Essay on Alan Moore's The Watchmen

There was once time of prosperity and hope in this great nation. A time where it seemed that nothing could go wrong and a time that America seemed to be on top of the world as a powerhouse; however, by the late 1970’s, that time was no more. America went from an economic powerhouse to a country struggling to survive. America went from the land of the free and the home of the brave to citizens having no identity of patriotism following the Vietnam War. America went from doing the attacking and righting the wrong in the world, to being harassed and taken advantage of. This harassment is told through David Farber’s novel, Taken Hostage, which details the hostage takeover that involved sixty-six American citizens who had to endure 444 agonizing days of being taken hostage because America was no longer in control. During the time of the Iranian hostage crisis, Americans were held back by the tragedy for numerous reasons, many of which stem from the immediate reaction of combined shock and frustration towards the United States Government and President Carter, a lack of knowledge of the ongoing strained relationship between the two countries, and finally, the surprising tension and ineffectiveness of the Carter Administration’s foreign policy.

“What happens to a society that cannot distinguish between reality and illusion?” As our country crumbles and our economy crashes, Chris Hedges asks this one question to his readers. Throughout his article, “American Psychosis,” he provides hit after hit of shocking proof that reveals the United States to not only be in desperate need of change, but also that the American people, with their obtuse nationalism and selfish greed, are blissfully ignorant of what could possibly be the downfall of this country. Hedges wants his reader to be shocked at the startling facts that he throws at them, to be angry at him for saying what must be blatant lies and exaggerations, and then to be inquisitive, to discover for themselves just how real the problems of the United States are and how dire the consequences can become. Hedges uses this article as a warning, he desperately wants his readers to understand just how bad things really are and he wants them to be inspired to change it, to stop whatever dark future that could happen. In this article, Hedges touches many subjects: Americans and

Watchers, by Dean Koontz, describes the themes of the powerful effects of love and the dangers of technology. Watchers starts off with three different subplots but ends with one cohesive story. Travis Cornell believed his life was in a constant downhill spiral until he meets a dog who he later names einstein. Vincent Nasco is an mentally-ill cereal killer who will do anything for money and fame. Nora Devon is a quiet person who believes she is not anything special, until she lets her guard down and meets the love of her life. Throughout the story, Nora and Travis meet and fall in love and discover what Einstein truly is. When a creature from a secret experiment escapes, the Outsider, Travis, Nora and Einstein are faced with a series of difficult

The discrimination of the United States against undesirable ideologies is, in essence, the very action that was feared about other countries. Author Regin Schmidt wrote about how the FBI set up political surveillance systems in foreign nations to prevent this kind of power the government had over the people from being exported to the U.S. Unbenounced to the public, however, the real threat was not in any foreign nation, but in the domestic government. Schmidt also went on to explain how President Truman attempted to make substantial revisions to foreign policy when enacting the Truman Doctrine. This belief of America being a promiseland is shown today when the United States continually forces itself into wars in an attempt to press its

Through the character Rorshach, The Watchmen explores the issues of nature verses nurture for him. Moore adds that a super hero, can be a psychological argument. A super hero is neither born nor shaped by environment, it is the creation of an alter ego to suppress childhood conflicting inner issues. Rorshach dealt with issues as a young child that rationalized in his mind to hide behind a costume and a mask in order to live.

Especially in times of difficulty, such as those of economic depression, talking seriously about serious things all the time may only worsen the situation. People want relief from what troubles them, and one of the best ways to provide this relief is through comedy. Thus, this play, and many others, takes on the serious topics it involves and discusses all of them with a lightheartedness that people can both relate to and laugh at. It thus, while not being inaccessible to the thoughts of the audience is still able to give the audience an escape from what may be troubling them. Humor is one of the best coping mechanisms, and that is not only true for this play. Many successful fixtures of pop culture thrive off of the same concept, including Saturday Night Live, which for decades has been successfully satirizing contemporary issues and bringing laughs to times and topics that may need them most. Ultimately, this play is a fantastic example of how we not only deal with similar issues in different countries and different decades, but how we also deal with them in similar ways, specifically

The demonstrations of people sound great in textbooks, yet infrequently appear to be so true. That is not his deficiency, however, that is no reason for minimizing and trying to quiet him for what he did and say. America's exceptional strength is the result of an auxiliary imperviousness to essential change and its history is interlaced with prejudice that was once plainly obvious however now works with winks and gestures that few in force will battle. To restrict bigotry is upright. To deny its presence, regardless of the reason, is

One strategy the author uses to convince the reader of his position involves making the problem personal to the audience. For example, in paragraphs seven through nine, Brooks shows how both well-meaning and malicious people aid in perpetuating the idea of what he calls ‘reductionist solitarism’. He then explains that this reductionist solitarism can be seen in racists, bigots, and populists, as well, contrastingly, in anti-racists, even going so far as to include stand-up comedians. Following this, in paragraph ten he connects these people to the reader, saying: “Unfortunately, if you reduce complex individuals to one thing you’ll go through life clueless about the world around you.” This statement personalizes the

For years America has been seen as the world’s hero swooping in and saving the day from foreign bad guys, or at least that’s America sees itself as. To many other countries however America is often seen as the world’s bully or just a nuisance. The United States has had many positive impacts on the world and those seem to over shadow the large number of negative impacts it has imposed as well. The world has been changed by the U.S. in both positive and negative ways, and this is due to the alternating use of internationalism and isolationism. Throughout the United States’ existence both foreign polices have existed, but rarely have them been used at the came time. In the present day the U.S. has mainly focused on internationalism. This has

In May of 2005 college graduates, parents, and friends listened to David Foster Wallace recite one of his infamous pieces of writings. This speech is about the value of the graduates’ liberal arts education. The speech is not typical for what would be expected. The expected speech would be motivational, educational, and thought provoking. When delivering this speech Mr. Wallace says several times that motivating or educating is not the purpose of the speech. However, even though this might not have been the explicit purpose of his speech, the speech did nothing but provoke thought.

Throughout the history of the United States, there have been many issues that have impacted the future of American life. In 1925, in the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, a local school teacher went on trial for teaching evolution in the local school. Twenty-five years later, Senator Joseph McCarthy, began the movement known as the “red scare” in which he began to pick out “Communists” in the community. Both of these instances initiated much questioning of civil rights, and civil liberties. Through the play Inherit the Wind, the two playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, show the dangers of intellectual oppression with the Story of Bert Cates, and the well known “monkey trial”. In the small town of Hillsboro, a well known school teacher is put on trial for teaching evolution in the local school. Matthew Harrison Brady, a three time presidential candidate, comes to prosecute Bert Cates. While Henry drummond, his direct opposite, comes to defend Mr. Cates and the freedom to think. E.K. Hornbeck, a big city skeptic, travels to Hillsboro to document the trial, and write about it in the Newspaper. Bert Cates’ companion, Rachel, models the type of progressiveness that the two playwrights hope Americans can learn from. In this allegorical play Lawrence and Lee’s use of symbolic characters challenges the status quo and inspires American intellectual growth.

Jacoby seeks to answer how and why these barriers negatively affect this “Age of American Unreason”. In Jacoby’s book she explain how American’s have become less and less intellectual over the year due to our culture our distraction. In order to understand what constitutes such anti-intellectualism in our culture, we must first understand what it means to be an intellectual. By doing this, it will help us understand why many American’s today lack such intellectualism.

Imagine if there were a significant period in American history, in which a skilled and competent writer had not taken pen in hand, to capture that period's significance or meaning. One must ask, what would be inherently lost, if all we had were self serving war stories such as, "American Sniper" or "Zero Dark Thirty," (as entertaining as they might be) to reflect upon the deeper meanings of the wars of this time. Moreover, one could only imagine the loss, if during other significant periods of American history; there were no captivity narratives such as Mary Rowlandson's. What if, "The Red Badge of Courage," or "The Things They Carried," had never graced the pages of our text books? For a decade now, students and scholars alike have waited patiently for something that is more than just

Wallace begins his commencement by explaining the liberal arts cliché, which states liberal arts is only teaching you how to think rather than “filling you up with knowledge” (Wallace 1). To proceed in his explanation Wallace provides an example of how stubborn and individual can be towards a particular idea; whether it is an idea, belief, or personal value. In addition to this, he elaborates on his example and articulates that you can’t say someone else’s belief is wrong just because, ultimately, you believe yours is correct.

Watchmen by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons utilizes the literary tool of symbols. Symbols such as the smiley pin, clocks, and the haunting “who watches the watchmen” graffiti all come up several times in the graphic novel, thus alluding to a deeper meaning. Time is a major theme throughout the comic and plays a significant part in the structure and outcome of the story. This theme is successfully coupled to the theme of destiny by the use of the clock and other symbols that are present throughout the comic. Symbols such as clocks, the smiley pin, and the graffiti are utilized to efficiently connect the themes of time, justice and loss of innocence throughout Watchmen.