Are there any good guys?
A striking aspect of Libra is DeLillo's portrayal of many different people's version of the story. The fact that we learn about how Lee gets to the point where he is willing to shoot at the president of the United States by following two very distinct storylines, that of Lee and that of the plot makers, is crucial to understanding the full picture that DeLillo is drawing about JFK's assassination. Because of all the different characters and their narratives, it can be difficult to figure out who actually is the protagonist, as many of the characters' personalities and narratives contradict each other.
Since Libra is all about Lee Harvey Oswald's journey from a child to the man who assassinates JFK, one would think that he is the protagonist good guy. Although the first couple of chapters set Lee up to be the protagonist who we are supposed to feel empathy for, as the book continues we see a more negative side to Lee's character. He is impulsive, irrational and is incredibly arrogant to the people around him, especially his wife, Marina, and his mother. An example of this that stands out is when Lee hits Marina in public because her zipper was unzipped. This shows his unpredictable and abusive side. Though we feel empathy for Lee for his troubled childhood and his constant need to belong to something, not many readers would call him the good guy of the story because of his negative actions. Therefore though he is the protagonist, as he is the leading character of the story, he is not necessarily the good guy of the novel.
The other important characters in the book are the ex-CIA agents who are setting up this whole plot to assassinate the president. Though none of them seem to truly be protagonists, as we learn pretty much an equal amount about all of them and the focus of Libra is certainly Lee's story, they still play an important part in the plot. We learn a lot about their backstories, as many of them were members of the CIA and played vital positions in the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Their subsequent falls from grace as more details about the invasion came out, incite empathy from the readers, as their lives were ruined by this one event. Though we can understand their motives, the idea of shooting at the president, with the intention of not hitting, just to try and fix their previous failed attempt of meddling with Cuba seems very radical. The fact that they try to involve Oswald in this just to have someone to blame later also makes people lose sympathy for their cause. Therefore, the CIA guys are neither the protagonists nor the good guys.
In conclusion, I think DeLillo made there be no good guys in Libra on purpose. The only people we can completely have sympathy for are side characters such as Marina. The story around JFK's assassination is very complicated, therefore DeLillo explored this complexity in giving the characters who shape the story of Libra some moral ambiguity.
Since Libra is all about Lee Harvey Oswald's journey from a child to the man who assassinates JFK, one would think that he is the protagonist good guy. Although the first couple of chapters set Lee up to be the protagonist who we are supposed to feel empathy for, as the book continues we see a more negative side to Lee's character. He is impulsive, irrational and is incredibly arrogant to the people around him, especially his wife, Marina, and his mother. An example of this that stands out is when Lee hits Marina in public because her zipper was unzipped. This shows his unpredictable and abusive side. Though we feel empathy for Lee for his troubled childhood and his constant need to belong to something, not many readers would call him the good guy of the story because of his negative actions. Therefore though he is the protagonist, as he is the leading character of the story, he is not necessarily the good guy of the novel.
The other important characters in the book are the ex-CIA agents who are setting up this whole plot to assassinate the president. Though none of them seem to truly be protagonists, as we learn pretty much an equal amount about all of them and the focus of Libra is certainly Lee's story, they still play an important part in the plot. We learn a lot about their backstories, as many of them were members of the CIA and played vital positions in the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Their subsequent falls from grace as more details about the invasion came out, incite empathy from the readers, as their lives were ruined by this one event. Though we can understand their motives, the idea of shooting at the president, with the intention of not hitting, just to try and fix their previous failed attempt of meddling with Cuba seems very radical. The fact that they try to involve Oswald in this just to have someone to blame later also makes people lose sympathy for their cause. Therefore, the CIA guys are neither the protagonists nor the good guys.
In conclusion, I think DeLillo made there be no good guys in Libra on purpose. The only people we can completely have sympathy for are side characters such as Marina. The story around JFK's assassination is very complicated, therefore DeLillo explored this complexity in giving the characters who shape the story of Libra some moral ambiguity.
I think DeLillo really wanted to play with the sympathies of his readers, and I'd agree with your argument by saying that I think he succeeded in getting us to become a little confused as to who to side with. At the beginning of the novel, we met young, naïve Lee Harvey Oswald who was just a teenager who wanted to find himself in this world (which is quite relatable tbh). I even stopped questioning his actions like when he first left for the Soviet Union to retrieve his citizenship, almost immediately after serving for the US in Atsugi. As the novel continued, I often wasn't sure to ever trust or support Oswald - which I'm assuming is what DeLillo wanted from us readers.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis that DeLillo doesn't create Lee as a likable protagonist in Libra. However, I think the whole point of us following his journey from childhood to death is to understand the human side of what most people only consider a historical blip in time. DeLillo wants us to understand how Lee could do such a horrible thing, but not necessarily agree nor empathize with this choice.
ReplyDeleteThis really ties into my post on how DeLillo is really embracing the lack of narrative superiority. He depicts all characters as good and bad, Win Everett is bad as a conspirator but also has a family, Ruby is kind to his employees but also is violent to the people who aren't them. The whole point is that there are no good guys and bad guys. It's all perspective. And to truly be postmodernist, you can't have characters be good and bad. Where Mumbo Jumbo did have good and bad characters because Reed was just using postmodernism, DeLillo is actually immersing himself in it because it's later and postmodernism is more in the culture. So it makes sense that he would actively not allow for a "hero".
ReplyDeleteIn class today we discussed whether we still had sympathy for Lee because to some extent he was taken advantage of and forced into a plot to kill the president. Personally I cannot sympathize with him because when it comes down to it he murdered Kennedy, and also a policeman and abused his wife. Similarly I cannot sympathize with the other people involved in the plot. Something I've been thinking about is how absent Kennedy as a character is from the novel. I never really think about sympathizing with Kennedy because he doesn't come up a lot, even though it's his life that was taken away. It would have been interesting if DeLillo wrote more from Kennedy's perspective--do you think then that Kennedy could be a protagonist?
ReplyDeleteInteresting post! I think that Delillo definitely doesn't allow the reader to like Lee in any capacity but I think that's what was meant to be. Lee starts off as being somewhat like-able, but goes completely downhill after a certain point (probably when he starts treating Marina like crap).
ReplyDeleteI agree that DeLillo intentionally didn't make any good guys, and I appreciate that choice from a literary standpoint. He's depicting falsified versions of historical characters, and are there really good guys and bad guys in history? It makes us dislike Lee that he beat his wife, but that wasn't an invention of DeLillo's- it's in the historical record. I like that DeLillo didn't include any clear-cut 'good guys' because if he had, it would've felt dishonest to the nature of history.
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