As I was reading Libra, particularly the chapter In Atsugi, I started to think that Lee Oswald's character felt a little familiar. All of a sudden I realized why. This may sound crazy, but Lee reminds me a lot of Billy Pilgrim. Let me explain.
We discussed today in class how Lee is comically inept at times, such as when he failed to even shoot himself correctly. This is sort of like how Billy Pilgrim is, as we described, frustratingly pathetic. They are both mostly incompetent. Lee creates weirdly comedic scenes by just being unable to carry out his plans, which may or may not be intelligent to begin with. The classic example is the "I happen to be shot" scene when he is made fun of for not properly planning for when he was shot by himself. Billy Pilgrim also is fairly pathetic, which we see when he tries to talk to a German officer and he laughs at him for how funny he looks in his coat and boots and "toga."
Both Lee and Billy are outsiders to their peers as well. Lee has very different political and economic views than all of his fellow soldiers. This sets him apart from the rest, and he is very aware of that. He gets picked on, and has nicknames, just as you might associate with a stereotypical school outcast. He also is a lot younger than most of the other soldiers. Billy is an outcast in his own set of soldiers. He is given the worst coat, and when he tries to lay down to sleep in the train car, they all yell at him because he snores too much.
Another similarity is that Lee and Billy both know things their peers don't. Lee is a communist, has secret knowledge about the U-2 planes, and is a traitor to the US. He is obviously not telling all of his fellow American soldiers about these things, but he knows them and likes to flaunt his U-2, political, or Marine Manual knowledge when he can. Billy, on the other hand, doesn't flaunt his knowledge, or really use it much himself. He knows his future, and the future of all things in so much as they pertain to his life, but he still acts passively and as if he didn't had this knowledge. He does almost float through the war because he knows how it will end, but he does little to prevent or change any part of the progression of events in time.
I know, Lee and Billy are hard to connect because we know what happens to Lee later in life, and Billy is fairly nonviolent, but I think the similarities while they are each in the military are still somewhat startling. They are weirdly similar in personality and both give me the feeling of not being sure whether to pity them, be irritated at them, laugh at them, or what.
Billy attempts to share his knowledge as well. He goes on late night radio and television to discuss the Tralfamadorians and their view of time. I think though for Billy it is less about showing off and more about actually wanting to help people. I think that how they move through live also is very different, Billy views other people as actual people, while Lee is in contempt of them. I hadn't thought about the parallels between them, but now I think about them they are certainly there.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting angle on this is that, as you mentioned, Billy is completely aware of his future, and informs us as readers how the story will end at the very beginning. Similarly, we know how Lee's story is going to end before we begin the book. I completely agree with your closing, it's so hard to know what to do when faced with either Billy or Lee. Billy is pathetic, and you almost want to cry for all the pain he endures so passively. On the other hand, Lee is pathetic in another way. He almost seems like a child trying to be taken seriously. "No, I did shoot myself on accident, see? Theres the hole right there." He does really stupid things, but it's still hard not to feel bad for him, at least a little.
ReplyDeleteNice Post! I can definitely see the similarities. It is almost unbelievable how similar they are. They are both ostracized by their fellow soldiers, and seem to be incredibly dumb. It almost seems as if one author decided to copy the other author's character. Even though Slaughterhouse Five is about time travel, and Libra is about the Kennedy assassination, they both share similar parallels to one another.
ReplyDeleteI like this! Besides similarities between the characters there are also sort of similarities between the books. In Slaughter House 5 we time travel through the Tralfamadorian perception of time, and although we aren't time traveling in Libra we are jumping between story lines that show Lee in different parts of his life which gives us some insight into how his character will develop in the future.
ReplyDeleteIt is incredibly disconcerting to see Lee in this light. As a society we tend to only think of him as a mysterious coldblooded assassin, but these scenes as well as the descriptions of Lee's childhood, force us to see him as a human who, like Billy Pilgrim, is sympathetic if not particularly likable.
ReplyDeleteI also got a Slaughterhouse vibe during the Atsugi scene. The whole situation was just ridiculous with Lee shooting himself and believing himself to be brave from shooting himself in the arm.
ReplyDeleteThis is really cool! I would make the difference between them though that Billy isn't super driven in the war, and he just seems to be coasting through his life, while Lee is driven to make a big mark in history.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I like the connections you made but I would also say that Billy is much more passive than Lee. Billy doesn't want to be involved in the war at all while Lee is very passionate about communism.
ReplyDelete