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No matter how ungenerously you might occasionally think of JB as a person, there was something about his work that could convince you that you were wrong.
JB is a person who contains many contradictory behaviors and facets to his personality. Of the four friends, he is the most self-centered, and he can be casually cruel without understanding the effects of his actions on others. However, his art often centers his friends rather than himself, and shows that he has an ability to see and depict the people in his life with great empathy and love. To be friends with JB requires accepting that he has the capacity for both great selfishness and great compassion.
And so who would be his partner, who would make his unit? No one, it often seemed. They had abandoned him.
JB experiences a period of terrible loneliness that pushes him to engage in toxic friendships and drug abuse. Part of this loneliness is due to the fact that the foursome from college has inevitably begun to split off and create more intimate friendships and partnerships. Malcolm settles down with his wife, while Jude and Willem grow ever closer. While JB does harbor unfair jealousy and anger toward his friends for moving on with their lives, his sorrow over being left behind is understandable. He feels betrayed by his friends, and these strong feelings, enhanced by his addiction, cause him to act with great cruelty toward Jude and Willem.
His persistent nostalgia depressed him, aged him, and yet he couldn’t stop feeling that the most glorious years, the years when everything seemed drawn in fluorescents, were gone.
Of the four friends, JB has the most difficulty with maturing and transitioning into adulthood. While all the boys question the trajectory of their futures, JB is the only one who clings to his youth, desperately and futilely attempting to recreate the college dynamic even after years have passed. JB thrived in a structured environment in which he received constant social validation, while the lonelier, more complicated adult world makes him question his identity and talents. His fear and vulnerability cause him to become increasingly self-hating and resentful of his friends.
