The last “In Dallas” chapter gives us the story of Jack Ruby’s assassination of Oswald. Intriguingly, Delillo spends a good amount of the chapter trying to minimize the role of Ruby in deciding to kill Oswald. First off, Jack Ruby is portrayed as heavily emotionally distraught. He is described as having vomited and crying continuously since the president's assassination. In fact, he can’t even hear the name “Oswald” or “Lee” without becoming distraught and sick once again. Ruby is clearly absolutely devastated by the loss if his president and is willing to do anything to show his patriotism and loyalty to Kennedy. He even “honors” the president by closing down his clubs: “the carousel and Vegas”. While having a strip club closed for him is not the honor Kennedy was probably imagining, to Ruby this is a massive decision, considering that he is heavily in debt to the mob and needs every dollar that he can make from his clubs.
Clearly, Ruby has been rendered unable to function rationally as a result of Kennedy’s assassination. A good lawyer could probably argue that he was mentally insane at the time he shoots Lee. This sets him up perfectly to be manipulated by Karlinsky. Karlinsky is able to exploit Ruby’s emotional state and financial peril in order to essentially force him to kill Lee. First off Karlinsky spins a tale of how Ruby will he hailed as a hero by the city of Dallas. He says things about how people want to see Lee killed, how Ruby can be the hero of Dallas and save the name of the town. He claims that people will consider the man who kills Oswald “the bravest man in America.” Having manipulating Ruby’s well-known desire for attention, Karlinsky even tries to claim that he will be acquitted in court, as people in Dallas are somehow holding on to the old-west style of justice. He then seals the deal by announcing that Ruby's loans will be forgiven if he does this. His manipulation is so insanely effective, that Ruby doesn’t even fully appreciate what he is doing. This can be seen in how casual he is about it. In fact, he is almost late to his own crime, as he has to wire $25 to one of his club’s employees. He even takes the time to feed his dog, mere minutes before he commits the murder.
In the end, Ruby ironically ends up becoming a patsy of Karlinsky, just as Lee became a patsy for Mackey and the rest of the CIA agents. I think it's interesting that while Delillo sets up it rather ambiguously on whether Lee is guilty of murdering Kennedy, yet seems to unequivocally pardon Jack Ruby. But maybe this is just how I am reading it, what do you think?
Jack (Ruby, not you) was truly patriotic and willing to defend the honor of his country and his city. After the shooting, his defense would include that he killed Lee so as to spare Jacqueline Kennedy the pain of coming back down to Dallas to Lee Harvey Oswald's trial. Karlinsky really just found a very vulnerable and effective puppet, who over the built up stress and trauma on such a short period of time went over the edge and was able to be convinced of committing a murder (even crazier is his justification for killing Lee). There are obvious similarities between Lee's and Ruby's susceptibility to become a patsy, but the dynamics are developed over different timelines and with the author describing different amounts of detail.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the way Karlinsky plays Ruby is very close to how Ferrie plays Oswald--he taps into Jack's emotional torment and his desire to "do something" about the assassination, and plants this idea in his head that he'll be hailed as a hero for doing what everyone in the country is dreaming of. Why would Jack believe this? In part because he's already feeling the emotions, he just needs a little push--he isn't thinking rationally at the time. And yet, DeLillo also threads in the other aspect of Jack's high emotions at the time, his debt to the IRS. This combination of practical leverage and subtle encouragement of Ruby's delusions of heroism make for a potent combination.
ReplyDeleteThis was one of my favorite scenes in the book because of how well Karlinsky convinced Ruby. He went from saying hi, to subtly implying something should be done, then Ruby just does it. Ruby was in a fragile emotional state, and he was on a bunch of amphetamines all the time which really compromises your judgement, and to him it seems like the best idea in the world to shoot this guy.
ReplyDeleteI also loved this scene in the book - it was interesting because Jack and Lee started out as such different characters. Jack seemed like the opposite of Lee in some ways, outgoing and blustering where Lee was withdrawn. They still had some similarities - their inability to shut up about their country/communism, for one. Still, in the end, they ended up being manipulated in the same way and I think it was really fitting (if sad) that Ruby started thinking he and Lee were the same person.
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