Ferrie's influence on Lee

    Throughout Libra, we've noticed Lee's desire to be a part of something, to be more than "a zero in the system". He is also very impressionable and easily influenced by those who make him feel important. David Ferrie notices this, and exploits it. He uses astrology to connect to Lee, convincing him he is the "positive Libra" rather than the negative Libra, although clearly Lee is the latter. He convinces Lee that there are important people who are very interested in Lee and "they've been watching extra close" (338). And when the Miami motorcade is cancelled and moved to Dallas, where the motorcade will pass right under the window of Lee's workplace, Ferrie convinces him that it is no coincidence, rather "that building's been sitting there waiting for Kennedy and Oswald to converge on it (384). Ferrie influences him easily because he knows exactly what Lee wants to hear, and he gives him that. 

         The closer we get to the fated chapter "22 November", the more unhinged Lee (or Leon) grows. In the chapter "In Mexico City", he acts like a schizophrenic afraid of gangstalking. He seems to think that the CIA and the KGB are all around him, spying on him. It constantly "occurs to him" that there are hidden Soviet cameras, CIA cameras, and satellites watching him, that the CIA has wiretapped the telephones he uses (356).  When Lee next returns to Dallas, he watches a double feature with Marina, first Suddenly, a film about Frank Sinatra attempting to assassinate the president, then We Were Strangers, where John Garfield plots to assassinate a Cuban dictator. Lee "felt connected to the events on the screen", and that the TV channel was running this double feature just for him (370). At this point, Lee believes that everything that is happening around him are signs pointing him to assassinate JFK. I think the reason Lee starts to overanalyze everything around him is because of Ferrie buttering him up. Lee notices coincidences all around him, such as how many important events in his life all occurred during October and November, and how he and JFK both have brothers named Robert. 

The whole relationship between Lee and Ferrie is pretty creepy, and Ferrie seems to take advantage of him in more ways than one. If you noticed anything else that may have caused Lee to become unhinged, point it out in the comments.

Comments

  1. AlinaDecember 17, 2023 at 10:05 AM

    I agree, Ferrie manipulates Lee to a point where it leaves him unhinged, making him believe that the "coincidences" happening around him were signs for him to be the person to assassinate the president. Ferrie sees Lee's desire to become someone with fame, especially when he asks Lee about his attempt to shoot General Walker, and decides to take advantage of this fact. Great post!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Joseph T.December 17, 2023 at 1:27 PM

    Good post Gabe. I completely agree that Ferrie has manipulated Lee to the point where he is still under Ferrie's infuence even when the two are not together. He masterfully introduces the idea of murder until it seems like the logical decision to Lee to just shoot the president.

    ReplyDelete
  3. MitchellDecember 19, 2023 at 12:49 PM

    As the old saying goes, "Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean you aren't all out to get me!" You are absolutely right that Lee's increasing paranoia, the sense that he is at the center of something, that hidden messages are being conveyed to him through the movies that networks choose to air, suggests that he is losing his grip on reality. Who does this guy think he is, that the CIA and KGB would be surveilling his activities in Mexico City? But of course we realize that, in his defection to the USSR, he is also under constant surveillance by the KGB, and the "feebies" have had tabs on him since he returns to the U.S. And indeed, declassified archival material has revealed that the CIA was fully aware of Lee Oswald trying to get a visa to Cuba, as were the Soviets--they have surveillance recordings of Lee's activities in Mexico City, which is what DeLillo is able to base this brief chapter on. So it is possible that he is delusional and paranoid AND these people really are out to get him.

    The way DeLillo frames the plot, this sense of being at the center of things is crucial to Ferrie's ability to "tip the scales"--these important men are watching you, Leon, they have plans for you, etc. Such statements both confirm Lee's paranoia and helplessness AND reinforce his sense that he is at the center of historic events.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Miranda BurgosDecember 19, 2023 at 6:56 PM

    Hey Gabe, great post! I definitely agree that Ferrie feeds Lee's delusions. He already had a large sense of self importance, as seen in things like the Historic Diary. Ferrie recognizes this and uses it to manipulate him to essentially do his bidding, without directly ordering him.

    ReplyDelete
  5. danny hDecember 20, 2023 at 6:01 PM

    There's a lot of Ferrie creeping into Lee's mind and heightening the parts of his brain that need to be heightened for him to be willing to listen to and believe just about anything. As a lot of other people have said, a large part of that is paranoia and feeding into his sort of main character syndrome. Ferrie seems to know exactly what to tell Lee to weaken his mind while confusing his emotions. Pretty creepy.

    ReplyDelete
  6. LeorDecember 24, 2023 at 10:52 AM

    Wow Gabe amazing blog. I think that Ferrie plays an important role in the Kennedy assassination specifically with pushing Lee to make his decision to ultimately go through with the assassination. Ferrie really does a good job at making sure he's getting into Lee's head so that he can manipulate him. Keep up the amazing work!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jes Grew IRL???

Both Mumbo Jumbo and Ragtime  use history to add to the realness of their texts. In Ragtime, Doctorow uses "false documents" that likely aren't true but for the most part can't be disproven to fill in the gaps of real history used in his book. For instance, he depicts J. P. Morgan talking to a seagull in a bout of loneliness, something that cannot be proven nor disproven. Moments like this make Ragtime  feel real.  Mumbo Jumbo takes place around the ragtime period as well, and during the Harlem Renaissance. Jes Grew is an anti-plague that spreads dancing and liveliness, a metaphor for the spread of black culture. The novel identifies things like ragtime and jazz as elements of Jes Grew, but Jes Grew's origins go back thousands of years. Reed uses what I presume to be (mostly) real Egyptian mythology and mumbo jumbo lore as actual history in  Mumbo Jumbo.  By using African history/mythology to set the novel, Reed accomplishes multiple things: he creates an Afrocent
Read more

First Impression of Jason vs final thoughts

 I wrote this after reading the first two chapters of Black Swan Green. It is my first impression of Jason: Jason Taylor is a kid who cares very much about keeping up appearances, similarly to Bruce Bechdel in  Fun Home.  However, unlike how Bruce hid his homosexuality, stammering is the sort of thing that the harder you try to hide it, the more apparent it becomes. He refers to his condition as "Hangman", and has four commandments for it: "Thou shalt hide from speech therapists; Thou shalt strangle Taylor when he is nervous about stammering; Thou shalt ambush Taylor when he is not nervous about stammering; Once Taylor is 'Stutterboy' in the eyes of the world he is  yours " (31). He really wants to maintain his social status and that makes him anxious about his stammer, which makes it all the worse. I've experienced a similar sort of "mental echo chamber" where the more I think about a certain problem, the more it affects me. However, I've
Read more

Meursault and Guitar

Image
When I read about Guitar's involvement in the Days, it reminded me of Meursault. They both committed murder, but in totally different situations. I want to compare and contrast their situations and find some meaning in them.     Meursault committed murder without any clear motive, and with little feeling in it. He holds nihilistic beliefs that allowed him to do that. In contrast, despite a deep aversion to murder, Guitar commits murder out of a sense of duty, as if it were a responsibility of his. His reasoning is that he has to keep the ratio the same between black and white people. He also harbors deep hatred of white people, in contrast to Meursault, who seems to have nothing against Arabs.     Meursault and Guitar are in opposing classes. Guitar knows that black people get no justice in white courts; he believes he is defending his people by killing innocent white people (although in his mind, there are no innocent white people, as every one of them is a potential nword killer)
Read more