Delillo’s Depiction of the Complexity of JFK’s Assassination
In Libra, Don Delillo presents a possible interpretation of historical evidence that explains the JFK assassination and clarifies the mystery surrounding it. He constructs this narrative through the compilation of elements from Lee’s supposed backstory, from the stories of potential plotters of the assassination, and even from Nicholas Branch’s confusion as he struggles with overwhelming evidence after the assassination. With this compilation, Delillo demonstrates that this assassination isn’t straightforward at all; its complexity reaches the point where there is no single answer to what exactly happened on November 22, 1963. What I find particularly powerful in Delillo’s revelation of such complexity is his depiction of Lee’s narrative and what influences his actions throughout his life. By analyzing how Delillo depicts this backstory, we can understand the true complexity of the JFK assassination and why still no one knows what truly happened to this day.
Starting with Lee’s narrative, Lee’s ambiguous nature and unclear motives run in parallel with the ambiguity of the assassination. Based on the evidence alone, the meaning behind Lee’s actions throughout his life is hard to pinpoint. He’s constantly playing on both sides of the spectrum, as shown through his notion of acting as a “false defector”, “a real defector posing as a false defector posing as real defector” (162). Another instance of this theme is Lee’s situation in New Orleans: he’s handing out pro-Castro (Fair Play for Cuba) leaflets while working for Banister’s anti-Castro office, which he claims to be only acting pro-Castro when in reality he’s working undercover as an anti-Castro agent, and he only applies to Banister’s office upon the urges of Agent Batemen, who instructs him to act anti-Castro in order to keep eyes on Banister. Agent Batemen isn’t the only figure presented to influence Lee’s decisions; Lee interacts with many men with positions of authority, such as Konno, George de Mohrenschildt, and Alek Kirilenko. Although Lee thinks he’s in control, he’s constantly being manipulated by these figures, adding yet another dimension to the causes of his actions. Additionally, Delillo’s depiction of Lee seeking notoriety and to be known as a great historical figure adds yet another layer to his actions. I think this aspect of Lee is counterintuitive, as Delillo depicts Lee as enjoying the negative attention and punishment. This seems to be his primary goal/characteristic, seen by the fact that although he was committed to communism and even defect to the Soviet Union using extreme measures, he then decides to return to the US in exhilarating anticipation of the attention he expects to get upon reentering the US. And yet, it doesn’t seem to completely explain his actions, which is where other influences, such as those of authority figures he interacts with, as presented by Delillo, come in.
Through all these depicted influences, Delillo shows that there isn’t one single reason behind the actions of Lee throughout his life. I think this runs in parallel with the fact that despite the overwhelming evidence presented in the case of the JFK assassination, no one can pinpoint an exact, objective truth of the sequence of events. As demonstrated by Lee’s narrative, Delillo explains this inability has to do with the contrasting nature of the evidence, to which the book’s narrative does an excellent job stringing together and making sense of; it portrays fiction’s storytelling aspect as a valuable tool to explaining uncertain history. However, we must remind ourselves that this is merely one interpretation of the evidence, and no matter how plausible it is, we will never know how close it is to the truth.
JFK's death certainly makes for an interesting story and is perfect for a little postmodernism to be sprinkled on top. DeLillo's tale of JFK's assassination is a very chilling one, showing how a few angry CIA agents planned this major historical event that would change world history.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post! What exactly happened during JFK's assassination is a mystery, and much remains unknown behind the scenes (despite overwhelming evidence). Delillo's portrayal of this key event is unsettling, demonstrating how the activities of a small group of people plotted a massive historic event that changed world history.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think DeLillo is definitely trying to give the reader an understanding about how confusing this assassination truly was to uncover through the FBI agent. Then, this coupled with Lee's fictional life story sort of gives clarity but not really as we see Lee make decisions that are exactly rational. Overall great blog post!
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Felix! JFK's assassination is a complex, multidimensional event that presents the perfect avenue for Delillo's postmodernism to shine. Lee is also another variable, a highly complex character with strange motivations and reactions to what we'd consider less-than-appealing events.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting interpretation of Libra. Especially for stating that at the end of the day, we will never know the true scenes behind the JFK assassination. I think I've forgotten that I've only read one source about the incident and that it is not grounded in facts. Oswald had many interpretable actions and motives that led to his assassination of JFK and we can only do our best with the evidence we have.
ReplyDeleteWonderful post, Felix! I do also find it so fascinating that even in a book intended to lay out the entire plot of the JFK conspiracy, details remain ambiguous and confusing, and the author (through Nicholas Branch) only emphasizes how utterly complicated and almost absurd the JFK conspiracy has devolved into, and how even countless piles of evidence still can't tell the full story.
ReplyDeleteGood post Felix. I agree that DeLilo is trying to show the historical but also post-modern ideas that are behind and lead up to Kennedy's assassination. It is very intriguing that in such a well documented topic, there is still so many unknown factors and possible motives for the death of this president.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very nice account of a dynamic in this novel that I tried to articulate in class: Lee is a *character*, and any clues as to his motivations (which are by definition complex and contradictory) can only be found through the devices of *fiction*, which is the best form we have for exploring human beings and what makes them do the things they do. A traditional fact-based history would differ little from DeLillo's depiction, in essential ways: Norman Mailer's long, heavily researched biography _Oswald's Tale_ tracks quite closely to the portrait DeLillo offers (_Libra_ was first)--even though Mailer concludes that Lee must have acted alone. DeLillo uses many of these same character traits and situations to make the case that Lee would have been especially susceptible to the machinations and conspiracies of others--he *especially* would respond to the idea that "important people have been watching you, and they like what they see--they need you to do something, and you already know what it is" etc. And this is not historical logic but fictional logic--the plausible reconstruction of a complex, deeply flawed, and even maybe at some level sympathetic human being.
ReplyDeleteI think it's really cool how DeLillo sees all these genuinely suspicious historical facts that look way too crazy to be true (he literally seems like a fictional character in history) and then decides to think of a narrative that looks past Lee Harvey Oswald and into Lee Oswald (just a normal guy with two names). I also really like how you state "fiction’s storytelling aspect as a valuable tool to explaining uncertain history" since that's pretty much what the book is centered around. It's a really cool use of historical fiction where the fiction doesn't just fill the gaps of history but explains the history itself. Up until reading this post, I really thought of it as a filling of gaps, but the explanation part is definitely a huge part of how DeLillo uses the genre.
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