Lee Harvey Oswald, a radical Marxist who expresses his anti-social behavior and angering ideas in cold war America, is, although initially despised by most readers, who see him a a crazed assassin, gradually becomes humanized through Delillo's subtle ways. Lee is compared to various characters and parallels are drawn between them, such that we can relate to Lee on various levels. Also, Lee is the essential idealist who seeks to impose his set of moral values, although vastly different from most people's, upon society fervently attempts to become part of history, ergo creating changes for what he believes is for the better.
The initial striking contrast and parallel I noticed began with Delillo's comparison of Lee and Fidel Castro, both of which are communist idealists attempting to change society to fit their needs and societal ideas. Castro is a natural and charismatic leader who can inspire idealism in his followers, while also great at socializing and convincing people of his cause. Lee is faced with a much different situation of being a marxist is a society opposed to communism in the cold war era, yet isolates himself by expressing his thoughts and acting as if he were of greater importance than his peers and most people he meets. Castro and Lee have exaggerated senses of self-importance, and feel that they will be the catalysts for change, both believing that they will be well known historically for what they consider "good" changes.
Win Everett also seeks changes in society and in a similar way to Lee, is an outsider who has never integrated socially, also having a sense of defeat and betrayal in the same way as Lee from the rest of society. Win has a "sense of cause", which although commonplace in most people, is over-exaggerated and over-expressed in the eyes of the others.
I do see Lee as an idealist, and I think DeLillo is willing to take him seriously in this capacity (something that has often been marginalized in historical writings about him--his Marxism is seen as poseurish or misunderstood). But I don't see him necessarily trying to impose his ideals on the rest of society. His desire, as DeLillo construes it, is more simple: he wants to live somewhere where he thinks he'll be valued and not marginalized, where his work will be useful and appreciated, and where he and his family can live comfortably. First he imagines this to be Russia, and then Cuba takes the place of Russia. He might be naive as to the extent to which such happiness might be possible in either place, but his *desire* for that simple escape is sympathetic to me.
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