“Breaking the Code” Act 1

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“Breaking the Code” Act 1

Chronology

The story is partly told via flashbacks, and even the main plot line is nonlinear and out of order. The chronological arrangement of scenes is something like this:

What Sort of Person is Turing?

Personality

• Takes things very literally, as seen by the way he corrects his mother in scene 2 or his discussion of loyalty with Knox.
• Very smart
• But he’s troubled
• Obsessed with math, as seen in how much he knows about it and particularly his conversation about his own work with Knox.
• Inattentive to things he’s not interested in, as seen in most of his conversations with Ross and his poorly considered lies.

Relationships with others

With his mother: Turing is embarrassed by her, as seen in his “can’t choose one’s own mother” remark to Chris, but also resents her disinterest and lack of knowledge of science, as seen in how he corrects her concerning Einstein’s name or the “invention” of the electron. But his mother may want a closer relationship between them, maybe her remarks about not going to college are an attempt to explain why she doesn’t understand his interests (but those remarks are actually made to Pat, so maybe they’re more about trying to connect to her than to Alan).

Pat: Turing’s intellectual peer and partner, more so than anyone else except Chris. And like Chris, a romantic non-partner, though for different reasons. Turing has an affection for Pat since he brings her home; he likes being with her and respects her.

Chris: Turing’s other intellectual peer and partner, maybe someone Turing is starting to have romantic feeling towards, but not fully a romantic partner yet.

Ron: Turing seems to feel some affection for him, as seen by his remorse when they fight, but Turing is awkward and doesn’t know how to express himself to Ron. Ron doesn’t reciprocate Turing’s feelings.

Why Is Turing Here?

In other words, why does “secrets and secret codes” care about Alan Turing?

For one reason, because he was a major figure in breaking Enigma at Bletchley Park.

Next

Read Act 2. In particular, look at how Turing, or at least the reader’s understanding of him, evolves.

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