Lee Harvey Oswald As A Character

Prior to reading Libra, I knew that Lee Harvey Oswald was a very controversial and polarizing character in American history. I was curious as to how DeLillo would portray Oswald in his book, if he would be seen as a mad man who was destined to commit a heinous crime or if Oswald's portrayal would be humane and unbiased.

In Libra, Oswald,is treated quite fairly. He is not portrayed sympathetically, nor is he portrayed harshly in the novel. He's still a very polarizing character as one would expect and it's hard to attach to him as a character. He does many things that makes the reader uncomfortable with him. He loves his wife, yet beats her and mistreats her. He is an intelligent person but his over the top communist political views keep him from fitting into American society. He also seems to be easily manipulated by others. I think coming into reading Libra, many readers might have their own personal bias against Oswald. After all, he is associated with probably the most famous crime of the 20th century.

Overall, it's very hard to sympathize or relate to Oswald as a character. He doesn't do anything to make him seem like a likeable person in the book, yet I feel like DeLillo's portrayal of him was exactly the type of person that he was in real life. DeLillo didn't sugarcoat anything while writing Oswald's story and he kept it real.