Why does he have that need anyway? The movie
does not answer this question - and wisely enough, because there is no
answer. This need is born out of nothing, but to be satisfied, a soul must
look at
another soul. And Charles has
already failed, as is normal, but there isn't anyone to help him. He can't stay, he can't leave: he has to return to the
nothing. He grasps his head, not to
protect his survival, but to try just for a little longer to keep
his trust in this
newborn need for a face.
At this point the story has arrived at five options, at least. The most
obvious are insanity or suicide, or both of them. Insanity is already on
its way. Norstadt is indeed flirting with it. At times he is almost completely lost in
his dreams.
He is checked by doctors, he had a father who commited suicide in a mental
institution, etc. The third
alternative is to be absorbed by the
crowd, which is incompatible with insanity, and the fourth alternative is what
indeed happens and we see in the movie.
