Break this World's Shell

 Note: this is not my Libra post, this is part of something that I wrote for American History Through Popular Culture (heavily recommended btw) that I thought was relevant to the concept of History as Fiction. Malcolm X follows the titular character from his beginnings as the teenage hustler Detroit Red and, while dipping strategically into his childhood in flashback sequences, follows him as his career leads him to a years-long prison sentence. In prison, Malcolm Little meets Baines, a member of the Nation of Islam (NOI), who encourages Little to educate himself, and to recognize and dismantle the destructive influence of the white-dominant culture around him by becoming part of the sect. Malcolm is swayed, and converts to the Nation of Islam’s beliefs. Although this largely not mentioned in the film, it is important to note that the Nation of Islam’s beliefs differed from those of mainstream Sunni Islam during the timeframe of the movie. After his release from prison six years af...

President John Fitzgerald Kennedy has only one real appearance in Libra, but despite that, he holds a powerful presence in the narrative. John was the first president to readily make good use of the medium of television to communicate with the public, often through his live press conferences, and accordingly in Libra much of the populace is presented as having opinions on him (“John F. Kennedy and the Press”).      A certain fraction of the women in the novel are portrayed as being attracted to Kennedy: for example, Brenda Jean Sensibaugh, a stripper at Jack Ruby’s nightclub, has a discussion with another stripper on which of the Kennedy brothers they would rather have sex with Similarly, Marina also fantasizes at one point that she is making love to Kennedy instead of Lee, the narration describing his presence floating  out of the radio and the television. Marina wonders what it must be like “To know you are the subject of a thousand longings.” (p. 324, DeLillo) Thi...