Libra: Imperfect Art of Fate

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Libra by Don DeLillo is a speculative reconstruction of the JFK assassination in support of the conspiracy theory that Lee Harvey Oswald did not commit the crime alone. The novel suggests that 3 former CIA agents plotted the crime and looped in Oswald as the main shooter to tie the crime to Cuba. However, the plan had its own fate and did not exactly follow their envision. Oswald, on the other hand, had his desire to work as a lone gunman also trampled. Through both failed plans, DeLillo suggests a theme of how individuals will often fall short in determining fate, and subsequently the course of history. 

Growing up as a solitary figure, Oswald develops a strong desire to work independently. Acting alone allows him to feel significant, to matter. Even Mackey, the conspirator portrayed earlier as skeptical of everyone, firmly believed that “Oswald wanted to be the lone gunman” (DeLillo 386). However, Oswald’s obsession did not prevent him from being framed by a larger system, namely, as a disposable pawn of conspiracy plotters. During the assassination of JFK, when Oswald sees a bullet going through the president’s head, he immediately realizes Mackey had used him as a patsy (400). The conspirator’s choice of Oswald is no accident. Oswald emerges as the perfect, destined assassin for the plan due to his status and political stance. His poor status renders him easily manipulated by the conspirators. His habitual isolation fits him perfectly into the “lone assassin” narrative. His political beliefs in supporting communism aligned him with the Cubans. Meeting all the criteria, he was almost destined to be embroiled in the orchestrated conspiracy.  

On the scale of the entire assassination scheme, the novel further highlights fate’s randomness and independence from human desired order. In the beginning, the conspirators outlined a precise plan for the  “false assassination” of JFK, planting false documents connecting the attempt to Castro. Specifically, "Everett would script a gunman out of ordinary dog-eared paper…Parmenter would contrive to get document blanks from Records Branch. Mackey would find a model for the character Everette was in the process of creating (50).” However, this meticulously plotted plan soon falls apart. The actual assassination happens under chaos, miscommunications and accidents. For instance, Oswald “fired too soon, with the car passing under the tree,” instead of the car completely passing him (397). The conspirators believe that fate (and history) can be engineered through human hands. DeLillo, however, demonstrates the belief as an illusion. Fate is characterized by unpredictable accidents and improvisation. 

Through the notorious perpetrator Lee Harvey Oswald and the entire conspiracy theory, Libra depicts fate and history as threaded together by a web of chance that cannot be predetermined by individual will. 

Thank you for reading! Any feedback is appreciated :D

Toodles!


Works Cited:

DeLillo, Don. Libra. Penguin Books, 1991.

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