· The Comedian: He constantly faces dilemma of facing the brutality of the world. The Comedian does care about peace and stability in the society. While trying the maintain peace, the Comedian has a hard time maintain ‘peace’ to himself. He too kills people without any hesitation. Thus the Comedian came to a realization that the world cannot come to a stable level, and any unfortunate events have to be perceived as a joke. Also another dilemma the Comedian faces is his true identity in front of Laurie. He knows that he is Laurie's father, but decides to keep his image as the person who raped Laurie's mother. Yet the biggest problem Blake faces is after he uncovers the true intention of Ozyamandias. Blake knew that the knowledge of only he himself knowing is too much to bear so he decides to share it with Moloch, but as a drunk status, Blake doesn't make much sense of himself.
· Rorschach: Rorschach has a dilemma of reinforcing the law but finds himself breaking the law itself. However the biggest issue for Rorschach is after he learns about Ozymandia's true intentions and plans. Whether to kill Ozymandias and expose the truth or just watch and keep in silent while millions of lives are dying yet are waiting to be saved. He later asks Dr. Manhattan to kill him because Rorschach knows that he will eventually speak out the truth. One can say that he sacrificed himself to save millions of lives.
· Ozymandias: Ozymandias too wants to create a stable, safe Utopia. However he realizes that this can’t be achieved without sacrifices. His cognitive dissonance can be paralleled to that of Rorschach but Ozyamndias realizes that it must be done with sacrifices. Thus in order to create the ‘perfect’ world, Ozymandias decides to create a monster to nearly destroy the entire humanity. The monster will take hundreds of lives but at the same time it will save millions of lives.
· Dr. Manhattan: Dr. Manhattan juxtaposes himself by expressing himself as, “a dead person and an alive person has the same amount of particles, why should I care..”. Yet he somehow creates a caring relationship especially with Laurie Jupiter. Later in the novel he constantly finds himself distant from humanity and eventually distant from Laurie. Not to mention that he already cheated on another girl! But the larger problem was his decision of letting Laurie go. He already knew Laurie has forgotten him and her mind is with Dan. Eventually, for Laurie's happiness, Dr. Manhattan silently lets go of Laurie.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance
b) Narcissistic Personality: Ozymandias constantly thinks he is globally connected and only he can bring stability and order in the society. This makes him to think that he is almost a god-like status. Even though he is already lifted up as a hero and accepted as the world's smartest man, Ozymandias, (okay from now on I'm going call him Vedit), wants to become more than what he already is. He later builds golden monuments of himself and brings himself attention as a all-star athlete. Furthermore, golden monuments are enough but wouldn't having toys of Vedit himself be too extreme? This clearly proves that Vedit is absolutely in love with himself, further proving his narcissistic personality.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality
c) Meglonmania: I don’t believe that Vedit is obsessed with wealth, but I do believe he is obsessed with power. Yes, although he gives away millions of dollars without a single second of hesitation, Vedit is more engulfed with 'power-hungry' mind. He believes he revolves around everything and because he is known as the ‘world smartest man’ and one of the richest, Ozymandias believes that he is omnipotent. He comes up with the best technologies and the best services in his own territory. He wants other people to feel his power and his greatness through luxury and wealth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalomania
d) ‘The Tales of the Black Freighter’ closely resembles Ozymandias because in the end of the graphic novel, Ozymandias describes having nightmares that closely resembles the pirate ship that comes out from “The Tales of the Black Freighter. The story begins with character like Ozymandias tries to warn the people of Davidstown, (presumably the monster Vedit has created). The boats made out of dead human is probably parallel to the millions of lives killed by Vedit's monster. The couple he tries to kill are perhaps Rorschach? I don't know why they've put a couple but the only character killed closely related from Vedit's action is Rorschach. Even though not directly killed from Vedit, Rorschach was killed because of Vedit's action. Later in the end, when the main character climbs onto the ship to his doom, the story lines along itself with Vedit and the rest of the world coming closer to the doomsday. Both the antagonist and Vedit are people who want to save the world from perishing. However this cannot be done without sacrifices and will not be done without someone bringing the news of doomsday.
Discussion Questions #2:
a) Reading “The Watchmen” allowed me to see that even though there are villains and heroes in every novel, distinct lines that shows a villain and a hero is always vague: A hero to someone maybe a villain to another. What Ozymandias imposed may seem brutal and inhumane, making many readers to think that he was the villain for the entire time. However on the other hand the logic behind Ozymandias may have a better advantage, which leads him to be a hero. Thinking himself as a godly like status because of his narcissistic personality and megalomania character, Vedit thinks that with his wealth and power he has brought an end to world's suffering. But Dr. Manhattan disputes that idea by saying, "In the end? Nothing ends.." Thus in our society there are no people who are in a black and white side. No one can always be a hero and no one can always be a villain. Simply it is those who have better moral standards than others, are called heros. However even these people have flaws and mistakes which proves the fact that even heros can sometimes fall, and even the villains can do goods.
b) Allan Moore didn't combined the characteristic of heroes from all different types of medias. Though this is a wrong assumption that Moore didn't do a good job at making the perfect characters. Rather we can see that Moor took an entirely different approach to characters we see as " super-heroes". Characters like Night Owl can be compared to Spiderman, who works and serves for the goodness of humanity. While other characters like Ozymandias can be linked to characters like Magneto, where one believes they can bring justice and peace to a bitter torment. However each character has his or her own flaws which descends them down to a non-hero status. Few specific examples can be given from the novel. First group Crimbusters had similar intention to an actual super-hero like the Dare Devil. They wanted to create peaceful and stable society. Rinse out the filthy diseases within the world. However after the introduction of Ozymandias and Dr. Manhattan, the target of the Crimebusters begins to change. The pure motivation of saving humanity began to take a different direction. Characters like Ozymandias believes that he can save humanity by killing millions of people. By adding characters like Ozymandias Alan Moore was able to prove his point and his purpose within "The Watchmen".
Moore decided to take an approach to these heroes as normal beings who live normal lives. Rather than making them perfect and alien-like, Moore made the characters in "The Watchmen" with normal traits. Perhaps his intention was because he wanted the reader to actually feel with the characters. Making them more human and without any "super strength" or "flying ability", allows the reader to make more of their own personal connection. Anyone can be a hero, and anyone can be a villain. It's just a matter of decision whether you can be the one to bring people up to hope, or bring people down to their dooms.
c) The smiley face definitely refers back to the smiley face of the Comedian’s badge. The smiley face acts as a type of an ironic message in a way that the society is ruined and tainted, and even a smiley face won’t bring much meaning. Also notice how the smiley face was tainted with blood. The blood’s position closely resembles the doomsday clock, which refers to the nearness of total destruction of humanity. Through out the novel, although I don't think it was ALAN MOORE's intention of putting it in, illustrator Dave Gibbons drew some hidden smiley faces that closely resembled the Comedian's smiley face. In chapter 12 page 1, the Pale Horse concert sign has a blood smear which is identical to the blood splatter on the Comedian's badge. On page 6 in the same chapter, the outlet of the fire hydrant on the ground has a splatter of blood which the two key holes makes the eyes of the smiley face. The most significant smiley face would be when Rorschach is killed by Dr. Manhattan. On chapter 12 page 24, the disintegrated Rorschach's blood is on the bike. Which leaves a trace of the smoke to climb in front of Vedit's fortress. This resembles a smiley face. I'm sure Dave Gibbons left these hidden pictures to constantly remind the reader about the near end of the doomsday.
Dicussion Question #3:
a) This quote generally describes those who are in the dream world and those who are already facing the harsh reality in this world. Many characters like the Comedian or Rorschach realized the harsh reality of the world. When one looks inside to what’s really happening and what can happen, they will soon realize that the world isn’t pretty. And to realize this truth many of "The Watchmen" characters had to look inside themselves. Reflect on their past motivations and thoughts, the characters of "The Watchmen" had to rationalize themselves so that they can realize who they are. This quote proves the fact that Carl Jung is keen psychologist who knows why people act as they are.
http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/jung.html
b) The quote William James presents to us is very common to every human being. "Ready to become savages to some cause" is actually what most of us will do if we believe in something passionately. This quote makes us to realize that nobody can be morally perfect and right. Everyone can be right or wrong some point during their life. James' assertion can make a hero into villains, and villains into heroes. Particularly it can be applied to Ozymandias. Throughout the novel, we unravel this true intention and his goal to save thousands by killing hundreds. Ozyamndias' action let us realize that to someone who believes in something really passionately, nothing can stop them from succeeding in their own personal goals. "The Watchmen" as the entire novels makes us to realize that even the most good hearted people are capable of doing something violent and gruesome. Whether its for a moral standard of a lawful standard, violence will always come into challenge those who tries to use it for the good of mankind.
b) The quote William James presents to us is very common to every human being. "Ready to become savages to some cause" is actually what most of us will do if we believe in something passionately. This quote makes us to realize that nobody can be morally perfect and right. Everyone can be right or wrong some point during their life. James' assertion can make a hero into villains, and villains into heroes. Particularly it can be applied to Ozymandias. Throughout the novel, we unravel this true intention and his goal to save thousands by killing hundreds. Ozyamndias' action let us realize that to someone who believes in something really passionately, nothing can stop them from succeeding in their own personal goals. "The Watchmen" as the entire novels makes us to realize that even the most good hearted people are capable of doing something violent and gruesome. Whether its for a moral standard of a lawful standard, violence will always come into challenge those who tries to use it for the good of mankind.
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