hecking his watch, saying, "Decorative gestures add romance to a life" (9). Jack, speaking of Hitler, says, "Some people put on a uniform and feel bigger, stronger, safer" (63). I believe he is also talking about himself. Then there is the matter of his name. Jack, at the advice of the chancellor, had changed his name to J.A.K. Gladney by inventing an extra initial. The chancellor also told him to gain weight to look more formidable. "He wanted me to grow out into Hitler. If I could become more ugly, he seemed to be suggesting, it would help my career enormously" (17). Jack's false image is thus threefold: his name, his size and his dress. By projecting this image, Jack feels trustworthy, strong and important. Jack is not the only one projecting false images. Jack seems to be a magnet for those projecting false images. "It was curious how I kept stumbling into the company of lives in intelligence," he utters when pondering the fact that two of his ex-wives led secret lives (213). I have to wonder if his desire to project a false image attracts him (or makes him attractive) to those doing likewise. Jack had named his son Heinrich because "it was a forceful name, a strong name. It has a kind of authority" (63). Granted Heinrich had no control over his name at the time it was given to him. His name came as a result of the importance Jack places on the image of strength or authority. Heinrich now has to live up to that. Just as Jack had to grow out into Hitler, Heinrich has to grown out into his name. If he cannot, chances are he will have to create a false image that does so. Then there is Denise, who is always wearing a green visor. "Something about the visor seemed to speak to her, to offer wholeness and identity," Jack says (37). The green visor thus becomes her image. Now when people think of a green visor, they automatically think of Denise. Problems could arise, however, if someone else began wearing a green vi...
