DeLillo challenges his reader to be imaginative when viewing history. Instead of offering the same-old typical story, that Lee Harvey Oswald was part of some genius government conspiracy, DeLillo's Oswald is strangely human, normal, and perhaps even amenable. In light of this, the events of history are shown to be fateful and beyond human conception, because people want to believe in something epic, rather than entertaining a more normal, sane approach.
At the same time, his prose is transcendentalist and suggestive, because the associations that he underlines are complex and beautiful. But, the associations are not conspiracy theories, especially not when compared to other art about the Kennedy assassination. In fact, their placid normality is contrasted with the elaborate interconnectedness of human life through time.
This points the reader to their own present life, because in the same way the country largely chose the most magnificent, perplexing stories to believe about the Kennedy assassination, they often don't see the wonder and awe of normal, daily life in all its wonder and complexity. The systems of life are shown in this novel, not to dazzle and amaze, but to point the reader to regular time and regular reality, encourage a scrutinizing eye. He suggests that the real "conspiracy" was not death, but life.
