Manipulation and Blame in Libra
Lee Harvey Oswald is the center of the manipulation in Don DeLillo's Libra . For the assassin of John F. Kennedy he is ruled in real life to be a lone gunman by investigations. But, Don DeLillo tells an alternative story where Oswald is a pawn of a larger conspiracy. The plot to assassinate Kennedy, kicked off by Walter Everett Jr., Larry Parmenter, and T-Jay Mackey, relies on having a scapegoat to take the blame. Oswald is viewed as this person after his attempt on General Walker's life. Not only is he viewed as capable of being understood by the people as a lone acting American turned crazy by communism, but also as a manipulatable subject. Parmenter clearly articulates their intent to manipulate on the phone to Everett Jr., "'We could put him together...If he thinks he's operating on the left, pro-Castro, pro-Soviet, whatever his special interest, we'll help him select a fantasy" (DeLillo 75). One reason Oswald is susceptible to their future manipulati