[Sample B: Approval/Signature Sheet] - George Mason University

Minsk. Not only did the KGB tail Oswald, but operatives bugged his apartment and
interview people he came into contact with. The surveillance revealed Oswald to be an
unexciting character, poor worker, and allegedly poor shot. He went out with his fellow
workers to hunt rabbits and was not successful.
Before meeting Marina, Oswald had several affairs with Soviet women, and had
proposed and been rejected by Ella Germann, a Soviet Jew. A former KGB man told
Mailer that “Oswald didn’t exhibit any [sexual] deviations,” and he helpfully added that
“a homosexual reveals himself in his behavior” and “his eyes start blazing when he sees a
man…when his butt is big.” 365 Mailer quoted extensively from the KGB transcripts of
Oswald’s bugged apartment, including Oswald’s fights with his new wife, Marina. The
marriage got off to a rocky start, especially since Oswald had lied about a number of
things, including his desire to return to the United States. In one fairly typical exchange,
Marina asked “do you hate me when you yell at me?” Oswald replied “Yes.” Marina
then asked “Why are you afraid of people? What scared you?” Oswald yells “angrily”
according to the transcript: “Shut up, shut up… You stand there and blab.” 366 After the
birth of their daughter, the two fight about Oswald’s plans to return to his homeland.
Marina declared “Out of my sight you dog! You scoundrel! Don’t look at me that way –
nobody is afraid of you. Go to hell, you bastard!” 367 Mailer ruminated that perhaps the
two could have appeared in a one-act play: “Newlyweds.” However, there is nothing
365 Mailer, 133.
366 Mailer, 228.
367 Mailer, 294.
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