Continued... The Chemistry of Tears
As an attempt to help, Catherine's boss at the Swinburne museum, Eric, gives her a project to keep her mind busy. Catherine finds herself deeply into the project and the journals that came along with it. The project is a lovely silver swan automaton designed by John Joseph Merlin, and the journals are of Henry Brandling, a wealthy nineteenth century man who wished to have an amazing toy built for his ill son. Without attending to, Catherine becomes depended on this project, a subconscious part of her thinking it will somehow lighten the pain of her love Matthew's death. Henry depends on the machine to help his child hold on to his life. A mechanical object, no matter how amazing it may be, cannot take away the misery of losing someone or cure a child's illness. We see that Catherine is disappointed with the results of the built swan, and are left to assume Henry's son did not live to see it at all. Both of these individuals are in completely different time periods and scenarios, but have high expectations of finding comfort and happiness in man-made technology. Aside from this, other aspects of technology are also used throughout the story. Such as the Apple Macintosh laptops at the museum, implying a reputable London museum uses only professional equipment as Apple products are said to be.