Confusion and Uncertainty

During a panel presentation today, the question was brought up of whether Don DeLillo convinced readers of his plot, or if we believe his story. I do not think that The theory DeLillo is the definitive answer to what led to the JFK assassination, but I do think that DeLillo was very successful in what he was trying to get across with Libra. This is that the events in question can never be fully understood. There will never be one story whose truth everyone agrees upon, that answers all of the questions brought up by the information known about the assassination. DeLillo has completely convinced me that JFK's assassination can never be understood without doubt.

The most striking aspect of Libra in my opinion was Raymo. Not him as a character, but the fact that he existed in the first place. I am not saying that I think that someone named Raymo shot JFK from the grassy embankment, but it is very plausible that someone very similar to him did (maybe not named Raymo). We have a lot of facts about this assassination, but no one has ever found out if "Raymo" ever existed. Just as Raymo did in the story, Raymo's factual counterpart may well have shot Kennedy and then completely dropped out of history. Some random schoolteacher in Wyoming have have been Raymo.

This is one level of possibilities that we don't know which DeLillo reveals, but he goes further. Branch, who knows way more than anyone now (other than the CSI, if someone like Branch actually exists), and even buried in facts as he is, he still does not understand what exactly led to the assassination. Sure, he tells a convincing story, but there are some very flimsy parts. This has been discussed in class multiple times. The fact that there are other forces not understood by anyone who's point of view DeLillo shows. These may be random coincidences, as Ferrie suggests, but they may also be a bigger conspiracy of which Branch is unaware. This seems very likely to me, given that Ferrie's coincidence theory has been proven wrong before. He sees Lee's entry into Bannister's office as pure coincidence, when really Lee was told to go there by a government agent who wants him to be an informant. It seems to me that similar explanations could be possible for the other events which Ferrie considers pure coincidence. Branch too does not know everything. Or if he does, he is not telling us about it (because he is part of a conspiracy?). For example, he gives no explanation for why JFK takes the route through Dallas that he does, passing under Lee's window conveniently during his lunch break. Is this a coincidence, or are the people in the government who want Lee to shoot JFK? It is never shown whether this and other things are coincidences or parts of an even bigger plot, but that does not matter. What is being shown is that we cannot know. Even Branch, who is figuratively drowning in information, does not know everything about Lee's life, and why he shot JFK. This is a whole new level to which DeLillo takes the doubt.

First of all, readers cannot be sure of whether someone like Raymo exists, for example. That is a very big question that may never be answered. Secondly, even the supposedly all-knowing fictional character in DeLillo's fictional novel does not know what is going on. DeLillo could have made up facts and explanations for Branch to tell us, but he doesn't. He gives Branch doubt. This just takes the doubt one step higher, beyond even the doubts that normal people might have. Since our uncertainty has already been elevated to unprecedented heights, it seems likely to me that there are completely new things to bring doubt into the JFK assassination that I cannot even imagine. I think that new levels of uncertainty will be uncovered for as long as people are investigating this event. The more someone finds out, the more they will see that they cannot know. I think that DeLillo is implying through his use of Raymo and Branch is that this will never end. Even if the JFK assassination was researched until infinity, a definitive explanation would never be found.

Jack

We have been discussion Lee quite a bit in class, but I find Jack Ruby just as intriguing a character, if not more so. He is surprisingly enigmatic, and it is very difficult to pinpoint his motives in shooting Lee. Actually, that is not completely true. It is clear that Jack finds Lee an utterly despicable character, and just wants him to be done with and gone forever. I can definitely see why Jack would be so sickened by Lee, after hearing about how he shot the police officer after shooting Kennedy. There is definitely patriotism at play when Jack decides to shoot Lee, but his mob ties also come into play. Clearly he is being offered considerable compensation by the mob if he shoots Lee, and that seems to convince him to shoot Lee. However, in an enigmatic maneuver of incredible proportions, Jack tips of the police of his plan to shoot Lee, only minutes after he made that plan. This to me is one of the more riddling events that occurs throughout the whole of Libra. One reason that I can think of for Jack Ruby to alert the police is that he is very unsure of his decision to shoot Lee. This is seen later on, when he "lets fate decide" whether he will kill Lee. Jack tells himself that he will casually go to assassinate Lee, and if he gets there on time, it will be proof that the universe wants him to do it, and if he is too late, it will be proof that the universe wishes Lee to remain alive. This is a very similar tactic to what Lee has been doing throughout the novel, trying to put his fate in someone else's hands. Someone bigger, like a conspiracy, the KGB, or ideally the universe and fate itself. Jack displays a similar trait in his decision to shoot Lee. He leaves his final decision up to the "traffic gods" so to speak. I think that when he calls the police to tip them off about the attempt to kill Lee, he is doing the same thing. Jack is unsure of whether or not he should kill Lee, and so he leaves it up to fate. But he wants fate to have an even playing field, and so he warns the police. Jack does not want to be able to kill Lee without a problem, because then he will not know if he did the right thing. But if he succeeds when it is difficult, it seems to show that him shooting Lee was meant to happen. It is hard for me to say whether or not this is really Jack's motive in calling the cops on himself, but it seems to be a probable one, and the only probable one I can think of given the fact that he does go through and kill Lee despite seeming to go back on his plan, and turn against the mafia.

Lee

After our discussion in class, I thought that I would write a bit about my feelings about Lee as a character, because they are very jumbled. Throughout the book, I have been sort of off put by Lee. I have felt bad for him, because he has wanted to fit in and to be a part of history so badly, but has failed every time. I felt this very strongly when he went to Russia, and kept on mentioning how he knew Stalin's real name, and he knew the Russian words for this and that. It seemed to me like he was trying to prove to himself that he was meant to be in Russia, and that he would fit in. He obviously did not fit in or thrive in Russia, but for a while he told himself that he would. I found that aspect of Lee's character very sad, and it made me pity him, and like him a little more. The same is true more recently, with the shooting of JFK. Lee has been telling himself that this is what he is meant to do, and this is how he will join history. He repeats to himself the many coincidences pointing to his and JFK being connected, as if trying to convince himself that they are. And then when he finally does shoot JFK, his projection of reality turns out to be completely fictional. What Lee sees as the culminating point in his life is sort of a let down. He misses his shots, shoots the governor, who he says would probably like him, and then finally learns that he has been set up. I can just see his perception of the world crashing down around him, and I am moved by that. I am also impressed by how calm he stays given what he has just discovered. Not only has he shot two people, but he has uncovered this plot of which he is an unknowing participant. And yet he stays relatively calm. He doesn't shoot the first cop he sees, he goes home, and he walks to the theater. He realizes he has not options other to go along with the plotters, and they are planning to kill him heartlessly in the dark. He is feeling so many emotions, as he always is, and that is for me moving and makes me like him. He has put so much meaning on the Kennedy assassination for him personally, and Raymo, who does kill Kennedy, sees it as a necessity, but not very meaningful. I find it sad that Lee attaches so many emotions to so much, and is played by people who show very few emotions. This makes me connect to Lee more, and like him more as a character, despite his attempted assassination of the president.