David Ferrie
Blog Post — Libra
David Ferrie, Dave, ‘Cap’n Dave,’ is probably one of the more ambiguous members of Libra’s cast. He’s a name that was actually a real flesh-and-blood person, not one of Dellilo’s fictional creations. David William Ferrie was born in 1918 and died when he was just 49, in 1967. He was a pilot who was alleged to have been involved in some shady business — yes, Kennedy’s assassination. He denied all accusations and even knowing Lee Oswald in the first place, although there happened to be plenty of suspicious incriminating evidence, such as photos of him with Lee Oswald, and having some of Oswald’s possessions (a library book) in his belongings when searched. They may have met in the military, having been in the same air patrol unit in the 50s as well.
In Libra, Captain Dave is a solitary, cryptic man surrounded by mystery. He was a pilot, and seemed to have a history of sexual abuse. He apparently suffers from cancer and does research on it, as well as obviously having some type of skin/hair disorder — alopecia. It’s kind of rare, but minor forms actually affect like 2% of people at some point in their life (you also might recognize is from the G-I Jane joke Chris Rock got smacked up for). Ferrie has known Lee Oswald for a while, and is his teacher-mentor-father figure leading him through the assassination plot. His subtle (or not so subtle) insinuations and manipulation eventually convinces Lee that it is his actual astrological Destiny, captial D, to kill Kennedy.
Dave Ferrie's whole character, or what we see of it from Lee Oswald's POV, is literally structured and completely catered to influence Lee.
"I know things you don't" is Ferrie's whole thing. "You want to come
back," He insists to Lee. "You want to finish our work.... We both know the answer to that
by now.» When Lee protests that "you know. I don’t.," Ferrie insists like some higher-power prophetic being, You’ve known almost all along. I think you knew before I did."
He speaks like the perfect mix of Jedi-master/wise wizard type that Lee, an impressionable and conflicted young man, would by impressed by. Ferrie pushes his boundaries, psychologically and physically. He nudges Lee Oswald in the direction of being the assassin -- but never outwardly says it --with a mixture of flattery and impossibly accurate facts slipped into almost pushy suggestions. He sounds almost omniscient. He also basically sexually assaults Lee at one point, and then says he should go to a gay bar.
Ferrie is so unpredictable he can be intimidating at times, and mystery + unpredictability is key to building the type of superior-being character Ferrie needs to be in order to hold such powerful sway on Oswald. If I were Lee, I think I'd also be moved by Ferrie's character. Lee is the 'Libran,' easily swayed in either direction, and a push too large will send his scales flying and completely broken, but the right amount of persuasion, the kind Ferrie applies, allows Lee to reach the conclusions Ferrie wants him to -- assassinating JFK -- but leaves Lee feeling like he got there himself. It's your destiny, he instills in Lee. It's not me or you or the world pushing your life into the other thread of the JFK plot, it's actually fate. You've known this all along, this is not something I told you to do...
I could definitely see Ferrie trying the jedi mind trick on an unsuspecting Lee lol. Ferrie seems cryptic and occult in a way that other characters in Libra aren't, which can make him a little silly, but also scary. It seems like Ferrie has manipulated other people before, and knows how to push someone to get what he wants. Good post!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your take on Ferrie. He was a peculiar character in the book. Knowing that he was a real person, I wonder how much of an influence he had on Oswald in real life (and they definitely met at some point since they had each other's library book/card). I think Ferrie is quite creepy as well for reasons you point out. After finishing Libra, it is hard to imagine the actual JFK assassination as anything other than what DeLillo discusses (though there are some exaggerations for sure), and Ferrie's character is one aspect of DeLillo's take that would make sense in real life. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI love your characterization of Ferrie here. He definitely tries to be this omniscient figure in Lee's life, and manipulates him by not convincing him to follow the assassination plan, but by constantly alluding to how this is Lee's fate, which plays perfectly into Lee's mindset that he is special and is meant to be some great revolutionary. He never convinces Lee by saying things like "you should do this," instead, he says stuff along the lines of "you know you want to do this," basically just getting into Lee's head and determining his thoughts for him, while keeping himself out of it at the surface level. The fact that Ferrie is a real person and there's formidable evidence to suggest that him and Lee had interacted is definitely creepy and adds a whole other layer to his mystique. Fantastic post!
ReplyDeleteHaha nice post, I love the Jedi wizard comparison with Ferrie. It sounds ridiculous, but it's quite true. He talks to Lee in this mesmerizing way to get into his head and has more of a part to play than the book leads on. I think his character really plays into the whole trope of how moldable Lee is if you just push him a little bit.
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