The way that Win Everett slowly loses control over the plot also parallels how it starts to develop a life of it's own and by then end there's no one person who actually knows how exactly it happened, not even Branch. Win becomes so detached that he only learns of new developments through Parmenter and he eventually comes to the realization that Mackey has taken the plot to Kennedy's death. Even when he does try to control the plan and create a new identity for Lee, he still goes and does all of these things on his own. Lee's unpredictability alone causes so many issues with Win's original plan, from his disappearances to his aliases and guns. Up to the day of the assassination they're still not 100% sure he'll actually pull the trigger, though by this point Mackey only really cares that Kennedy dies.
Something else that throws a bit of a wrench into the plan is the involvement of Alpha 66 and the discovery of another plot in Chicago. Considering how many enemies Kennedy seems to have in Libra, it does kind of make sense that another plot would turn up, even if it didn't go through. Though even with just Alpha 66's involvement the plan got so much more complicated to the point where even today we're still talking about the possibility of a second shooter. And while Lee's death seemed inevitable given how much he knew, Jack Ruby's motivations still are not clear. DeLillo seems to think that Lee almost would have survived if Jack wasn't manipulated into killing him by the mob. Lee inadvertently ruins the plan to kill him when he shoots the police officer drawing so much attention to him, which also shows how nothing goes to plan with Lee, even his own death. His action caused pretty much the entire plot to go awry because they couldn't control him, and the conspiracy never even got close to Win's original vision.
Hi Ben! I am a big fan of your comparison between Nicholas Branch and Don DeLillo. I can picture DeLillo doing exactly what Branch did–sifting through the evidence of the events of the assassination, trying to connect the dots (similarly to William's cork board). It also makes sense, within the metafiction of Libra, that DeLillo would insert himself into his novel along with all of the other characters he's already added: if he's adding characters that could well have existed into the novel at the time of Lee Harvey Oswald, why not add one performing his job? Granted, DeLillo probably isn't working for the CIA, but, as he consistently points out throughout Libra, anything is possible.
ReplyDeleteHi Ben, this is a great post. I think that DeLillo answers a lot of questions about the Kennedy assassination by his characterization of conspiracies as these organic ideas. For example, a conspiracy to kill the president would surely require many people's cooperation and secrecy, so why have none of them spoken out? We assume that these people would all gather in a secret bunker to plot out the entire thing detail by detail, but it is instead much more freeform and messy, and only succeeds by a healthy dose of chance. I'm glad you brought some of these ideas up, great post.
ReplyDeleteI like the way DeLillo threads the needle in terms of CIA involvement in the assassination--they ARE involved, but also NOT, as we get "rogue agents" (exactly the kind that set the Bay of Pigs fiasco in motion) working "unofficially," but using CIA resources and intel (via Parmenter). It makes sense that, were agents like Everett and Parmenter involved, they WOULD be able to cover their tracks pretty well. And this version gets around the less plausible scenario where an agency within the US government is actively and openly plotting to assassinate the head of its own state.
ReplyDeleteAnd ANY conspiracy theory around Oswald's involvement MUST take the role of coincidence into account--he gets the job at the book depository through an acquaintance of Ruth Paine and his wife, who have zero connections to any of the conspirators. And he gets the job weeks BEFORE the motorcade route is known. When Lee takes the job, the White House doesn't even know that JFK will be in Dallas, let alone what streets the motorcade will travel down.
So in many ways, this blend of plotting and improvisation makes the most *historical* sense as we ponder all the unknowns around this event.
I definitely agree that DeLillo has a skeptical perception of conspiracies. I think he leaves room for readers to still wonder what exactly happened because although he may lay out specific scenarios, there really isn't a finalized resolution to the question. I really like his style of writing and the way th book is structured to allow the reader room to imagine.
ReplyDeleteI think this idea of entropy with respect to structured plots in Libra is ironic, especially when we consider this postmodernist ideal of the crumbling of hegemonic, clear-cut structure. Nonetheless, I think DeLillo portrays the progression of conspiracy plots well because in order for such a novel to be so convincing, things cannot necessarily happen under the rules and restrictions of the world that the author is creating.
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