Humanizing the JFK Assassination

In class yesterday, we watched the real (or at least what we think is the real) footage of JFK's assassination. It was interesting to see the actual assassination after DeLillo describes it in 22 November, because I felt that he really matched it up precisely.
First off, it struck me how silent the video was. Of course it had to be silent, but it wasn't like a silent movie in which you can make out the sounds, or imagine what is being said and the action taking place. It was just silent in itself, and I thought that DeLillo's way of describing the scene was silently somber as well. It was the peak of the book, yet it wasn't what we would expect. The language wasn't extremely violent, just matter of fact. DeLillo's writing and the video reminded me of the movie scenes where they make the epic moments silent and slow motion. It doesn't dull the events at all, but actually intensifies the action as if there was something haunted about it.
DeLillo also does a great job describing random details from the video just to emphasize the pure craziness of it all. When Jackie says she has her husbands brains, we see that in the video. She's literally trying to turn around and pick up her husbands brains to put them back in his head or save it somehow, save him somehow. He wasn't just the President, he was a husband and a human too. The people all around who watch, stunned and shocked, the random reporter who thinks she got shot and rationally just lays down. DeLillo shows the absurdity and the shock of killing the President in the wide open, while we imagine Lee just aiming from the window while Raymo is facing the President head on. We can imagine Raymo shooting the President straight in the face because we see how JFK's head jolts backwards, even though it could be explained that he would jolt backwards even if the shot came from behind with Lee.
DeLillo humanizes the scene for us and shows us that aside from this just being a historical event, it was an extremely shaking human event as well for all watching.

Comments

  1. RayaMay 15, 2018 at 3:15 PM

    I agree with how you saw the video. It was really somber and there was something about it looping over and over that was almost weird. I feel like really paying attention to the video really humanized the whole experience. DeLillo also does a really good job with integrating reality into his fiction so that, even though I don't really agree with his view, I could see why people might.

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  2. Aidan GarrettMay 15, 2018 at 3:16 PM

    I agree that DeLillo's description of the event matched very well with the video we saw in class and I think the point you bring up about tone is true too. I also think that DeLillo's description actually helped me understand everything about the scene because I focused on mainly the shot in the video and didn't see much else.

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  3. Tim ChoMay 15, 2018 at 5:12 PM

    Like you said DeLillo did a very good job matching his events with the video. I feel like Libra is in general a very well researched novel. The video seemed very peaceful, and it's not that the shooting was super violent but the fact that it broke the peace that made it so chilling. I feel like DeLillo did a great job at matching that and as you said he humanizes the experience for us.

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  4. Annemily HogansonMay 16, 2018 at 7:35 AM

    I also agree that DeLillo's description matched the video really well. It's interesting to me that his description seemed more accurate to the image of the event than the event itself. The video is silent but the real event must have been really loud.

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  5. RaineMay 16, 2018 at 4:50 PM

    The video definitely aligns with Libra. Watching the video on loop was troubling but also somber, as you said, especially with no sound. DeLillo matches this in his description of the shooting, but I felt more detatched reading the novel. We are never given as much description about JFK than we are with Oswald, and I wonder why DeLillo decided to make that choice when JFK is the victim.

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  6. Gloria SunderlandMay 19, 2018 at 1:39 PM

    After watching the video it's really easy to imagine DeLillo's version of events playing out in the background. It's also easy to see how that footage could have sparked so many conspiracies that go against the official report. Like you said, his head goes backwards which human instinct tells us the shot came from the front. There's also the time when the car is blocked and within those frames different things could have happened. Seeing the video after reading Libra gives it a whole new background of meaning.

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  7. Massive PeanutbrainMay 22, 2018 at 5:19 PM

    I did not notice the reporter who thought she was shot, but I understand her decision/reactions. Another point you can make about humanizing the assassination is that "first responders/reactors" are humans too.

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