A Beautiful Mind

After the shock of his arrest makes him aware of the possible downfalls of pursuing relationships with men, Nash is considering marriage to a woman as “a possible answer” (199). He considers marrying Eleanor but decides against it. When he meets Alicia, the timing is perfect.

Part of Alicia’s appeal to Nash is her intelligence. With his own thoughts so often on an elevated plane, Nash tires of others easily but finds Alicia to be “interesting company” (198) and someone with whom he can actually converse. Additionally, he is not only flattered by her pursuit of him but takes this as “suggesting that she [knows] what she [is] getting and expect[s] nothing more” (199) from him.

The relationship moves slowly and, for some time, Alicia is not sure exactly where she stands. Even as they become more serious, he is, as a mutual friend observed, “not infatuated with her […] He [is] infatuated with himself” (201). Despite enjoying her company and her intelligence, for Nash, Alicia is still on some levels “part of the background, charming and decorative” (201).

When Nash begins sleeping with Alicia, he is “still involved with both Bricker and Eleanor” (201). When Eleanor barges into his house one day, angrily wanting “to talk things out with him” (201), she is devastated when she sees Alicia. Later, she calls Alicia to tell her that she is “stealing another woman’s man” (201). Alicia is undaunted, believing that Nash and Eleanor’s relationship is coming to an end.

Nash takes Alicia to the mathematics department picnic where, as his “notion of a joke” (202), “he [throws] Alicia to the ground and place[s] his foot on her neck” to display that he is “the master of this gorgeous young woman” (202). Possessive gestures aside, Nash, who is on sabbatical for a year, leaves to work at the Institute of Advanced Study without proposing to Alicia or inviting her to join him, leaving her “in an unbelievable state of depression” (202).  

Nash leaves MIT to attend a summer institute at the University of Washington where he “expect[s] that his embedding work [will] make him one of the centers of attention” (203). However, he is upstaged by the announcement that Milnor had found “proof of the existence of exotic spheres” (203). He responds “with a display of adolescent petulance” (203).

At the institute, Nash meets Amasa Forrester, who had been a student with him at Princeton. Openly homosexual, Forrester is “the kind of smart, verbal, quick-witted man Nash [is] frequently attracted to” (205). He is also “an exceptionally sweet man” (205) with a history of supporting people with mental illnesses. He sees through Nash’s “arrogant and aloof” (205) front to offer kindness and comfort to the man beneath it.

Nash and Forrester do not have much time together as Nash is leaving within a month. Nevertheless, “Forrester stay[s] very much on Nash’s mind” (206) for several years, mentioned in letters and other writing. More than a decade later, Nash will stay with him on his houseboat for almost a month.

Nash is fetched from the dormitory at the institute to take a phone call. It is his father revealing that Eleanor has contacted his family and told them that she and Nash have a child. Nash is horrified that his parents know the truth. John Sr. tells him, “Make this right. Marry the girl” (206). 

Nash returns to Boston but does not marry Eleanor, spending most of his time with Bricker. When Eleanor hires a lawyer to demand Nash pays child support, it is Bricker who persuades a reluctant Nash to pay her the money, pointing out that the scandal could cost him his job and reputation. 

Nash decides to live in New York while working at the IAS. He has long been drawn to the city, particularly the bohemian areas that are “a magnet to those who [are] sexually and spiritually unconventional” (208). However, any plans to explore “a different sort of life from the one he had hitherto imagined for himself” (208) are interrupted when his parents come to visit New York.

Nash urges his father, who is in poor health, to consider surgery. Shortly after this, having returned to Bluefield, John Sr. dies of a heart attack. Although Nash does not openly express grief, his father’s death has a significant effect on him. Suddenly, he has more responsibility to his family, and with it, the regulation and routine he dreads and despises. 

Likewise, his mother’s “intense desire that he adopt what she regard[s] as a ‘normal’ life – that is, that he marry – weigh[s] more heavily on him” (209). Combined with her judgments about his illegitimate child and the fear that she might hear of his “liaisons with other men” (210), the need to keep up appearances and shoulder responsibility looms heavily in his life.

Nash tells a friend that he believes Alicia will make a good wife because she watches a large amount of television so she will not “require much attention” (210). Their relationship remains uncertain for a while, even after she quits university to take a job in New York. Eventually, they become engaged, although Nash does not buy her a ring because he has a “typically odd and penny-pinching” (211) idea that he can get one cheaper from a diamond wholesaler in Antwerp.

Nash and Alicia marry in February. Alicia “wanted an elegant, formal affair” (212) while Nash “would have been happy to get married in city hall” (212). They settle on a small ceremony with only their immediate family in attendance.