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Nicholas Branch in Libra

          In Libra , Don DeLillo provides a fictional account of the events leading up to Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. He constructs a complicated plot that involves many more characters than Lee Harvey Oswald alone. However, interspersed between chapters focusing on Oswald and the deep state forces plotting to kill Kennedy, DeLillo weaves in a small storyline featuring Nicholas Branch. Branch is a retired CIA analyst who is hired to write the secret history of Kennedy’s assassination (15). He spends hours pouring over every detail and piece of evidence sent his way in an attempt to better understand what happened leading up to the infamous 6 seconds in Dallas.            Branch plays a subtle but important role throughout the book. Although DeLillo lays out a convincing conspiracy, his inclusion of Branch’s character acts as a reminder to readers that the story that’s being told about the assassination has been constr...
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Rufus and the Women in his Life

     In Octavia Butler’s Kindred , Rufus has complicated relationships with the women in his life, specifically his mother, Alice, and Dana. Throughout the book each woman influences him and has some part in shaping the person he is by the end.      From the start, Rufus’ mother, Margaret Weylin, plays a large role in shaping how Rufus sees and treats the people around him. The first time Dana tries to save Rufus from drowning, Margaret’s reaction is to beat Dana and scream at her for killing Rufus (Butler 14). Similarly, when Rufus falls from a tree and breaks his leg, Dana is pulled back in time to help nurse him to health. As she does so, Margaret orders her around and treats her with hostility and contempt (Butler 70). Rufus, although more accepting of Dana, still absorbs many of his mother’s behaviors. Following her example and society’s, Rufus learns to treat both women and slaves as objects who should cater to his desires.      Whether...
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Death in Mumbo Jumbo

     Death is a common theme in Ishmael Reed’s Mumbo Jumbo . Reed kills off a number of his characters, including characters central to the book like Abdul, Berbelang, Charlotte, and Thor Wintergreen. These characters are involved in either Jes Grew or the Mu’tafikah and most die at the hands of men who despise those movements. Consequently, Reed’s use of death throughout the book provides a commentary on the nature of Jes Grew and the people who try to extinguish it.       One of the ways that Reed uses death in his book is to suggest that Jes Grew is dangerous, but not in the way that Hinckle Von Vampton and the Wallflower Order believe it to be. In the eyes of the Wallflower Order, Jes Grew is a harmful virus that is spreading across America and infecting young people. Reed contrasts this idea by showing that the only real danger is the harm being done at the hands of Hinckle, Gould, the Wallflower Order, and Biff Musclewhite. These men are afraid o...
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Tateh and Coalhouse Walker in Ragtime

In Ragtime , Tateh and Coalhouse Walker stand apart from the other characters in the book. One reason for this is that they are the only characters who, although fictional, act as historical figures within the bounds of the book. As a result, they bridge the gap between history and fiction by interacting both with the fictional family and with the real historical figures.  Additionally, Tateh and Coalhouse Walker are far less stationary than the other characters. By creating snapshots of the historical characters at specific instances in their lives, Doctorow preserves them in that moment and gives them a static aspect. Doctorow’s narrative on J.P. Morgan, for example, focuses on his obsession with the idea of reincarnation, rather than his ascent to extreme wealth (Doctorow 150). However, Tateh and Coalhouse Walker’s characters undergo change over the course of the book. Doctorow emphasizes the shift in their circumstances and motivations, lending their stories a sense of authenti...
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