On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated while visiting downtown Dallas. The president's death and subsequent arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald marked the beginning of a national information frenzy. The public wanted to know more: more about Kennedy's final moments, more about the young assassin with Communist ties, more about what could drive someone to commit such a sensational murder. As a result, the American media became a dominant force in society, providing not only information but also a sense of order to an event that shocked the nation. This idea is manifest in the novel Libra, by Don DeLillo. Published twenty-five years after the assassination, DeLillo's historical account chronicles Lee Oswald's difficult childhood, defection to the Soviet Union, return to the United States, and, of course, his involvement in the shooting. Throughout the book, DeLillo examines the role of the media in contemporary society and in Oswald's life, highlighting the media's ability to shape perceptions of reality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In the weeks immediately following Kennedy's death, the mass media broadcast an enormous amount of information in various forms: videos, photographs, facts, and speculation. In Libra, Jack Ruby describes the incessant media coverage of the event, saying: “He watched TV all day. . . This death was everywhere. Photos of the grieving family. Reenactments at the murder scene. This was an event that had the potential to be greatest in the story of Jesus.” (DeLillo 428) The most notable example of media was the Zapruder film, released only days after the assassination. The Zapruder film is a home movie shot by Abraham Zapruder that provides the clearest images of the president's death. Although the film clearly shows Kennedy's response to the fatal shot, it is ultimately inconclusive as to where the shot actually came from. Knight explains: “The film showed Kennedy violently jerking backward and to the left in reaction to the fatal shot, and most viewers believed this obviously indicated a gunman on the Grassy Knoll (on the right front of the limousine). . . Others claimed that a jet of brain tissue from the front of Kennedy's head sent his body flying backwards after he was shot from behind. Most viewers found this counterintuitive if not completely implausible. (Knight 385) DeLillo reinforces the ambiguous nature of the film, writing, “Experts have examined every dark nuance of the Zapruder film. It is the basic mechanism of assassination timing and an important emblem of uncertainty and chaos.” (DeLillo 441) The film was shown several times on television and published frame by frame in Time Magazine, and with each subsequent viewing another theory of the shooting was born. Even today, Kennedy's assassination remains one of the most controversial events in history because the truth behind the event has never been definitively determined; there are conspiracy theories involving everyone from the CIA to Fidel Castro, even the Italian Mafia, Lyndon B. Johnson, or George Bush Sr. While it would be easy to dismiss conspiracy theories as the product of mass paranoia, there are many critics who argue that these theories serve a higher social function. For example, Knight calls conspiracy theories “a way to make sense of structure and agency in an age when official versions of events and more academic forms of explanation fail to capture the imagination of a disillusioned public ”. (Knight 21)It is my belief that these theories ultimately represent the public's need to insert some sort of order into the chaos surrounding the events of the assassination. Amid the information surplus created by the media, society turned to conspiracy theories in search of a dominant ideology that could explain the shooting. Media is one of the driving themes of the novel Libra, which addresses the intrinsic relationship between media and history. The novel implies that because the past is just that, one is forced to rely on the media to gain a sense of understanding of historical events. Ultimately, however, media and history do not enjoy an entirely neutral relationship. The media can simply report the story but, like conspiracy theories, they also have the power to apply a mediating order to historical events that lack clarity. For example, after the assassination, the public turned to the media looking for answers, looking for some sort of closure. DeLillo describes this research, writing, “People were lonely for the news. Only the news could make them whole again. (DeLillo 414) The influence of the media is explicitly examined within the novel through the Nicholas Branch subplot. Branch is a CIA agent tasked with writing the story of the assassination, but finds himself so overwhelmed with information and speculation that he can't even begin to write. Here's DeLillo on Branch:“Branch doesn't know how to deal with this kind of data. . . Everything belongs, everything sticks, the murmur of obscure witnesses, the photos of illegible documents and strange and sad personal debris, things collected in a dying person: old shoes, pajama jackets, letters from Russia. It's all one thing, a ruined city of banality where people feel real pain. This is the Joycean Book of America, remember, the novel in which nothing is left out. (DeLillo 182) Thomas delves into Branch's frustration, explaining, "The story becomes a fiction of minute detail and a rambling narrative that ultimately, for Branch, reveals nothing." (Thomas 121) Mott also describes Branch's attempt to “account for every detail of existence,” arguing that “Libra clearly indicates that this propensity for total explanation leads, in fact, to total chaos. We simply cannot take into account every detail, every nuance." (Mott 142) DeLillo writes, “He feels discouraged, almost immobilized. . . But he persists, continues to work, takes notes. He knows he can't go out. This case will haunt him until the end. Of course they've always known this. That's why they built this room for him, the room of growing old, the room of history and dreams." (DeLillo 445) Ultimately, even Branch himself recognizes the futility of his efforts, admitting that he simply cannot separate history from fiction. Since Branch cannot discern a truthful account of the story, he attempts to create order through a fictionalized account of the assassination. That is to say, I argue that Branch is the author of the other two plots in the novel, the Lee Oswald plot and the CIA plot. “Enter a date on the home computer that the Agency has provided for convenient tracking,” DeLillo writes. “April 17, 1963. The names appear immediately, with backgrounds, connections, places. The skies warm and bright. The street shaded by beautiful old homes framed with native oaks. (DeLillo 15-16) Immediately after these lines, DeLillo's narration shifts to another scene. The new scene takes place on April 17, 1963, and provides the reader with the backgrounds and locations of those connected to the CIA plot, such as Win Everett and Laurence Parmenter. Similarly, Branch's revelation of TJ Mackey's real name is directly followed by a scene revolving around Mackey. (DeLillo 302) Ultimately, Branch is basedon the idea that “the writing of any story brings persuasion and shape to events.” (DeLillo 211) Thomas elaborates on this concept, saying, “It is in the process of creating a narrative that meaning is created. Without narrative structure, the assassination will remain just another event.” (Thomas 121-122) Radford supports this claim, writing, “The past, far from being a hermetically sealed entity, awaits the intervention of the wise historian to modify, organize, and describe what has happened.” (Radford 241) The branch imposes a narrative structure on an incident that lacks any other structure or explanation. It is through careful examination of this narrative that the immense power of the media can be observed. Through Branch's narrative creation, the author addresses the role of the media in the creation of fictional characters. The first example can be seen in the media's glorification of JFK. DeLillo writes: “It's not just about Kennedy himself. . . That's what people see in him. It's the brilliant image we keep getting. She actually shines in most of her photographs. We are supposed to believe that he is the hero of the age. (DeLillo 67-68) This idealized version of reality remains today, as the public ignores the evidence of extramarital affairs and health problems and chooses instead to embrace the image created by the media that shows Kennedy as the personification of vitality, intelligence and masculinity. This idea is also continually addressed through the novel's portrayal of Oswald. While contemporary society is familiar with the idea of ​​a cold assassin named Lee Harvey Oswald, Libra suggests that this is simply another media invention. The entire narrative refers to Lee only as Lee, and it is only after the assassination that the media christens him by his full name. DeLillo writes: “He heard his name on the radio and TV. Lee Harvey Oswald. It seemed extremely strange. He didn't recognize himself in the full intonation of the name. . . Nobody called him by that name. Now it was everywhere. He heard it coming from the walls. Journalists reported it. Lee Harvey Oswald. (DeLillo 416) With the designation of this nickname, Oswald's true identity is essentially replaced with that of the ruthless character created by the media. This media creation is directly challenged through the foundations of the Lee Oswald storyline, which begins in Lee's childhood and ends with his death at the hands of the openly patriotic Jack Ruby. This plot offers insights from Lee himself, his wife Marina, and his mother Marguerite. It humanizes Lee and questions the validity of our assumptions about Lee Harvey Oswald. Throughout the novel, the author intentionally depicts Lee as an awkward yet somewhat empathetic character with ordinary hopes and fears; searches for his purpose in life, fights with his overbearing mother, falls in love and starts a family. Indeed, DeLillo's descriptions of Lee could apply to most Americans, as he writes, “He was a domestic soul, happy at home, a breadwinner who washed dishes, chatted with his wife about wallpaper. . . He sat under a lamp, reading politics and economics, his wife always nearby, in a loose dress, pregnant, with the street lamps shining on the river. (DeLillo 208) Postmodern critic Lentricchia argues that these depictions of domestic bliss ultimately refuse to allow readers to distance themselves from Oswald, and instead offer “a far more disturbing vision of normality.” (Lentricchia 442-443) Cain compounds this argument by postulating that “DeLillo takes a great risk by reiterating and enriching the domestic contentment – ​​the love of wife, child, and home – felt by the calculating murderer ofrevered JFK while ironically enacting America's dreams of a peaceful family life. (Cain 278) While Lee's home life in no way justifies his actions on November 22, it highlights the dichotomy between the authentic Lee and the media construction of Lee Harvey Oswald. Likewise, Libra addresses the influence of the media on how certain characters construct their personal identities. We see such an effect in Beryl Parmenter, the wife of one of the CIA agents who masterminded the assassination plot. He emphasizes the immense power of the media as he constantly clips newspaper articles to send to friends. DeLillo writes: “He said the news clippings he sent to friends were a perfectly reasonable way to correspond. There were a thousand things to cut out and they all said something about how he felt. . . He believed that these were personal forms of expression. He believed that no message to send to a friend was more intimate and meaningful than a story published in the newspaper about a violent act, a man gone mad, a black man's house bombed, a Buddhist monk setting himself on fire. Because these are the things that tell us how we live." (DeLillo 261) Radford comments on these actions: “Beryl is not insulated from the pernicious reach of the media, as evidenced by her obsession with news clippings. . . That he communicates through these isolated vignettes highlights the debilitating detachment that results in a culture suffocated by superficial, mass-produced accounts. (DeLillo 233-234) As Radford suggests, the overwhelming power of the media can be seen through Beryl as she uses that media to both express her unexpressed emotions and dictate a sense of morality. The influence of the media can also be observed in the character of Marina Oswald, Lee's wife. Upon her arrival in the United States, Marina becomes fascinated by American culture, especially television. DeLillo writes: “One evening they passed a department store, just out for a walk, and Marina looked at a television in the window and saw the most remarkable thing, something so strange that she had to stop and stare, grab Lee tightly. It was the world turned upside down. There they were, mouths open, on the television screen. It was on television. Lee was on the television, standing next to her, with Junie in his arms. . . He kept going out of the picture and coming back. She was amazed every time she saw herself return." (DeLillo 227) While one might assume that this description is simply a comic presentation of a recent immigrant's bewilderment, Thomas argues that "Marina's ignorance of television functions primarily to draw attention to the medium itself." (Thomas 115) Essentially, Marina does not have the ability to separate her true self from the one shown on television. As his perception of himself merges with what he sees on TV, he also loses the ability to separate reality from the fantasy shown in and by the media. The media and its role in society manifest as ideas most explicitly in the character of Lee, whose world is a “fragile media-inspired fantasy.” (Radford 227) Lee relies heavily on films to establish a sense of self, and according to Lentricchia, this is a common practice: as film becomes more culturally dominant, it also becomes a vehicle through which the viewer can see it or if itself. Lentricchia explains: “Filmic self-awareness therefore constitutes the contemporary form of self-making. . . To enter Oswald's mind is to enter a particularly intense, literary version of that self-awareness, a mind entirely concerned with the possibilities of his theatrical future. (Lenticchia 446) Ultimately, Lee's sense of identity is so unstable that he loses the basic ability to separate himself from the film's characters. While stationedin the army, Oswald is fascinated by John Wayne's visit. While the other Marines clamor for photos with the celebrity, Oswald instead identifies with the fictional character played by Wayne. As Wilcox explains, "Oswald aspires to a role, and what is better than the iconographic embodiment of the self-sufficient individual, the 'lone gunman,' a quintessentially American archetype constantly recycled in Hollywood films?" (Wilcox 342) The epitome of masculinity and independence, Wayne's onscreen counterpart represents everything Lee longs to be. In fact, Lee's identification with Wayne's character is so strong that he momentarily loses the ability to distinguish between himself and that character. DeLillo describes how Oswald fits into Wayne's film, saying, “Look at John Wayne for a moment longer, thinking about the cattle drive. . . The breeding of the mounts, the yahoo of the chaperones, the rousing music and singing, the honest and bristly faces (men he feels he knows), all the glory and dust of the great journey north. (DeLillo 94) A month before the assassination, Oswald becomes enchanted by the film again while watching a double feature on TV. The first film is Suddenly, starring Frank Sinatra as a young soldier who travels to a small town to assassinate the president. The second is We Were Strangers, starring John Garfield as a rebel plotting to kill the Cuban dictator. DeLillo describes the clear connection between Lee and the films, writing, “He felt connected to the events on the screen. . . A scratchy old film that carried his dreams. Perfection of anger, perfection of control, fantasy. . . Lee felt he was in the middle of his own movie. (DeLillo 369) As in the John Wayne film, Lee inserts himself into these films; his connection to them is so powerful, and his sense of self so tenuous, that the lines between media and reality become blurred. In addition to films, Lee is also heavily influenced by other media, such as books and newspapers. For example, after reading works such as Das Kapital and The Communist Manifesto, Lee finds what he previously lacked: a purpose in his life. DeLillo writes: “Books were private, like something you find and hide, a lucky piece that holds the secret of who you are. The books themselves were secret. Forbidden and difficult to read. They modified the room, loaded it with meaning. The grayness of his surroundings, his worn clothes were explained and transformed by these books. He saw himself as part of something vast and overwhelming. The books made him part of something. (DeLillo 41) For Lee, these books not only provide him with insight into Marxist ideals, but help define his identity. They give meaning to his quest to fit into the flow of the story. This research is further strengthened by Lee's fictional resemblance to Kennedy himself. DeLillo comments: “Coincidence. . . He served in the Pacific, like Kennedy. Bad writing, bad spelling, like Kennedy. Wives pregnant at the same time. Brothers named Robert. (336) Drawing on these similarities and wanting to be more like the idolized version of Kennedy, Lee tries to mold himself into another version of the president. For example: “You read somewhere that the president liked James Bond novels. He went to the library at the Napoleon Avenue branch, a small one-story brick building, and took out some Bond novels. He read that the President had been familiar with the works of Mao Tse-tung and Che Guevara. He went to the library and picked up a biography of Mao. (DeLillo 317-318) Through these books, Lee tries to shape his sense of self to fit the images spread by the media. Although the media has clearly played a significant role in narrative before.