This is going to sound absurd, and it probably is, but hear me out. What if Lee H. Oswald isn't actually a person? He started as a person and became a brand. As the plot to assassinate Kennedy developed and started to depend on Lee being involved, fake Oswalds started getting planted to confuse and distract and whatnot. At the point I'm at, about halfway through In Dallas, Lee has a normal, boring job and Marina is doing normal wifey things like hanging out with other wives or whatever. So the plot continues to develop and they get less dependent on Lee because now they have all these fake Lees to carry out whatever needs carrying out in accordance to the plan. The original Lee Harvey Oswald is left to his humdrum life, and fake Lees start getting trained in shooting, if they weren't already proficient. This means that any one of the copies could have be the assassin. This also makes sense since Lee still wasn't entirely on board with assassinating Kennedy.
So yeah I'm probably extremely off-target because I haven't finished the book yet, but it's a nice little AU to consider. Thoughts?
You may be exactly right.
ReplyDeleteWell, I can't say that your wrong. It's hard to predict what is going to happen. We have 3 chapters left and anything could happen. Of course, we know the general direction of where things are headed. Kennedy gets shot. The real question know is by who. I'm curious to see if Mackey was right, does Oswald miss Kennedy? Does Raymo, Frank, or Wayne actually hit Kennedy? I'm curious to see what happens.
ReplyDeleteThis is bigger than you can even imagine.
ReplyDeletewrong. lee was a man of history but he was betrayed
ReplyDeleteO.H.'s comment about Lee being a man of history is interesting, and it's something we have touched on many times in class. At first, I totally dismissed the idea that he ought to be considered historically famous, simply because he tries SO MUCH to insert himself into history. JFK is a man of history. But a would-be communist-assassin isn't -- he's just piggybacking off of somebody else's man-of-history-ness. But I now wonder if that isn't to narrow of a view, especially considering that Lee doesn't totally seem to shoot at JFK out of a desire for fame (although that's a part of it). Furthermore, who am I to consider what is worthy of being called "history?" If we accept that this plot against JFK's life is real, that certainly qualifies as historical, even though it's not known about.
ReplyDeleteThat may make sense, but then why would Lee have gotten so paranoid that he would shoot that cop? Or was that another poser Lee? I like this AU, it makes sense, but there are so many things that would have to be explained-- basically a whole other Libra
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting, but I think the final chapters prove that the real Lee was doing the shooting. The way Lee acts when he isn't the one to deliver the fatal blow seems to scream CLASSIC LEE, which could probably be explained through another long and complicated plot detailing how the fake Oswalds were trained, but I'm guessing DeLillo won't be writing anything like that for a while. But it sure is fun to think about.
ReplyDeleteI think you idea definitely supports the reports that Lee was spotted in multiple different places at the same time. Additionally, it fits the mold of the Oswald we read about in Libra because Oswald ultimately never really discover his identity, and is constantly influenced by others around him. With your idea, it fits with the thought that Oswald does not only have one identity, but is composed of multiple different people striving towards the same goal.
ReplyDelete