Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on blackbody radiation and the birthmark. Technology helps people do what they want, but they can also be tools for “becoming.” Brown depicts humanity’s fallbacks and strengths. For him, humanity is at its apex, when they remain innocent and faithful. Augustus’ innocence turns him into an eligible universal leader. Faith is also critical, because it nourishes the soul: “All things grand and great come from faith. This is the only sure way to find your way out of here alive, alive in spirit and alive in mind. The true purpose of nature”. Humanity plunges down to its lowest levels, when it focuses on material and physical needs, such as power, money, and fame. Augustus learns that people, who are devoted to things, are converted to dispensable things too. He becomes the leader that he should be, because he rises above these superficial concerns and finds the spirit that binds all species. Aylmer takes technology in another path, however. As a person, obsessive compulsiveness enables Aylmer to cope with the stress of feeling “inadequate” with his knowledge, characterized with religious alacrity and intonations. The major obsession here of Aylmer is not the birthmark only, but the pursuit of perfect knowledge. Georgina sees the books of plentiful unsuccessful efforts of Aylmer. These books offer the ambiance of absolute determination and extreme anxiety: “His brightest diamonds were the merest pebbles, and felt to be so by himself, in comparison with the inestimable gems which lay hidden beyond his reach”.