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Analysis Of The Book ' Watchmen ' By Dave Gibbons

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Watchmen written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons utilizes the literary tool of symbols to connect ideas and themes. 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 the loss of innocence and morality throughout Watchmen. The combination of all of these themes ultimately allude to Ozymandias’ decision to unleash chaos on Manhattan by foreshadowing his betrayal and explaining how impossible it is to entrench the peace that he has manufactured by unleashing this chaos. The clocks in Watchmen are used to foreshadow crucial future events and connect the themes of morality and time. Other than the literal connection between calling themselves Watchmen and recurring images of actual watches, doomsday clocks and time in general plays a huge part in the arc of the comic’s storyline. This is because of the impending destruction that the world is to face at the hands of Ozymandias. Doctor Manhattan’s father was a watchmaker before learning that time is irrelevant and therefore useless. Jon himself finds this out through his own experience with time and seeing back and forth through it. This is particularly important because the whole reason he

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