Lee Oswalds personality in Libra



Lee Oswalds personality in Libra 

 Oswald, Lee Harvey

    In the book Libra we get a deep conspiracy theory on the Kennedy assassination. We dive into the CIA and other shady character that are trying to plot the death of John F Kennedy. We also go through a character named Lee Oswald. Who is a real historical figure. Lee was the person who killed JFK and in this book we to get to see how the author thinks Lee's character was and how he ending up being the one to assassinate JFK. In this blog I just wanted to talk about Lee's Character, go over his personality, and see if he is similar to other characters that are in historical fiction novels that I am reading.

    When I think of Lee as a character in the novel, I think of someone who can be very logical and smart sometimes. And he knows how to read things while he was not at the age level, while having a disability. Overall, he seems like a smart guy how knows what his is doing. While he does have some thinking that make him pretty smart. Someone times he can be gullible, for example Lee is very gullible to people that act like a father figure to him. Furthermore, when Lee meets Alek, who literally works for the russian secret service. He was like "I can trust this guy." The reason being that Alek was a person that Lee saw as a father figure. Also, I think it is the same thing with David Ferrie. But, I think David Ferrie actually likes Lee and in my opinion sees him as a son. Lee's is not only gullible he can also be arrogant and hard headed sometimes. For example in Agatsugi when we got arrest not by shooting himself with and unregistered weapon. But, for fighting with a police officer. So, Lee can't always control him emotions or acts manly even though deep down he is hiding in his feelings.

    Overall, Lee is a very interesting character. I mean some of my favorite parts of Lee was when he was in Russia, and we got to see his diary about how is life was going in Russia. When reading his diary, we see Lee's "soft side" and we see him outside of his manly persona were he is arrogant and hardheaded. It was also kinda funny seeing his thoughts. To finish, I really like Lee as a character, in my opinion his story was more interesting than the CIA story.

Comments

  1. ElliotthegreatDecember 18, 2025 at 5:38 PM

    ZO WEE MAMA Cho Cho engine, I really like how you dived deep into Oswald's character. I agree that he’s both smart and gullible, and I think DeLillo does a great job showing how his need for a father figure makes him vulnerable to manipulation. I also liked how you mentioned his diary in Russia, it really gives a glimpse into his softer side that contrasts with his arrogance and hard-headed behavior. Overall great blog!

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  2. Katie RasmussenDecember 19, 2025 at 11:48 AM

    Lee Harvey Oswald as depicted in Libra is a deeply weird individual. Other people have talked about how Lee is extremely egotistical, and I think this probably makes him even more succeptible to manipulation, because he overestimates his ability to manipulate others, and is vulnerable to other people's compliments (ie David Ferrie). Lee is written as deeply insecure about his dyslexia. I think that this is probably due to a lack of awareness of dyslexia as a diagnosis in the time when he was alive, and the 80s as a time when things like dyslexia/ADHD/dyspraxia etc. more stigmatized: the only way someone from that period can conceptualize of someone like Lee's idea of their own disability is through a lens of shame.


    Personally I might be inclined to say gullibility plus emotional dysregulation (as you said) plus specific, long-term interests/obsessions plus social isolation without intellectual disability might mean autism, but I am biased in that direction.

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  3. MahdiDecember 22, 2025 at 7:30 PM

    Hey Amari, I like how you broke down Lee's personality and flaws in the book. Regarding your point on his gullibility, it's important to remember why he acts this way, which is that Lee had no father figure growing up. His tendency to act less sensible around these father figures show just how desperate he is for someone he can trust and learn from. This is just one of the many ways Lee struggles in this world, which can make him a difficult character to judge. Overall, nice post!

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  4. MitchellJanuary 4, 2026 at 10:48 AM

    If you read Norman Mailer's very novelistic biography of Oswald, you'll see that the historical record reflects a version of his character that is quite close to the portrait imagined by DeLillo, and that is a nonfiction book. When we get into the realm of "character" as a form of historical analysis--where we consider a person's psychology, life experiences, ideology, and general personality as historically consequential information--we're really in the realm where history and fiction blur. The idea is that DeLillo cannot assure us that a particular conversation or interaction went precisely as he depicts it in his text, but if the behavior and words of the character are consistent with his profile, this can be a fruitful way of "filling in the blanks." Maddeningly, with Oswald, we get a character for whom it seems equally plausible that he's a "patsy" AND that he's a lone gunman.

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  5. BelalJanuary 6, 2026 at 9:00 AM

    Hey Amari! This is an interesting description of Lee's personality! He's a pretty complex character and it would take a multiple blog posts to just scratch the surface of each of his personality traits. One thing that stood out to me was how you called him smart. I believe whether his life choices were wise is up for debate. In terms of his reading of complex communist literature, that's from his interest in the topic and his hard work and will. He powered through his disability to read “Das Kapital”, and at a young age undoubtedly did not understand much of it. I definitely agree that he is gullible to an extent, he did end up as a patsy, and that's also due to the complexity of his character and past. Great blog post!

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  6. Olly EarlsJanuary 12, 2026 at 9:27 AM

    Great post Amari! I think the humanization of Oswald is what makes Libra such a timeless and powerful work of literature, but also what makes it such a tough read. We can't write off his behavior on him being crazy or coerced because we see his motivations and to some extent empathize with his desires (although not his means).

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