It seems that the ending of Libra, like so many of the past semester, has divided our class in terms of assessing its quality. I, for one, seem to fall somewhere in the middle between those who praise this ending's effectiveness and those who find it confusing and abrupt.
In regards to many who feel that the story should have gone on longer than it did, we must consider the structure with which this story was built. Considering 50% of this novel was built around the perspective of Lee, it would be impossible to have the same level of thematic balance once he's dead. I will admit that this is a problem in terms of the flow of the narrative, as we never get a chance to revisit some of the perspectives that would be interesting and captivating after the death of Lee, but DeLillo had already created such a long and balanced story structure that it would be jarring to change to a new one for the final hundred pages or so. Even taking that into consideration, however, the ending does have a rushed and abrupt quality to it, with the events we were so looking forward to analyzing and delving into happening within a very short time frame. It gives off the feeling of a lot of importance packed into a compact space, which many would say overwhelms the reader and gives them no amount of space to step back and assess what they had just experienced. I do think it's possible though, that this feeling is created intentionally. Experiencing the end of the book is much like how an observer would experience the sudden and shocking events of Kennedy and Oswald's assassinations, overwhelming you over a short period of time and leaving you with a lingering feeling of confusion and exhaustion. It's quite possible in my mind that DeLillo tried to capture this tone in the ending of his book, and so the reactions many members of our class are having are purely intentional. This could, also, be a simple attempt to grasp at any straws that justify the strange tone and experience of reading this book, which is one of the most uniquely impactful novels I've read in a while, leaving me not quite knowing what to feel.
Whatever the intended reaction of the reader or the true nature of this book's tone, I'm sure the debate of this ending's effectiveness will power onward for some time after we've all stopped.
I like what you say about the suddenness and narrowness of the ending as a kind of reflection of the shock and suddenness of the preceding three days' worth of climactic action. I look at that final chapter as a kind of epilogue, or even epitaph, given Marguerite's eulogistic tone. We know Lee as well as anyone in his life at this point, and it's like we belong at his funeral as much as anyone, trying to sort out the complex tangle of feelings his death creates.
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