What I have learned from reading Libra

1. This book is like my sleeping kryptonite. I don't know what it is about this book , but it can put me to sleep in about ten minutes flat, doesn't matter what mood I'm in. It's not that I'm uninterested, I think that this book just has some kind of magical power to it that I am not yet capable of understanding. I developed a method of arm waving that allowed me to read while staying awake at around the third chapter of the book that worked to get me through most of the readings that followed.

2. Vomit is a funny word and can easily be overused. Also Ferries is one weird dude.

3. Maybe there was a conspiracy and maybe there was a man behind the murder that was a much more interesting than I could have ever guessed a real man that may not have been insane, but rather completely knowing of what he was doing, just swept up in some false image of himself enforced by those around him.

4. I finally understand the reason for people being so into the JFK assassinations, it never really held that big of an interest in my mind, and I always thought that people obsessed with this story were just bat shit insane. While maybe they still are, this story has worked to show me the real significance behind such a conspiracy and the reasons why someone would obsess over it. I think it was a very useful book to read in this regard and it worked well in the course as it introduced a new way of looking at history. Fiction can be a great way to open someones mind up to new possibilities and to look at a situation with somewhat of a fresh start that can't otherwise be obtained.

Burial

I thought ending with the burial and the reaction of Oswald's family to the incident was a good way to finish the book. Also the inclusion of all the other possible links to conspiracy theories like the deaths of the many people associated with the killings soon after the murder of the president was a good touch.This chapter really worked to build my sympathy for Oswald. Presenting this view that he was sent down the wrong path, one that basically selected him for the task of shooting the president. From such an early age it almost seem he was picked out for the task. We compare him to his normal brother Robert who never got caught up with anything like what Oswald had. It really works to back up this idea that Oswald was almost powerless to his own situation. The images of Oswald on his roof looking at the stars and his happy love for his dog that his mother recalls really works to build a sense of sorrow for Oswald, almost like it almost wasn't his fault he shot the president. It's odd how we can feel such sympathy for someone who killed such a man as the president of the united states. 

This chapter does a good job of recapping the general events of the story for me and coming up with a good way to frame the possible conspiracies in the readers mind so that they can come to there own conclusions  about Oswald and the murders. Conclusions that I think its fair to say couldn't be reached through digging meticulously through facts and other such random bits of information on the murder. 

Jack Ruby chapter

So after reading the second in Dallas chapter I have a few things to talk about, first of which was my initial response when reading the chapter: how can the word vomit be used so many times over the course of a few pages. How am I to believe that this man is so patriotic that he finds himself vomiting all over due to the fact that the president has been shot. This part seemed a little far fetched for me, but at least it enforced Ruby's character, but I felt it took away from the seriousness of the chapter as a whole.

I found it very interesting to see the mental process that Jack Ruby goes trough when coming to the conclusion that he will kill Oswald. Jack Ruby seems as though he almost didn't want to kill Oswald, even given his ridiculously over patriotic identity. We find him giving himself excuses for not being able to complete his murderous duties. "Jack realized there was a Western Union only half a bock from the Police Courts Building. Lucky for her. If he hurried he could wire twenty-five dollars to Brenda then go shoot that bastard Oswald....he was running late. If I don't get there in time, it's decreed I wasn't meant to do it." (436) Not only is Ruby seemingly looking for a distraction that may stop him from having to commit the act, he is also fairly confident that he will be hailed as a hero for his crime. That he will be tried and sentenced to death doesn't even occur to him. Although I guess this too may fall in line with the general mindset and panic that ensued after the shock of the president being shot. Maybe this was Delillo's way of showing us the rashness of people that are faced with such a sudden and unexpected tragedy. That humans are prone to this kind of pride filled attacks that don't have any thought behind them. I bet that if Jack Ruby had looked at the situation from a distance he may have come to the obvious conclusion that Oswald would be sentenced to death anyways and that he could have been a key piece in finding out the truth behind the conspiracy and those involved, bringing further justice to the situation rather than the single man blame that may have come from the actions of Jack Ruby. 

The desire for balance

I have been perusing a number of JFK conspiracy sights as of late and I have been questioning what makes the story so interesting to so many people. I have seen so many just absolutely ridiculous websites that talk about every little detail of the shooting and Oswald, but after a while the facts do tend to add up. You can tell that Oswald had shot both JFK and governor Connally are both shot by Oswald by the same bullet. I heard somewhere that there were around 3000 pieces of evidence to back up this conclusion. So why is it that so many Americans refused to believe what was told, why was the commission being confronted with trying to cover up something when you can tell pretty easily what happened. Its been over 40 years and people are still trying to prove the conspiracy, yet still no solid evidence have been found. I think that people who are so into the JFK assassination want to think that the world just isn't so chaotic. The president couldn't just be killed by some guy with a gun like this, there had to be a set up there had to be some logic behind that. If these people can find some conspiracy it would comfort them in a strange way by knowing there was something besides this and by the same bullet. I feel that a lot of the conspiracy theories are made by people who want to think that there was something big at stake. They do want to think that some nobody can kill someone as big as Kennedy. I heard a great explanation somewhere,  I can''t remember the source but it stuck with me. It said  that if you put 6 million murdered Jews on one side of a scale and the Nazi regime on the other side they would balance out the biggest crime next to the biggest criminals. However, if you put the murdered president on the scale across from some low life like Oswald, the scales would be extremely unbalanced. People want balance and putting a conspiracy theory next to Oswald balances everything out real nice.