THE KINSHIP OF A CHILD, AN ADOLESCENT, AND A MAN

Proceeding with their individual withdrawals, each figure underwent a period of isolation that displayed how truly detached they were from others Hinckley's form of isolation was to hole himself up in his room, dreaming of playing music for large crowds In a way, his actions were ironic, but nevertheless, an excerpt from “An Assassins Portrait” clearly presents not only his isolation but his later obsession: “Retreating to his room, where he spent hours playing his guitar and listening to Beatles records, he established a pattern of isolation that he would maintain throughout high school He wanted to be a rock star, but was unwilling to play for others” (McMillan 17). Despite Hinckley's dream of playing for a crowd, he could not bring himself to play for one. His isolation from others had become so severe that it had rendered his dream of playing his guitar in front of a crowd to playing it for his lonesome shadow.

There may seem to be a parallel between the loneliness that Hinckley and Holden display as the loneliness Hinckley suffers from is selfinflicted while Holden's loneliness is caused by the people around him, but Holden is actually the one who is causing his own period of isolation To elaborate, Holden is drawing away from his school, a school full of people his age, he chooses not to interact with them the same way he chooses not to show up at the football game Instead, Holden opts to speak to adults, a mother of a fellow student and not one, but two taxi drivers, inviting them all for cocktails, “Would you care for a cocktail? I asked her. I was feeling in the mood for one myself We can go in the club car. All right?... Would you care to stop on the way and join me for a cocktail?... He certainly was good company. Terrific personality” (Salinger 64-68). Inviting others out is a sign of wanting company, an action taken to avoid loneliness. But depending on the person, in this case, Holden's classmate's mother and a random taxi driver, one may surmise that he was desperate for company Holden had isolated himself from his classmates by leaving Pencey and wandering into New York, and despite his attempts at breaking from his isolation by inviting strangers out, he was always met with rejection. Both Holden and Hinckley suffered from loneliness, but only by their own hands. While Hinckley made no attempt to break free from his isolation, Holden attempted and failed to free himself from the chokehold in which he had placed himself

The phoniness that Holden detested so much was present in not only himself but most prominently in Mark Chapman. The sense of self differs between all things on this earth It can vary from feeling like a different person to never changing even after years and years of growth Such is the case with Chapman: he had grown up without ever feeling like he had matured, and to make up for his childlike self, he had put up a front, a mask of sorts, in order to disguise himself. Since Chapman had been at odds with himself, unable to discern the mask and his childlike self, it created an internal conflict: “It wasn't a man. It was a child killing his hero… My only feelings were the feelings that came through that book to the sixteen-year-old Holden that was inside me I wasn't real to myself And since he's so specially linked to the phony adult that I was ” (Jones 6)

The phoniness that emanated from Chapman was that of taking up a mask and fooling oneself, he had perceived himself as a child all throughout his life, even during his adulthood