The way DeLillo introduces Marguerite at the very beginning makes her seem like a relatively sympathetic mother in a bad situation, but still trying her best. This is right after the scene of Lee "playing hooky" on the trains, and he and Marguerite are sitting together watching TV. Lee is telling her about riding the trains, and Marguerite notes that it's okay to skip a day of school or two since the other kids bother Lee and he's likely to have "turbulence running through him," as a boy without a father.
"She sat and listened to the boy's complaints. She couldn't fry him a platter of chops any time he wanted but she wasn't tight with the lunch money and even gave him extra for a funnybook or subway ride" (4)
Hearing about Marguerite's multiple failed marriages and her low jobs also add on to make her seem like a mother who's also gone through some hard times but is still trying to stay supportive of Lee where she can.
Except that under the facade, Marguerite's character has some ambiguous quirks and weird flaws that aren't much highlighted in the book so far--but may be the reason for some of Lee's antagonism (in addition to just his asshole character):
Although we get some positive images of Marguerite's mothering, we also later learn that she sometimes leaves Lee in the orphanage for periods of time. The reason isn't given, but it seems rather strange to casually do this multiple times; it doesn't seem that they are quite destitute enough either, for a mother to leave her child this way.
In addition, Marguerite doesn't seem to really try and get Lee back in school for his benefit after receiving official notice of his skips. She just complains for "two hours in [a] high piping tone," not an effective or conscientious way or solving the problem (6). The long sections of Marguerite's rambling narrations to the ambiguous "your honor" are a similarly ranty, expressive, and rather untrustworthy side of the woman. In one single section she bemoans her family situation and wavers between unrelated (and probably untrue) assertions such as Lee buying her a parakeet with a planter and ivy and food etc. (48).
In class, Mr. Mitchell mentioned that Marguerite in the records is known to be a pretty weird person and tried to get off as much publicity as possible from Lee Harvey Oswald. She seems to a rather ambiguous character so far in Libra, but is definitely already showing her weird side--whatever future development comes to play, I'm on the side of taking everything Marguerite represents with a grain of salt.
I think Marguerite is an interesting character, and I'm not sure what to make of her because of, like you said, her different quirks. He's definitely an unconventional mother, and I think a lot of it has to do with her divorces and all that. DeLillo's sort of in depth descriptions of Marguerite also makes me view Lee in a different way. I don't know if I would say that Marguerite has a lot to do with how Lee turned out, but it's interesting to see how her character and Lee interact, and I'm sure this relationship had at least some influence on him.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I do agree that Marguerite tries hard, but all in all she's still awful weird. To me it's seems like she's a woman you has had a hard life with shaky beginnings, and at this point she has just cracked. It's all self-preservation with the added complication of her love for her boys. Sometimes she really can't deal with it anymore, and leaves Lee at the orphanage. Other times she does whatever she can to no avail and it just leaves her in a worse mental and physical state than before. The weird ramblings to "your honor" really just make me pity her even more. For someone to stoop to that level of speech within her own head is really just sad.
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ReplyDeleteI definitely get the vibe from Marguerite that she's a little crazy. Yes, she's gone through unbelievable hardship through marriages, housing situations, etc. but the fact that Lee says his two brothers joined the marines to "get away from her" is concerning. She seems like an incredibly unstable woman who, even if she wanted to, is unable to be an adequate mother, let alone for the type of boy Lee is shaping up to be.
ReplyDeleteMaguerite is interesting character, and given what you said about her actual historical self, that would make sense. It does make me wonder however, if part of that characterization is to make a better connection with Lee. This would create a more logical progression for how Lee becomes Lee (in an inherited sense, in addition to the environmental factors that DeLillo describes). Additionally, her uncommon personality adds more to the environmental circumstances (beyond the strict facts of what's happening, like the multiple marriages) in parenting style, as you mentioned with her attitude to his school skipping.
ReplyDeleteMarguerite is definitely a very troubled character. I can sympathize with her because she has gone through many hardships, and I can see how she may feel overwhelmed to the point that she puts Lee in an orphanage. I think the scenes involving Marguerite are very important to the book, since they show us how Lee's version of the world is shaped. His dad died before he was born, he doesn't seem to like his mother very much and is rude when he talks to her, and he has grown up through a system in which he is poor and always moving between houses and orphanages.
ReplyDeleteMany chapters later, Marguerite's presence in the novel is still pretty small although we've now seen how Lee avoids her as an adult and doesn't want her helping him out when he moves back to the US. Lee previously lied about having no parents, so it looks like he wants her out of his way because she doesn't fit in with his plans of becoming part of history. I think part of Marguerite's role is showing Lee's strange behavior and the things he does to try to look like a tragic, tough man of history. Her interactions with Lee in his youth are probably also a factor in causing his preoccupation with history.
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