Chapter 9 Summary and Analysis

Cathy related the story of Phineas Gage, a famous brain injury case in American history. Gage was a construction foreman who, in 1848, had an accident in which gunpowder sent a three-foot-long, one-inch-wide shaft of iron into his eye and out the other side of his skull. Gage was a marvel to the doctors, as he rapidly regained motor and speech functions despite losing an eye and having extensive brain damage.

Gage returned to work, but was soon fired because his personality had changed. He could not concentrate; he flew into fits of rage; he swore frequently; and he was rude and bizarre. Cathy pointed out that Gage's symptoms were classic of frontal lobe brain injury, and she wondered how Gage could have been helped by modern science. As it stood, he ended his life as a vagrant.

Unlike Gage, Alan was...