Rorschach In Alan Moore's The Watchmen Essay

When read with a critical eye, the world of superhero comics often offers a lens with which we can examine society, our values, the meaning of justice, and the role of the individual in regards to the greater community. If all of this information is garnered from critical reading, then the way in which the medium of comics constructs these meanings will reflect an embrace or a rejection of the common symbols and ideology of it’s source culture. In the case of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s 1987 graphic novel, Watchmen, the second approach is used, as Moore’s writing draws upon the common cultural understanding of superheroes and exaggerates or tweaks them, exposing their underlying ideals. In this way, Watchmen functions not only as a

Epitomizing the idea of an abyss that will inevitably envelope the world, the symbolism of Rorschach's mask works to comment on skewed identity as a catalyst of societal destruction. Struggling to find comfort in his identity as Walter Joseph Kovacs, the character was Rorschach was created, creating a face that “[he] could bear to look at in the mirror”. Being an individual capable of “feeling the dark planet under my feet and knew what cats know that makes them scream like babies at night”, Rorschach saw the world for what it is, not the facade put up to hide societal complications. Consequently, Rorschach, or at the time Kovacs, could no longer live with the identity of an acceptor of the doomed nature of the world, creating a new identity that would “Even in the face of Armageddon, I shall not compromise”. Creating such character from an “ugly” dress of a murdered victim of society, Kovacs crafted the mask that would allow him to deter the world from the “evils that exist within mankind” Kovacs, through this newly formed identity was capable of living a double life, his identity as Rorschach becoming the one that he connected with the most, this new character becoming his “real face”. Ultimately this strong association with Rorschach, rather than his given identity Kovacs emphasizes the idea of identity as a motivator for world doom. Becoming Rorschach allowed Kovacs "to scrawl own design on this morally blank world ”, or work in an attempt to save the world from the “destiny that feeds them [us] to the dogs”. Through such temporarily successful action, Kovacs become more and more attached to the identity of Rorschach, saying that the mask became “his face” and that when he removes himself from the character Rorschach, he no longer has an identity, saying that without his face “nobody knows who I am, without my face nobody knows”. As a matter of fact, the idea of Kovacs no longer exists in this new identity of Rorschach,

This only further infuriates Walter. Not only does his mother make a complete power-grab by buying the house; she bought it in a cracker neighborhood! Walter storms out and is almost ready to kill someone over it. He feels he has lost his only shot at power. Walter comes back home screaming at his whole family, they don’t support him, especially his mother. He accuses her of not supporting his dream.

In the first volume of the novel, Haskel, a cousin of the family and a chief of the Jewish police is guarding the ghetto that

Toward the end of the play his spirit is broken, and he behaves almost like a madman, plotting to give in to Lindner and accept his offer; this action greatly worries his mother. The whole time, Walter wasn’t simply looking for a chance to follow through with his plans. He was seeking support from the system that he found himself subject to. This idea comes up in Gertrude Samuels’ Even More Crucial Than in the South. “…the real drive that is now rising ominously is a demand for personal dignity” (Samuels 1546). His personal dignity is at stake repeatedly throughout the story when he finds himself battling against a troubled family and a corrupt system.

Walter is a very important character and impacts everybody by his actions and what he says and does. Walter changes a lot throughout the story. He begins to become very hostile and short tempered towards his family. He starts to lose all his family values and only starts to worry and care about the check that is coming in. He says, “did it come?” “will somebody please listen to me today!!!” This shows that he wants everyone to listen to his idea about what he wants to do with the money. While he wants this, he shows no care or regard to anyone else’s ideas or thoughts about it. The quotes show how selfish and rude he is, also it shows how he has lost of all his family’s values because he won’t even listen to anybody else.

Walter begins to drink, stay away from home, and to constantly argue with his wife, Ruth. Walter's life is contrasted by the role of his recently widowed mother, who holds to more traditional values of acceptance of life's lot and of making the best of any situation. Walter Lee's "Mama" holds Walter's father up as an example of a man with pride and a man that, despite racial injustice in a dualistic society, worked hard to provide for his family. This adds to Walter's frustration. Walter now feels incapable and small in his mama's eyes.

This event pushed Kovacs into donning his vigilante persona. However, Rorschach, according to Walter, was not created then. He didn’t become “Rorschach” until later in his crime-fighting career. Walter was forever changed after investigating a gruesome case, in which a little girl was kidnapped, murdered, and fed to the perpetrator’s dogs. After solving the case, Rorschach comments,

There are quite a few characters. There’s Dr. Josef Mengele, the man in white the people call him, and he is the boss of the operation to kill the ninety-four men around the world. He also goes by Mr. Gregory, Fischer, Breitenbach, Aspiazu, and

Living in a world of ever increasing complexity, Walter Kovacs simplifies morality into black and white, right or wrong. Alan Moore’s, “Watchmen” set in an alternate 1985 follows the story of “superheroes” from their beginning to their possible demise as a group. Beginning with the murder of the Comedian, Rorschach sets out to tell the other Watchmen of his conspiracy theory behind the murder, and that he believes they are all in danger. The novel ends in bliss and yet tragedy. Rorschach staying fixed to his values decides to rather die than live with the truth behind saving the world. In Alan Moore’s “Watchmen”, Rorschach shows himself to be the true hero in the story. Being morally fixed, feeling the social duty to do good, and ultimately having to die for what you believe in are the qualities that make up a hero. Exemplifying all these, Rorschach proves to be more of a hero than Ozymandias.

Marvel’s Avengers is a group of superhuman and extraterrestrial superheros that save the world numerous times. But, half of the time they are the reason that they have to save the world. They cause chaotic wars and receive glory because they save humanity from those wars. They even escalate into an all-out battle because half of the members think they should be controlled by the government. In another vigilante story, the graphic novel Watchmen by Alan Moore follows the story of different vigilantes living in a time of chaos and pre-nuclear destruction. The novel centers in on one vigilante, Rorschach, who is persistent to do what he believes is the right thing. Whether it be avenging murder or kidnapping, he will be there to punish the criminals

Allen Moore’s sordid depiction of twentieth century life presents a complex world, where the distinction between a virtuous hero and a villainous wrongdoer is often blurred. In stark contrast to the traditionally popularized portrayal of superheroes, whose unquestionably altruistic motives ultimately produce unrealistically idealized results; the realistically flawed characters of Watchmen exist in a multi faceted world characterized by moral ambiguity. America’s imperialistic ambitions have long been justified as an expression of American idealism. Much like the portrayal of superheroes in popular culture, America’s intervention in foreign affairs was portrayed as the result of a clearly defined problem, where American intervention was

From the previously mentioned cases and outlines, unmistakably Alan Moore's Watchmen realistic novel arrangement deconstructs the perfect qualities of common superheroes, and that the characters themselves are mind boggling and defective. By differentiating the hero gathering of Marvel's comic books with Watchmen, we can stress how the characters of Watchmen challenge the customary thought of the superhuman. Likewise, with the assistance of the eccentric hypothesis, new historicism, and therapy to examine the characters of Dr. Manhattan, Rorschach, Ozymandias, and The Comedian, we can uncover the way that these specific characters are dissimilar to those of run of the mill superheroes in different universes, and satisfy a part that is nearly the direct inverse of what is ordinarily observed in most superhuman stories as Alan Moore's characters disassemble hero generalizations.

The Watchmen additionally features the genre convention of having extraordinary superpowers, equipment or skills. This consists of a wide selection of superpowers commonly includes flying, super strength, x-ray vision to name a few. However a person does not need superpowers to be a superhero. Instead they could have special items or equipment such as Kick-Asses batons or just be incredibly skilled like The Watchmen’s Rorschach physical strength and Kick-Asses Hit-Girl in her highly skilled martial art and proficient in using different weaponry, including guns, knives, spears, and grenades. In The Watchmen the only character that truly has a superhero power is Dr. Manhattan. The rest have expensive equipment, specialized weaponry and costumes.

First, Ruth, is one of the women in the house who changes Walter’s decisions in the story. Her relationship towards him is poor. Ruth nags at the beginning, saying “Eat your eggs Walter” (Hansberry 34). This angers him because she repeats it multiple times throughout, not understanding him, showing their strained relationship. Ruth is also shown to not be on Walter’s side on multiple occasions. For example, when Walter finds out that Mama spent the money on a new house, he does not like it. Ruth however is not feeling the same way as him, and tells him “Walter honey, be glad” (Hansberry 92). Ruth tells Walter to be glad, because their views are different. Ruth thinks this was beneficial to the family, yet Walter does not. This hurts Walter throughout the story as he feels alone with no one on his side. Walter know this when he says “Cause ain’t nobody with Me! Not even my own mother!” (Hansberry 85). Since he is alone, and believes no one cares about him, he tries to fix his own mistake when he decides he will get more money saying, “That White man is going to walk in that door all to write checks for more money than we ever had.” (Hansberry 143). Ruth does not like Walter’s idea, but he does not care as no one is on his side, which disappoints Ruth.