Same Old Lee

It finally happened. Lee shot Kennedy. The whole book has built up to this. There are so many things I want to say about this chapter, but to save you from having to sift through all of my jumbled thoughts, I decided to write about Lee in this chapter.

I know that I have gone on and on about Lee, but the duality of his character fascinates me. Another key component of the characterization of Lee that I like is the fact that he doesn’t change. Even though the events in the novel take place over years and he is thrown into increasingly complex and escalating situations, Lee still remains the slightly lovable dumbass that we have seen throughout the book. As he began to take position to shoot Kennedy, he kept going through scenarios in his head about how big he would be. Interestingly, it isn’t until a while after he fires his three shots that he feels any nervousness. It isn’t until after months of planning that Lee even begins to consider what’ll actually happen after the murder. It isn’t until he’s already done it that he really considers the consequences:

Lee got out and walked north on Beckley, hearing a jangling in the air, feeling the first nervousness. What do I look like? To anybody seeing me, where do I look like I’m coming from? He checked the numbers on the license plates of parked cars. Do I look like someone leaving the scene? His stomach was empty and he had that feeling in the mouth where there’s a rusty taste, something oozing from the gums. (DeLillo 406)

He pretty much wanders the streets aimlessly for a bit, not really taking the post-assassination plan seriously:

He went down Beckley figuring there was no choice but to go to the movie house where they were supposed to pick him up. He knew he couldn’t trust them but there was nowhere else to go. He had fourteen dollars and bus transfer. They had him cold. He could be walking right into it. The lurking thought, the idea of others making the choice now. He wanted to believe it was out of his hands. (DeLillo 407)

And this all ends with him shooting a cop. He shoots a police officer in broad daylight after thinking he was cleverly avoiding arrest. He tried to talk his way out of being searched and ended up making himself seem more dangerous. This is classic Lee at his finest.