The Zapruder film and the inevitability of events

I think that in connecting the dots between Delillo's writing on the Zapruder film and his portrayal of Oswald's perspective a theme emerges that states that some things in life are inevitable and cannot be changed.

When Delillo describes the strange artistic party in Underworld, he talks about how the events of the film become slowly engrained into the audience's expectations, all the while still provoking shock and disgust when the same result always emerges. It was eerie to watch the clip on loop while Mr. Mitchell read that passage, as I began to feel and observe the very same reactions emerge in the classroom. We watch the clip over and over again, knowing on the surface that Kennedy will always be shot, and yet we continue to sit and watch, transfixed, some small part of ourselves hoping that this time will be different.

That same theme presents itself in Libra, especially near some of the later chapters in Dallas. Lee and Ferrie begins to view the act of killing the president as an acceptable inevitability, that there is no way to avoid it and that they might as well accept it for the historical moment that it will be.

On the whole, this reminds me a lot of the tralfamadorians and their views of history and its progression. This line of thinking also led me to consider how my reading has been effected y my understanding of history. In a sense, I haven't read this book before, but have instead known only bits and pieces, a vague overview. This leaves me with a thinly connected progression of events that the book proceeds to fill in. Libra seems to hit a perfect balance between engagement and inevitability, as I know certain events are destined to occur, and yet I am intrigued as to how they will be reached. I know from the onset, for instance, that Oswald will be in the book depository during the day of Kennedy's assassination, but I do not know for what reasons that might be or how Oswald got to be there. A similar reaction occurs with Jack Ruby, who, when he is introduced, I recognize as the assassin of Oswald, yet I do not know the motivation behind the act. The book still has the same air of inevitable occurrences that a second reading brings with it, but it is still engaging, as the events themselves are shrouded in mystery and doubt.

This has been one of the most interesting themes of some of the books this semester, and of all the ideas we explored in terms of postmodernist writing I think it is by far the most advanced.