Spare Me your Life Story, Okay?

-Character backgrounds-

Carolyn Weisz-

In the late nineteen-sixties, Carolyn Weisz, a four-year-old with long brown hair, was invited into a “game room” at the Bing Nursery School, on the campus of Stanford University. [...] Although she’s now forty-four, Carolyn still has a weakness for those air-puffed balls of corn syrup and gelatine. [...]

“Even as a young kid, Carolyn was very patient. I’m sure she would have waited.”

Craig Weisz-

Craig, a year older than Carolyn, still remembers the torment of trying to wait. [...] According to Craig, he was also tested with little plastic toys—he could have a second one if he held out—and he broke into the desk, where he figured there would be additional toys.

Walter Mischel-

A large portion of this text is dedicated to describing the life of Walter Mischel specifically. It explains his familial/educational/travel background  in incredibly biographical detail I found all of this back story to be interesting, but also a little superfluous. If there was less about his immigration history, and fragile mother, and the Nazi regime (which all seems... absolutely irrelevant for this article... ) I would be a big proponent of the humanization of the scientist. Heck, I would read it separately as a biography. He sounds really interesting. But Lehrer can clearly humanize this man for me... I GET IT.
On the other hand, I truly appreciated the small and to the point characterizations of the Weizses. Lehrer did not harp on them for paragraphs on end, but instead the traits given help shape a useful framing of their personalities. Carolyn is a very vivid character to me in this reading. She has depth and interest, without me needing to learn everything about her. Also, it helps to make sense of her success later in life paired with her brother's troubles as a demonstrator of the merits of the study.




Signed,
Cassandra Rose Blaise DeMarco