Lee Being Smart and Dumb and a Little Annoying
Lee Harvey Oswald as depicted in Libra, written by Don DeLillo, is a tough character to pinpoint. I started off feeling bad for him in the beginning with how he seemed like a little wimpy kid with big beliefs. Even in the first few chapters when he was around middle school age, he was said to be “not afraid to stand up for his rights” (DeLillo 47). This was said after he brought a broken gun to be repaired, but the mechanic didn’t even take a look at it for 5 weeks. Poor Lee goes and decides to stand up for himself. I found this scene a little silly that Lee viewed the inaction by the mechanic as an infringement upon his right to bear arms, but it’s shown in a sort of endearing way like the kind of feeling one gets when a toddler gets mad when you take something from them.
Lee doesn’t change much in his self righteous fight for his political viewpoints/rights. When he’s with Alpha-66, he says that he got sent to jail for “politics. Just like Fidel” (293). The true reason though was that he nicked himself in the arm with a tiny pistol to try to stay in Atsugi and then later on got in a fight with a commanding officer. He maintains the same air of everything I do has some higher importance such as his rights or freedom of speech, but in reality his true actions fall a little flat. In fact, him boasting about how he got sent to the brig for his political beliefs reminds me of little boys bragging about how good they are at sports just to actually suck at them and get demolished when push comes to shove. The only difference is that Lee is a grown man.
Shoutout to Diza for being a day one hater of Lee (although that may be because of prior knowledge that he assassinates someone). I think something interesting about Lee’s character is that it appears he doesn’t seem to change much throughout the story. He maintains the same consistent set of beliefs of his importance in the overall narrative of history and that he stands for something much greater. When he’s a little kid, the way he acts is a little endearing, but as he gets older there’s less and less forgiveness for his actions which at this point seem a little dumb. He epitomizes a smart dumb person.
Hi Jonathan, I liked your analysis of Lee Harvey Oswald. He really is a difficult character to figure out. Is he the stupid kid stumbling through life, or the mastermind who has his life figured out. That said, while Lee is very hateable in many ways, for some reason I can't really hate him.
ReplyDeleteOh my good is lee smart and stupid. You really can't get a good read on him. The way you are framing him really reminds me of that one photo we saw in class in his army uniform, where he really kinda looked like this puny teenager talking all of this big talk--you kinda want to look at him and go "awww". Great post!
ReplyDeleteHi Jonathan, I found your blog very true and interesting. I still don't like Lee very much, though I found it hard to form a straight opinion on him. He seemed to be doing a lot throughout the story (which just shows how much he was actually doing and had going on).
ReplyDeleteHi Johnny Boy, I really liked your blog, sometimes Lee is smart but at other times he can be really stupid, so for me personally, it makes me hard to take him seriously and actually believe that her was the "mastermind" that was involved in the assassination of President Kennedy. Great Job!
ReplyDeleteThis is the classic Lee pose: shouting about how his rights are being violated as someone has finally lost their patience and is punching him in the face. Yes, it is admirable to know your rights and stand up for them. But Lee tends to do this in a way that infuriates people. It's like he's trying to get out of trouble because of some loophole, and it makes him seem squirrelly and suspicious. And indeed, even as he is surrounded by cops in the movie theater (and throws the first punch!), he yells about "police brutality" as they drag him out on suspicion of murdering the president and a police officer. Later, in custody, he indeed complains about his "hygienic rights," having been denied a shower (I don't recall the right to a shower being included in the Miranda Rights). There's something almost comically out of proportion to him calling out the PD for missing this one "right" among all the chaos, while he's not even acknowledging what has gotten him into police custody in the first place.
ReplyDeleteLee manages the unique trick of both BEING an advocate for civil rights AND seeming like a weasel who cites this stuff just to get himself out of trouble: think back to his buddy Robert in New Orleans grilling him about why he sat at the back of the bus. It's either an inspired idealistic civil rights protest, or he's just being stupid and self-destructive. He aligns himself with the oppressed because he knows it will piss people off. You kind of have to admire the dedication!
Hi Jonathan!! I enjoyed reading your blog post. I completely agree with your argument that Lee is the type of person who'll never change. I personally never liked this character, but I can understand how you can feel bad for him based on everything he's been through. Good job!!
ReplyDeleteHi Jonathan, I agree that Lee is a difficult character to pinpoint. At the beginning of the book, it's easy to sympathize with him, mainly because he's kind of an underdog. However, as you mentioned, the older he gets, the more difficult it becomes to justify his actions. Although he doesn't change much in terms of beliefs throughout the book, some of the things he says and does, especially the way he treats his wife and kids, makes him a very dislikable character. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Jonathan! Your breakdown of Lee was quite interesting to read! To be honest he read pretty shallow to me (I honestly can't decide if DeLillo did that purposefully or not), and understanding his personality was something I only really did in retrospect during discussions, and now, blog comments. I agree that his actions seemed to fall short of the vision he had in mind if you will, and I think that made it quite difficult to idolize him as a main character. Great post!!
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