How accountable is Lee
The question of how responsible is Lee for his own actions is one that plays a pivotal role throughout the story of Libra. Initially posed by his mother, the question of how much of Lee's life he had control of is up in the air. One could argue that Lee eventually joining the marines was inevitable considering he was a lower-class kid with no safety net, and he needed the security that joining the marines could provide for him. But I believe beyond that Lee's life is the result of his own decisions. He gets punished for a crime of provoking a senior officer, which he complains about, but fails to realize that he had to opportunity to back off at any time. I feel like Lee creates certain realities of himself in his mind, and then gets frustrated and commits extreme acts to create these realities. Two examples of this include shooting himself to get out of the marines and slitting his wrists in Russia to gain citizenship there. He is willing to harm himself to get what he wants, and whenever he doesn't he is a big danger to both himself and others.
In Russia, Lee becomes extremely disillusioned with the life he is given there. He imagines his knowledge on the U-2 spy plane will be able to get him in important role in the Russian government, but when he is assigned a factory job, he becomes frustrated with the menial labor he is assigned to him. Even after getting married to Marina, he is still unable to be happy living with his new family in Russia. After witnessing what he calls the downfall of "true" Marxism in Russia, he drags his wife and daughter back to America.
Back in America, he is frustrated with his inability to find work and his observation from the FBI. He is also frustrated with Marina pestering him for information and asking him to teach her English to the point where he becomes physically abusive. This to me is an example of how Lee doesn't think about the consequences of his actions. Marina clearly has important ties back in Russia and has reserves going to America, but comes along anyways, expecting to have help transitioning to American life. But Lee clearly isn't unable to do that for her, and is still obsessed with the reality he has envisioned for himself.
Lee's new reality involves him escaping to Cuba to live in the Marxist paradise he so desires. He plans to leave his family behind and even has his wife assist him in creating an image for him so he can get asylum. During this time is where he is manipulated to take a shot at General Walker. After a surprising coincidence he ends up in the perfect position to assassinate Kennedy. After Kennedy is shot and Lee realizes he is a patsy he flees where he is eventually arrested and later killed. I believe that Lee's recklessness and inability to see his reality for what it really is is the reason as to why he is able to be manipulated so easily. All someone had to do was to understand Lee's immediate desires and then tip his scales to their side.
I agree with your take on Lee. He is reckless and doesn't think about the consequences of his actions. He blindly does what he views as leading to his goals, such as fleeing to Russia, doing things to "impress" Castro, etc. And this is what leads to his downfall, as you discuss in the last paragraph. One could argue that he deserves this fall: it's a humbling moment for him. Great post!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think the disposition of Lee is a major factor in his eventual assassination of JFK (or hand in it...whatever, he was involved). From a young age he has this idea of himself that he's special or smarter than everyone else, which no one puts in his head. So in the argument between if outside factors or Lee's personality is mainly to blame in his actions, I would agree that his own mindset is a main factor in what drives him to make his decisions. However, there's always his mother's point that he was always being set up for this role since he was young, and his Libra qualities were used against him to manipulate him into his choices, but who really knows the truth of it all.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Eli! I think that your characterization of Lee is very accurate. He is very impulsive and has a delusional sense of grandiose. He constantly is trying to be different and "cool", people are just not smart enough to understand him. Time and time again his delusions are completely broken and he becomes more unstable and more easily manipulatable. Yet, even after he is arrested, and he knows he is just a patsy, he still looks to the bright side, all the people that are now interested in him.
ReplyDeleteI think that's why Lee was so easily manipulated by Ferrie. He is just such a troubled and delusional character that it wouldn't take too much to push him. Of course, Ferrie is also just really good at manipulating people. But it seemed like Lee was positioned to kill JFK from the very start of his life.
ReplyDeleteLee obviously had a rough start to begin with, but I agree that his warped perceptions of reality and self did little to help that. He was in rough circumstances and was manipulated by others, but still bears quite a lot of responsibility for obviously extreme and violent actions (from abusing Marina to various murders). It makes me wonder what a Lee Harvey Oswald born into a different set of circumstances might look like... And side note, but I gotta say, I feel bad for his mother -- she didn't exactly have it easy either. Great post!
ReplyDeleteWhile Lee is definitely a victim of circumstances and gets manipulated a lot, I wholeheartedly agree with your point about him being reckless and doing things without ever thinking of any potential consequences, which gets him a lot of trouble. This part of his character is definitely something he could have tried to improve if he had ever thought about it, so to answer the question that began this post is, in my opinion, definitely more than 50%.
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