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

who told you to go to Mexico?” 681 Oswald stubbornly refuses to help his own case by
revealing whether someone else was behind the assassination. Finally, he stops
answering and turns his back to his attorney.
During the cross-examination, the prosecutor relentlessly probes into the state of
Oswald’s mind before the assassination, asking him about the argument with Marina on
the night of November 21, 1963. The prosecutor declares “I think the jury can guess now
what was forming in your mind when your wife refused to come to bed with you so she
could watch the President on television.” The defense objects, but the prosecutor keeps
pressing: “Click! Click! Click!...THAT was the moment, wasn’t it!” Finally, Lee
screams “NO! NO! NO!” and buries his head against the glass wall of his enclosure in the
courtroom. The prosecutor concludes, “Mr. Oswald, that is the first time in the course of
this trial that I have ever seen you exhibit any emotion of any kind whatsoever. I am sure
the jury will notice that I appear to have struck a chord.” 682 Oswald stammers,
“Everyone…gets emotional when…when people pry into their personal lives.”
In this scene, the one thing that sparks an emotional response from Oswald is his
relationship with Marina and his family life. While Oswald had stated his Marxist-
Leninist beliefs to reporters and is shown handing out the pro-Castro leaflets in New
Orleans, it is the personal and not the political that the film emphasizes. No single,
coherent conspiracy theory is presented in contrast. The film concludes with Oswald
again leaving his cell to hear the verdict, only this time he is shown being slain by Ruby.
681 Thompson, 169.
682 Thompson, 174-175.
298