I Will Wear a Camera

 

            From the beginning of Libra, Marguerite was always a character that struck me. While for most of the book she remains out of sight and mind, when she does enter the story, it is powerful and incredibly interesting.

            In the beginning sections of the novel, we get a glimpse of Lee’s childhood, and Marguerite is undoubtedly an important part of this. Lee gets called to court for truancy, and his mother’s voice testifies to the judge. She tells the Judge a story about his life, trying to explain that her child isn’t a delinquent by highlighting all of the great parts of him and the things that make him just like any other kid.

            Marguerite shows up a few more times in the middle part of the novel. Upon originally reading these scenes, they can seem random and unexplained, but after reaching the end of the novel, I believe that they are part of her testimony at the end of the book after the JFK and Lee are both dead. I think her narrative voice throughout the book as this very specific role where she is trying to describe Lee to people, usually in court, as well as understand him herself is a fascinating literary device and I think it sort of brings the whole book together.

            Throughout Lee’s life and throughout Libra, Marguerite is always there, trying to figure out the real story, and trying to understand and justify Lee’s life experiences and actions. She is not afraid to ask questions and demand information and has a desire to know exactly what the real story is and why it happened. Sometimes this demanding curiosity and pursuit of the truth can go too far, especially as it presents for her son when he is still alive. I can imagine that having a mother like Marguerite that was constantly trying to figure out the real picture and defend me against the secret agents that had been exploiting me secretly for my whole life could feel lonely and frustrating. I suppose maybe all her conspiracies are true and it would be nice to have someone seeing through the lies, but if she’s completely wrong, it would probably not be a great experience to have your mother not let go of these ideas.

            I think it’s probably somewhere in between Marguerite having completely unfounded, ridiculous ideas and being the only one that truly is seeing the full story. I think her rejection of believing everything just as it comes to her is very useful, and many conspiracy theorists about JFK behave similarly, without the personal emotional connection she has. However, there are also times when it seems to go to far, and her fascinations do more harm than good.

            Overall, I really liked the literary device of having Marguerite kind of weave parts of the story with her camera, starting with the truancy case in Lee’s childhood up until the hearings for the assassination of President JFK by the same son of hers.