I want to get some of my general thoughts and observations about Libra out in this blog post since there will be no response paper on the novel. Here it goes:
On page 198, Lee, speaking about Francis Gary Powers, considers the fact that, "once you did something notorious, they tagged you with an extra name, a middle name that was ordinarily never used." He says that it makes a name sound historic. Later in the novel, when Lee has become the murderous Lee Harvey Oswald, he feels that the middle name makes his name seem funny and fake and made up. I think that he is feeling a sort of dissociation with the deed and thus a dissociation with the name. I think the significance of his observations about adding the middle name go back to the central theme of this class because a person's everyday name is who they are whereas their complete name is the character that history creates for them. The extra names almost seem to account for discrepancies between the historical record and fact. It's sort like with horses or dogs in shows, their registered official name is what goes down in record books and their call name is only known by those who were close to the animal.
The fact that Lee "likes the idea that whores are profound" further attests to his tendency to over romanticize life. It seems akin to the idea that he sees himself being an integral part of history.
The quotation on page 261 about why Beryl Parmenter cuts out certain newspaper articles really struck me. Some atrocities are listed and the reason she saves the clippings is "because these are the things that tell us how we live." I think it's striking because it's true but you have to think about why it's true. These are the things that are going in newspapers and everyone will know. The majority of the population doesn't bother itself with the daily life news of other people but what is in the newspaper shows what is "important" and the newspaper is what is going to make something go down in history.
The fact that Lee insists on keeping Marina isolated through a language barrier is interesting to me. I haven't quite come up with a reason that suits me. It reminds me of Rezia and Septimus from Mrs. Dalloway. The most obvious reason I could think of for why he didn't want to teach her English is to keep his beating her quiet. I don't know about this theory. I think a better idea is that he is trying to keep her inside of his Russian-Alek life and out of his Lee Harvey Oswald- lone gunman life. He gets really angry when he believes she's becoming too American.
Also about Lee and Marina: Their relationship reminds me of Rufus and Dana from Kindred too because they have an abusive, dysfunctional relationship but they need each other. Lee even admits to needing Marina although he hates it and she speaks very little English and needs him to get around and for income. I think Lee's disgust with his attachment to Marina has to do with the fact that she ruins his lone gunman persona and gives him something to be attached to. Lee uses aliases to try to distance himself from his life with Marina.
The realization of intensely planned events, such as the attempted assassination of General Walker and ultimately the JFK assassination, is really well portrayed by DeLillo. First of all, DeLillo emphasizes the fact that the planners don't have control over every detail which makes his plot seem more realistic. I also like the description on page 277 before Lee shoots at Walker when DeLillo writes, "what a sense of destiny he had, locked in the miniature room, creating a design, a network of connections. It was a second existence, the private world floating out to three dimensions." It must be crazy to see a manufactured series of events slowly take place in real life.
It's interesting that all of Lee's shots seem not to do their job. He shoots himself to avoid transfer and fails. He fails to kill General Walker. Finally, he fails to kill JFK (although this was probably his best shot). His incompetence throughout the book helps to connect the man with the rifle in the window to the goofy soldier with a harebrained scheme.
And last but not least: I still don't know what "Wayne felt sweet and light as Jesus on a moonbeam," means.
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