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/02/06
(Sorry everyone - I have misplaced my course textbook and had to find the story on the web)
Although I agree that Turing's life was sad in a number of ways, such as the loss of his one dear friend, and the unfortunate decision of his parents, I don't think it is out of the ordinary for a brilliant person such as he to be somewhat of a loner anyways. Since he endured his punishment for gross indecency and then carried on with his life, I don't feel that his death was an escape from homosexuality. I think that if he had died at the time of his conviction, it might be easier to argue that. My personal opinion is that he didnt kill himself. But that is just my opinion.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think his homosexual lifestyle caused him to feel too lonely. Once Turing accomplished all his goals, he didn’t feel he had anything left to live for. I don’t believe he was ashamed of his sexuality, but perhaps still wanted to live acceptable lifestyle. Maybe after the humiliation of his treatment is what pushed him over the edge because he realized that he would have to keep his sexuality private and that society would not accepted him for what he was even with all his accomplishments.
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