semblance to the quick-witted Kosinski. Yet, there is an underlying correspondence between Kosinski s character, Chance, and Kosinski himself. Both men were without a traceable past. No one really knows about Kosinski s experiences during the Second World War or much about any of his pre-American life. Many believe that his accounts of his childhood are untrue and he made them up for entertainment purposes. The same is true with Chance. Chance is simply a gardener. No one knows where he was born or who his were or anything about him. Chance himself doesnt even know where he was from. All he remembers is the old man, working in the garden and watching television. Both Chance and Kosinski lived on a tight rope and every minute there was the threat of falling. Chance was not even close to the person he was thought to be. Throughout the whole book the reader is anxious and scared for Chance for there is a fear that at any minute, someone will find out who chance is and everything will be ruined. Kosinski went through his whole life with the fear that the reader feels for chance. Starting with Kosinski s childhood, his life was full of lies. When Kosinski was young, he lied to the Nazis and everyone else who he encountered. He had to hide his Jewish identity and was always afraid of being exposed. When he was older, many believe Kosinski plagiarized others works and required his assistants to sign false releases for him. He was also a pathological liar. Because of these things, he was at risk of being exposed just like he had been in his childhood. (JK; pg. 319-329) The critic William Gallo wrote for the New York Post that Chauncey Gardiner is the great enigma: a hero of the American media. TV loves him; print pursues him. He is a household face. He is the one everybody is talking about, though nobody knows what HE is talking about. No one knows where he has come from, but everybody knows he has come to money, power and sex. Was he l...
