How Atsugi matures Lee

Atsugi represents the point where Lee fully begins transitioning into the man we know him as. Despite being historical fiction, Libra feels much like a coming-of-age novel, just a remarkably unique one.

In Atsugi, Lee first starts to spread his wings of freedom, hits some of his life's canonical events, and exhibits the unique behaviors that define the rest of his life, and death.

One of the first things Lee does upon arriving in Atsugi is lose his virginity, in a bizarrely described scene where we can sense his inexperience. Yet throughout Atsugi he grows more comfortable in his body, maturing in a way that forecasts how he'll continue to develop throughout the novel.

Lee also finds his role as an outcast Marxist, but this time he actually feels like he has important information to share, his limited intel on the U.S.'s planes gives him something to spread. He meets Kono, an example of the older mentor figures that so influence Lee, and Lee feels like he's become important equals with him. He starts finding what seems to him like a meaningful role in history.

And, of course, Atsugi ends with Lee in his stubbornness. He shoots himself to try and stay in Atsugi, the, not for having an unauthorized gun but for fighting an officer over it, gets sent to the brig. He thinks of himself as important, as having a role in defying authorities, and further develops his desire to align with the Soviets. He acts stubborn and stupid and establishes the pattern for the rest of his life.

Before Atsugi, Lee's Marxism felt performative, borrowed from books and a desire to seem intellectual. However, Atsugi gives him something concrete: actual intelligence, actual secrets, and an actual Japanese contact, and mini father figure, who treats him seriously. For perhaps the first time, Lee's fantasy of being a significant historical figure collides with reality, even if just barely. This taste of genuine importance, however small, likely becomes intoxicating for him. It validates his delusions just enough to make them permanent, setting up the pattern where he'll keep chasing that feeling of mattering, of being someone history will remember. And, without a doubt, despite his means, he succeeds.