It is clear that Bob Arctor is completely fried at the end and the brain damage is very likely irreversible. He is sent to the farm run by New Path that is growing the blue-flowered plants that are used to derive Substance D as a zombie, living in body but dead in spirit. It is also clear that Mike from New Path and Donna, who we find out is a Federal Agent, are working together.
Existem duas possibilidades, como eu vejo. Uma é:
Donna and Mike purposely let Arctor fall into ruin so that they could get somebody inside the New Path farm and that hopefully this would help Donna's investigation into finding a major supplier of Substance D. In this scenario they may have been banking on Arctor somehow recovering his mind and giving useful information to Donna or Mike.
O outro cenário que pode fazer sentido para mim é:
The Federal Government is actually supporting the New Path program, and Donna as a Federal Agent is tasked with keeping this secret from other law enforcement agencies. In this scenario she purposely destroyed Arctor because she knew he was a narc and was trying to use her to find out who her supplier was. She clearly felt love for him though, and was torn with guilt over it.
Ou talvez eu tenha entendido mal o final e eu esteja completamente errado?
Acho claro que sua primeira sugestão está correta.
"Stooping down, Bruce picked one of the stubbled blue plants, then placed it in his right shoe, slipping it down out of sight. A present for my friends, he thought, and looked forward inside his mind, where no one could see, to Thanksgiving."
Acho que isso deixa claro que seus "amigos" estão apostando (corretamente) nele, mantendo o poder cognitivo suficiente para lhes dar a evidência de que precisam.
Eles só esperam que algum circuito no cérebro de Arctor reinicie o funcionamento, para que ele possa dar alguma evidência para iniciar uma operação.
Eu não acho que eles realmente precisem que Bruce tenha qualquer função cognitiva real para obter as provas de que precisam. Se assumirmos que Hank também está nele, parece que eles estão programando seu rombencéfalo para pegar flores silvestres para Donna. Eu surtei tanto quando ele conheceu o outro Donna coz se ele trouxer a flor para ela está tudo acabado. Bruce também se assustou, mas não tinha ideia do porquê.