The assassination of JFK
is one of the most widely known-of events in modern history, but amazingly, the
amount of concrete data about the event is really quite limited. This makes it
perfect to be the start of a conspiracy theory, merging interest, new ideas,
and a lack of evidence to disprove most things. That makes the entire subplot
with Alpha 66, Win Everett, David Ferrie, TJ Mackey, and so on a very
believable conspiracy. All the fictional characters that DeLillo describes are
pretty mundane, often times reality being more far-fetched than the fiction. The
creation of such a plausible conspiracy theory sometimes makes it hard to judge
the line fabrication and fact, but the story still fits around all the known
events. The result is one very well-planned plot that explores a few possibilities
for the actual factual historical background to the assassination that we will
likely never uncover. Instead of having a complete fantasy, DeLillo instead
reasonably extrapolates the data between the missing points, forging a full
manuscript that depicts start to finish everything that led up to November 22nd,
1963 in Dallas, Texas.
A vast portion of Libra has been spent by DeLillo to
establish the character of Lee Harvey Oswald. The reader is in tune to every
little nuance and thought that goes through his head. With a step-by-step
analysis of the conspiracy plots that led to the Kennedy assassination, the reader
gets a good feeling for the hopes and dreams of the most prominent character. The
structure of Lee as a character and the comparisons we can draw between the
fiction and whatever limited fact we have is a major part of what makes Libra such a realistic book. Lee mainly
wants to stand out and to be publicly recognized for something. All his other
actions seem a means to an end, spouting Communist literature at American men
in the Marines, but becoming more of a laughingstock than a hero. Never quite
able to fit in, he drifted the world failing to find some place that would
recognize him for anything. His need for fame that drove the actions of his
life is something that made him so susceptible to be quite easily talked into
killing someone. His moral standing and goals in life can especially be seen
after he realizes he was a patsy all along, but instead of confessing to that,
imagines himself as the preeminent historian on himself, learning everything
he can about “his” assassination of JFK, growing his fame and image all while
living in a jail cell for the rest of his life for killing the President.
Unlike Lee, Jack Ruby as
a human is pretty well defined, even if we only meet him rather briefly
(compared to Lee’s text) at the end of the novel. A strong patriot, even in a
city where there is plenty hate for Kennedy, he closes his club in mourning of
the President’s assassination. He struggles to make ends meet but continues to
uphold his morals and his beliefs. This makes him as dangerous as Lee ever was,
albeit Lee also had military training. Just like Lee would do anything to
attain the elusive glory he wanted, Jack would do anything to remove offense
from America. Pushed over the brink of doubt by his creditors in the mafia with
a promise of a waived loan, Ruby kills Lee point blank, crushing the latter’s
fantasies of fame. Having built himself up to this moment, he had expected
praise and adoration as thanks for killing the man who killed the President,
killing the man all of Dallas hated. Instead, Jack Ruby learned the hard way
that two wrongs don’t make a right, ending up being condemned just as much as
Lee was even while both thought that they were bringing about change in the
world and improving things for people.
Both men were obviously deeply flawed
individuals that resulted in them being susceptible to become pawns in someone
else’s games. In addition, neither had good planning or foresight. On multiple
occasions, Lee dreamed of fantasy and finally finding what he looked for, and
then time and time again only disappoints himself as events don’t pan out like
he expected them to. In similar fashion, not only does Ruby not get the thanks
he thought he deserved for the murder, he was sentenced to death for shooting
Lee. The similarities between the two characters are then necessary for them to
even undertake such idealistic assassinations and expect fame afterwards.
Although they came from different backgrounds, have different goals, and are
otherwise completely different people, Libra
begins and ends with quite similar characters who have come to be defined
by their actions directly correlating to the Kennedy assassination, showing the
amount of possibilities open to other conspiracy theories since the private
thoughts of either are just pure guesswork on the part of the author.
