A reader writes concerning Three Identical Strangers:
I thought it was very good. As you wrote, the first third was the feel-good part, and then it got dark. The interesting thing was as they were interviewing the triplets in the now, it never dawned on me that the 3rd one was missing. Even when they interviewed his wife and she was speaking in the past tense. I guess it didn’t seem that weird to my brain because they were talking about events of the past.
I was pretty horrified that this could happen, considering they said the agency specialized in adopting Jewish kids to Jewish families. This study started in the mid 60s, 20 years after WWII. Do they have no cultural memory? The Nazis used to experiment on twins.
I have to wonder if there was some cultural things going on, because, if memory serves, the psychologist came from Austria, which certainly had some ties to the Nazis and the general culture at the time. However, I know little enough about cultural morals to guess whether the psychologist’s moral system, derived from the early 20th century in Europe, would have clashed with the moral system of the United States in the mid-to-late 20th century.
Clearly, Aunt Hedy (I hope I have her name correct) was appalled, but I don’t recall if she was American or European. The RA was clearly European and defended the psychologist’s research. I do think that the moral systems of scientists and the general citizen can differ in a systemic way (and feel free to mutter “duh” at this point), and that may be what we’re seeing here.
I also wonder what would have happened if when the kid went to college, the person who walked into his dorm room actually never walked in. That guy happened to know the brother’s DOB and his current phone number. I wonder if the other people recognizing him would have been enough to make him seek the other guy out? Life is weird.
I think so. People get curious about such things.
Although I don’t know that I’d chase down my doppelganger.
