Essay

A paper that I would be interested in reading is one that either talks about how characters change throughout the book. Like Dr. Manhattan wanting to save the world vs when he doesn't care what would happen. Also, arguing over which when each character is most heroic, or even if the watchmen are heroes.

Possible essay topic

I think an interesting topic to write about in Watchmen would be Dr.Manhattan's impact on the outcome of the story. Manhattan is extremely powerful, knows the future, and is arguably a god. Because of this, I believe he could've prevented Veidt's actions and the death of millions of innocent people. The question would be, Is Dr.Manhattan to blame for these deaths and could he have stepped in? Also, should it have been his responsibility to save the day?

Blog Post about Essay

I am interested in the role the Comedian played in the comic, and I want to analyze why the Comedian was viewed so highly among so many people. I specifically want to look at why Adrian killed him because of how he feared him and why Laurie's mom forgave him.

The Comedian

The book opens with the comedian's death and the smiley face with blood on it appearing. There are many times when the comedian comes up or the blood spatter appears. How does the comedian's death affect the rest of the story?

Rorschach

The most controversial character in the book, between his black and white views and his hippocratic views.
(I want) The actions of Adrian Veidt, were they right or wrong? Was there another way? and is he a good person? Describe the morality of the situation.
What was the deeper meaning behind Watchman than just the effects of nuclear warfare

Possible Essay topic: How all heroes of Watchmen are forced to question their beliefs

In Watchmen, it is incredibly clear that all of our heroes/antiheroes represent a very clear cut idea of morality. However, everyone of them is forced to question their own beliefs. Rorschach is caught in a quandary when Veidt kills millions to possibly save billions. This is the same thing that president Truman did, but he considers Truman a hero and Veidt evil. He is then forced to choose between reversing his assumptions about right and wrong and trying to take down Veidt or letting evil slide and let Veidt live. The comedian claims that life is a joke but is brought to tears by something that is too heavy for him to deal with. Jon and Laurie both are constantly questioning the validity of even being superheroes. Dr. Manhattan is forced to question whether human life is valuable in an attempt to feel some empathy for the human race. Adrian Veidt claims himself to be the greatest leader in history but still feels driven to ask Dr. Manhattan if he did the right thing. These situations are where we see these character's true colors, and I believe that it would be an incredibly interesting topic.

Morality in Watchmen

In my essay I am comparing and contrasting the sense of morality of three characters: Rorshach, Jon, and Adrian. Rorshach, who happens to be my favorite character in the novel, sees things in black and white, wrong and right, although I may decide to argue that this is not always the case. Jon's sense of morality is marked by a thick layer of impassivity, but at times it seems as if he might have a more human side. Adrain has a conflicting sense of morality, ultimately questioning the morality of his own actions (Chapter 12, Page 27). I look forward to exploring this topic. It is an interesting one.

The Reflection of Roschach

An Essay on Rorschach to me at least would be very profound and very subjective. The complexity of Rorschach's character causes us to think very differently on why he kills people, why his outlook on the world is so bleak, and many other aspects of his character. In my opinion Rorschach is a reflection of the worst the world has to offer. He experienced very difficult and traumatic experiences before he donned the mask and when he did put on the mask he reflected those experiences onto those around him like when he basically tortured those people in the bar. At the end of the graphic novel Rorschach is destroyed which is kind of symbolic of there is hope for the world. For these reasons Rorschach would be a great essay topic.

Rorschach vs. Ozymandias

Both Rorschach and Ozymandias will go to great extents in order to accomplish their goals. While Rorschach will kill hundreds to save thousands, Ozymandias killed millions to save billions. Even after Ozymandias' plan works, Rorschach continues to fight against him and is even willing to undo world peace for the sake of his own moral values. In your opinion, which character is more villainous and for what reason?

Essay Topic

The story of Watchmen ended and wrapped up nicely however there is still one question, who was the bad guy? Adrian Veidt killed millions of people so the planet wouldn't go into nuclear war. He used psychological terrorism on the leaders of Russia and the United States to stop the cold war, but at what cost. The problem that this book creates is that a single person cannot be hero of an entire civilization without making a moral compromise. An example of this is The Comedian who would help individuals while making serious moral compromises in the lengths he abused the felons. While we look at this master plan by Adrian Veidt, Dr. Manhattan could have prevented this entire plan by threatening the leaders of the counties involved. This leads me to my essay topic, which of the heroes in the book made the largest moral compromise compared to his or hers help of the common good?

Essay Topic of hidden symbolism in literature

I have thought about my essay topic for watchmen constantly throughout the book. Knowing that their would be some kind of assessment, I knew I would have to develop a well thought topic for this book filled with art. One concept that interested me was the symbolism hidden in the book. I feel their meaningful symbolism in the book that represents reality. Early in the story, we received most of the symbols that are in the book, but explaining these symbols and what they mean interests me. Alan Moore plans his books so expertly, their has to be reasons why he uses certain symbols in his book. I think this topic would be very interesting and maybe present a different perspective that was unknown to someone while reading the book.

Essay Topic: Background Allusion

Many panels in the book have interesting backgrounds, that allude to other aspects of popular culture, literature, and many more. However, a lot of this is done so subtly that it makes it easy to overlook, and therefore easy to miss some important aspects. Do you think it was beneficial to the novel for the author to hide these, or would a more direct approach work better for the book.

Soviet Union, Anyone?

As shown in the handout you gave us in class. The book Watchmen is loaded to the brim with outside references which are essential to the full understanding of the themes in which the book brings forth. Personally, after some thought,  I feel that writing an essay on what was going on in Russia in the real world during the 80s would be rather interesting. The book changes a lot of American history, however, it does not appear to change much of what is happening in Russia during this time period (Afghanistan, etc). As a result, I feel it would be very interesting to research and learn more about what was going on in the "other" side of the cold war. Not only would this enhance our understanding of the Cold War but it would also help us understand what the numerous Soviet Union references Moore makes mean. Sure we all have a basic understanding of what was going on during the 80s in the Soviet Union, however, seeing how we have only looked at the Soviet Union through an American lens in US history it would definitely be an interesting topic to study.

Possible Essay Topic

Watchmen is full of little details that pop up subtly throughout the course of the novel and it would be very interesting to look into. I was also planning on looking into the continuity that is hidden in the background of the panels like Rorschach looking through the trash outside of the Gunga diner without his mask on. These little details are clearly meant to be there because why would they be drawn if they weren't. The little easter eggs that Alan Moore has planted throughout Watchmen would be a great topic to explore and write about.

Essay Topics

I think there would be many very good essay topics we could use from this book. One, I think you could write and entire essay on either one of Rorschach or Dr. Manhattan. There is so much to potentially delve into with either of them. Second, this is such a dark world, and I think it would be fun to make some major connections from the text into real life events that were happening at the time. Third, I think looking into the Comedian and his past and everything would be a really interesting essay topic.

Essay Topics

I believe that a good essay topic would be comparing and contrasting two or three characters and how they have evolved throughout the book and how certain big moments in the book affected each character differently. Also another topic would be comparing the backstories of each character and comparing the way that they were brought up and how they turned out due to their backstory.

Evolution of Rorschach

I think that the evolution and development of the character Rorschach throughout the story. I think this is a good topic because he comes off as a very mysterious character whom we don't know much about. I am very interested to know what happened in his child hood and why he grew up the way he did.

Essay Topic

I've been interested in the character of Rorschach throughout the entire book. I think this would be a good essay topic. Also, I think the backstory is pretty interesting. We could possibly do something about the evolution of Rorschach from when he was a child to now. Personally, I believe that Rorschach was a caring person, that just lost his sanity because of all of the people that surrounded him. Some also might argue that Rorschach is simply a black and white character and was born insane. I think this would be an interesting topic to explore, with a lot of examples to support whatever stance taken.

Essay Topics

While reading Watchmen, I came across a few ideas for essay topics that I thought would be interesting to research more. Some topics I wanted to look further into would be the Comedian, and his relationship with Laurie and Laurie's mom. I think it's important to realize how 'rape culture' has changed over the years, and our response to hearing Laurie's mom perspective. We explain her behavior as a product of her time, which would be interesting to research more on. Another topic I was interested in was Rorschach's past, and how it formed him as an adult. His background was an important context for us to realize why people are the way they are. I also am really interested by Jon, and his relationship with Laurie and Janie. How his dissconect to them both pushes him farther away from humanity.

Doctor Manhattan Essay

I think that am interesting essay to read would be one that examines Dr. Manhattan closely, from his changing view of humanity to the different abilities that we see him use over the course of the graphic novel. Dr. Manhattan is a complex character and examining him could lead to further understanding the watchman universe.

blog post about essay topic

The details in each panel-- like the jail psychiatrist's bottle of painkillers, or some of the graffiti in street scenes-- enrich and enhance the narrative. I'd like to identify several instances where background images clarify Moore's symbolic/thematic intentions or contribute to the storyline without being obvious motifs (example of what I'd like to avoid is the smiley face or the "who watches the watchmen" graffiti").

The morality of the alien attack

the question that I would like to tackle would be the morality of Viedt deciding to take the fate of the world into his hands and create an "alien" life form to unite the entire planet. Sure his plan worked but was it the right decision? Does one man have the authority to do something like this? Is killing a few to save many really a good idea?

Watchmen Essay Topic: 9/11 v. Veidt's Alien Attack

One of my ideas for an essay topic is comparing the world of Watchmen after Veidt's alien squid attacks New York with real New York City after the attacks of 9/11.  It would be really interesting because both of these attacks unified the city/country/world, but they had opposite effects in the long term.  In Watchmen, the alien attack prevented World War III and nuclear Armageddon, while 9/11 was the catalyst for our war in Iraq.

Humor and Religion As Essay Topics

While thinking about papers that I would be interested in reading, I came up with two very different concepts. The first idea I had would be an essay about the use of humor throughout the novel. This topic could be interpreted in a few different ways. First, it could be an essay written about certain extremities that made the novel comical to the writer. This would vary among each person, but is a little tough because some may not have found things comical at all. A better idea would be an essay written about how Alan Moore uses humor throughout the comic book series to lighten the mood during dark times. Whether it may be Rorschach breaking a man's hand finger by finger as if it was nothing, to actual jokes made by the characters, I think the variety would be very entertaining. My second idea of an essay topic is looking further into the use of religion throughout the book. I feel like doing further research into the various Bible references could provide more insight into the meaning of the novel. Also, I would be curious to know why Alan Moore decided to include all of the religious aspects into Watchmen. Overall, these two options are completely different but equally interesting to me!

Watchmen Essay Topic Ideas

I think it would be interesting to write a paper including ideas on how the text and the pictures in the comic allowed for a better overall understanding of the book. Additionally, I think within the paper, it would be a good idea to include a few of the references that we learned about in class. Each reference could make for an interesting paper in the way that each person interprets the reference in a different way. By doing this, it also gives the students some choice in what references they wish to expand on. I think there are some parts in the book where without the pictures, I would have been very confused about what was going on. The pictures tell their own story in a sense. Overall, I think the images and the text in Watchmen combine to create a very interesting, unique story and it would be interesting to see everyone's thoughts and reactions.

Essay Topic

After seeing the movie, I think it might be interesting to write about how Zack Snyder adapted the book into a film and the controversy surrounding it. Alan Moore has been very outspoken for his belief that Watchmen is inherently unfilmable. Attempts have been made since the graphic novel came out to make a movie directed by Terry Gilliam, but he too said that it would be impossible to make a Watchmen movie. Snyder stayed very loyal to the book with a slight alternate ending. I don't think anyone says the film is superior to the book, but people who view the film highly praise Snyder for creating a great superhero movie in the realm of The Dark Knight, but its detractors are also adamant that the intricacies and incredibly complex nature of Watchmen simply cannot translate to the screen and it is not even worth trying.

Essay Ideas

One obvious essay that comes to mind when thinking about Watchmen is the smiley face. A yellow smiley face with a blood streak across one eye. It's the heart of the story, the symbol of the comedian and what the story begins with. That same smiley face appears in many different places throughout the novel but different forms of that smiley face are spread throughout the novel as well. Many people have different views of what it means and why Alan Moore did it. Also tracing it from the beginning to the end would be pretty cool.
Rorschach's double identity; how his childhood effected his growth and actions as he grew older. Did things change, is he still the same person inside and what's the defining line between Knovac and Rorschach. Talking about Rorschach and his identities, an essay could be written about his different masks that he wears and what we see in them at the time and place in which he was wearing them. How those masks relate to the events occurring and his attitude.
The other topic that stands out to me is Vedit, I feel as if there is so much more about him that we don't know, and would be very interesting to learn. His name and things related to him appear quite a bit as the story goes on but he is never straight up talked about like Dr. Manhattan and Rorschach so it would be nice to get to know him a little better as well.

Watchmen Essay Topic

One essay idea that I had, and I would like to write about, is the significance of the imagery that appears in the background of Watchmen. Things like graffiti, newspaper headlines, posters, and advertisements all have deep meaning in Watchmen and I feel like it would be fun to go and dive into some of the deeper meanings behind the things that might not seem so significant at first. It will also open up the reader's eyes in regards to the immense detail hidden in watchmen. I would also like to do research and write about the meanings behind some of the quotes at the end of each book. Like the background imagery, these quotes seem strange and random at first but as you dive deeper have significant meaning and actually draw many connections to the book.

Watchmen Essay Ideas

One of my essay ideas about Watchmen is the topic of the comedians smilie face and the repetition of it throughout the book. The face shows up in the panels so often that I am curious to why Alan Moore did this and what peoples points of view are on it.
In class discussions we always pointed out the faces however we never discussed its meaning or why Alan Moore kept returning back to the comedian. I think that this could be a hard topic to write about however I think it would be very interesting to see peoples view on it.
My other essay topic idea is the constant reference of religion in the book, especially towards the end when the boat blows up as well as Dr. Manhattan and him being the Godly figure in the book. There are also plenty of bible verses that are quoted at the end of each chapter which can also be discussed in an essay as well.

Watchmen Essay Topic

I think it would be interesting to read an essay describing the world after Rorschach's journal has been published by The New Frontiersman and the possible outcomes of exposing the world to the truth that Veidt engineered the killing of over half of New York City. I also think it would be interesting to explore the possibilities of what would have happened if Rorschach had not been killed by Dr. Manhattan and instead began planning to bring Veidt to justice.

Watchman Essay Topic Ideas

One essay idea I've had would be to explore and try to prove how Mars represents heaven, New York City represents Earth, and Antartica is hell. I think it would be really interesting to talk about why and how each place represents these biblical spaces, and how they function as such in the story. This topic would be really interesting to read about, but also to write about so I'm claiming that as mine.

I also think it would be hard but really thought provoking to write about the moral implications of what Veidt did. The essay could support his actions and prove why they're just, or the essay could prove why his actions were wrong and what should happen to Veidt in the aftermath (i.e. should he get punished?). I think that would be pretty hard, but it would be really interesting to read.

Possible Essay Topic

I think it would be interesting to write an essay about Dr. Manhattan specifically. I think it will be fun to explore his effect on the world he lives in. The ideal topic for my essay would be if I could discuss what could happen if Rorschach's journal was published and the truth was revealed. I would like to explore the possible outcomes in the world post destruction of New York City and whether or not the world would believe him and how they would treat Veidt following the revelation of the information. (I would hope there would be some consequence for his actions.) Maybe there would be some sort of punishment or maybe no one would believe Rorschach at all. I would love to explore each of these scenarios in my essay. As I think about it now, I'm deciding that I want to claim this topic now.

John's Selfishness

In Chapter IX, we saw John turn a complete blind eye to everything that he had back at home. He had the woman that he apparently loved for years, crying and begging him to help his home. Since the accident, John has become so disconnected from everything that he once knew. He left his first wife because she was becoming too old, and chased after a girl that was much younger than he. Reading the chapter, all I was thinking was, does this guy not remember anything from before the accident? Is he really that selfish to leave everyone that he once loved? Then, I came up with the answer. He never actually loved anyone. His relationship with Laurie was solely for himself. Sure, he has provided the world with unlimited power, and this could considered pretty selfless. However, what's to say that he didn't know what the outcome of this intervention would be? By the end of the chapter, however, I think John finally realized the extent of what was going on. I think he finally started to remember the person he was before the accident. I don't, however, want to come to a conclusion on John right now because he could end up going back to his selfish ways at the end of the book.

Chapter 9

Reading the conversion between Jon and Laurie on Mars during chapter 9 made it seem very different from the rest of the book. Rorshach's "Never Give Up" attitude is seemly crushed from the beginning, when Jon explains the futility of human existence in the book. The fact that everything that happened is seemingly predetermined is different from that of the chapters before, when Laurie and The Nite Owl make a huge effort to break Rorshach out of prison. Though Jon's perspective eventually changes near the end, I wanted to comment on an interesting turn that the book takes.

John disconnect from human life.

As John said earlier in the book about Sally, she was the only thing keeping him connected to reality. How does his time on earth as a human mean nothing to him? Although it was an accident and he probably should be dead, why would he not want to help the people he was born around. If human life was so meaningless to him why would he help the United States fight a war against the vietnamese? It was the interview on national television that changed his opinion. While he is not human, I see that he still has human emotions and that is why Sally Jupiter is able to convince him to not let earth get destroyed.

The Night Owl

Throughout chapter eight you see the return of the night owl and his newly found friend Laurie. The Night Owl/Dan and Laurie are able to save people from a burning building and the break rorschach out of prison. During this chapter the retired version of the Night Owl or Hollis Mason makes a surprise phone call to an old friend Sally Jupiter. They seemed to pick up right where they left off. Dan seems to become more and more worried about the, "masked murderer". Do you think that rorschach is getting to Dan and will continue to do so in the last couple of chapters? Will Jon come back to earth to help? Will Laurie stay with Dan or go back to Jon? So many questions that need to be answered in the last couple of chapters. Can you anticipate what's going to happen?

Rorschach

Rorschach is a sick, twisted man who we as readers sympathize with, but the Comedian is of the same psychotic level, and we hate him. Besides for killing innocent people, the Comedian is the same as Rorschach. What makes a reader like Rorschach? Is it that he was introduced first? Readers have more story on Rorschach? What if the story was around the Comedian, would we feel the opposite to both characters?

The man behind the mask

Rorschach is a product of his circumstances, without his past he wouldn't have such a cynical outlook on the future. In chapter 6 we learn a lot about Rorschach and Kovac's past, and none of it paints humanity in an appealing light, in fact it is such a negative view that he convinces Mal, the psychiatrist, of his world view. This makes me wonder how Kovac would have turned out under different circumstances.  What would Rorschach be like if he went to academy? Would he have the same world view?

Only Us

On page 26 of chapter 6 in Watchmen, we see the dress-makers warehouse consumed in flames and smoke over the course of three panels. Over these panels, the clearly identifiable mannequin is distorted and then lost completely in the fire and smoke. The lines are blurred and leveled until there is no evidence that a mannequin once stood there. While this is going on, Rorschach is explaining how "God was not there. The cold suffocating dark goes on forever and we are alone."He continues these nihilist ideas on the fourth panel of the page when he says, "Existence is random. Has no pattern save what we imagine after staring too long." Also on this fourth panel is a Rorschach blot that looks like the smoke we just saw, or does it? If we had not just saw the horrific scene we had, would anyone have looked at that ink blot and seen fire and smoke? I doubt it. I believe that this panel explains Rorschach's outlook on life. We project our previous experiences and beliefs onto blank, vague, or random things. Before we know someone, before we recognize their face, that face is a blank slate. Rorschach believes that people are evil because he does not know most people, so when he looks at them, he can only project the villains and delinquents that he sees every day. I am not trying to argue that this view is right or even justifiable, but I am arguing that given rorschach's past, his views are understandable

blog post about rorschach

I initially felt betrayed when Rorschach was unmasked. It felt out of place because, unlike the other living characters, he had not ceased his vigilante activites and took a much less human approach to the world: he was more easily identifiable as a "superhero" because of the lack of break in his character and his two dimensionality. Feeling uncomfortable when Walter Kovacks didn't match the expectations I had developed for the character-- even the height--meant I had forgotten the comic's purpose was deconstruction of the hero and bought too much into the persona.

The misunderstood psychiatrist???

Rorschach doesn't seem like the man that will ask you about your feelings and listen to your problems. So why has Alan Moore given him the mask of "The Rorschach test"?  This test uses Ink blots to determine their personality characteristics of a person. What a person sees in these ink blots help determine their characteristics. In each panel of Watchmen, Rorschach has a different pattern of ink blot. Rorschach is black and white dealing with justice, just like the ink blots. It seems like as soon as he meets someone, he knows there deep thinking and personality. As soon as they look at his mask, Rorschach knows who they are as a person. Another reason for the ink mask might be

the fact that Rorschach is such a complex character that no one knows his personality characteristics.

The line between Kovacs and Rorshach

In the middle of chapter six, Walter talked about the differences between Rorshach and his other identity. He described Kovacs as the man in the mask who fought along the other heroes with the rest of the Watchmen, but claimed him to be a soft. At that point in time Rorshach didn't feel as powerless so his mentality wasn't as radical. He had other people to keep him from his own insanity. When the watchmen dispersed Kovacs claimed he became Rorshach, the alternate, more ruthless identity that would cross the line. The troubled childhood of Rorshach also played a big on his transformation. His mother was a whore, and he was abused by her in one flashback. Skip ahead and he got into a conflict with some bullies who called his mom a whore. After being stopped by adults, Kovacs flashed back and these events scarred him. By putting on a mask and concealing his identity it gave Kovacs a feeling of power.

Mal's (Inevitably) Failed Attempt to Fix Rorschach

In Chapter VI, the character Mal is introduced and he takes a vested interest in Rorschach. He tries to fix Rorschach, and reiterates that he is doing it because he generally cares about Rorschach. I believe that this course of action was doomed from the start. We don't know what Mal's backstory is, but judging from the darkness of chapter VI it's unlikely that it was even remotely close to the brutality of Rorschach's past. Rorschach has never really been given an opportunity to be a good person in this society. I believe that he has had good intentions. Examples are when he walks in on his mother sleeping with a man thinking she was being hurt, and also trying to save the little girl. Of course, when he tries to save the girl he brutally murders two dogs and a man. However, I believe this is because all his life, all he has known is violence. Even when he's trying to do the right thing, his evilness comes out of him. I believe this is why Mal's advance on Rorschach was doomed from the start. There's really no getting through to Rorschach because the people that have surrounded him his whole life have made him crazy.

Dialogue Bubbles in Watchmen

As we have learned in class, Alan Moore put a significant amount of detail into every single panel on every single page. Having given Dave Gibbons multiple pages of instructions on how he wanted one single panel to be, they are all uniquely presented. One thing that I have found to be particularly interesting in each of the panels is how the dialogue bubbles are placed. Just the simple placement of these bubbles has the power to send off completely different vibes. For instance, as Rorschach was walking through the jail, all of the hollering and yelling made him think back to what it was like as a child. The dialogue bubbles were purposely placed on top of each other, sometimes even covering some of the words that were being said. This created a chaotic sense, and personally made me feel slightly overwhelmed, as Rorschach obviously would have. Finally learning the story behind Rorschach was extremely insightful. Although it was very dark, it made clear why Rorschach has such a harsh view on the world. He saw his mother getting paid to sleep with another man, was under constant attack by his peers, and was extremely conscientious of all of the terror that occurred around him such as the kidnapping and the Kitty Genovese case. After having read this chapter, not only am I more aware of the importance of the structural components to this story but also of the deep thought gone into the creation of each character. 

Who is Rorschach?

In the last couple of chapters we have learned more about Rorschach's motives and history. The fact that he was the man with the end is nigh sign took me completely by surprise. Although now that I know he is that man it seems fairly obvious in the rest of the book for example the funeral of the comedian. Rorschach isn't there but the end is nigh man is. This gives Rorschach a strategic view of the street next to the Gunga diner.
Once Rorschach is in prison we learn about his troubled home life and how he was abused as a child. This shows his motives for when in his words he"Became Rorschach". When he found a man had kidnapped a child, killed her, dismembered her and fed her to his dogs he snapped. He realized how awful human beings can be to one another. He ends up giving the man the option of cutting off his own hand or burning to death and the man does die. That was a very powerful example and look inside Rorschach s head. He sees people as awful to one an other, this must contribute to his black and white definition of good and bad. If you break the law in anyway then you are bad even if you have medicine for cancer and you don't have a prescription for it. Does his black and white definition of good and bad come solely from his abusive childhood? If not where does his idea of good and bad originate from? Rorschach is still a mystery to the reader, but less of one now.

Rorschach's Life and Views

It is obvious that Rorschach is a very dark and twisted character but as odd as it might seem, I can see why he has grown to hold the beliefs he does and why he acts the way he does. If you have read chapter VI, where Rorschach is interviewed in the prison by Mal and goes on to tell the story of his life, it's obvious that his life has never been easy. From the start he had no father, since his dad left before he,Walter, was born. Then his mother was a prostitute who hated and cursed him. Following that he was left in a foster home and throughout this whole time he was never loved, instead insulted and made fun of all the time. Walter did not like to let out his feelings and would fight when he got angry. I believe he was so fed up with his life and everyone around him that the case of Kitty Genovese was the tipping point for him, it made him loose faith. It seems that he felt there were no good people left, and if there was any good ones they weren't going to do anything to make a change. So he felt obligated to make a difference and do the right thing. Doing this seemed to help him get over this past and make a new outlook on life. Going back to interviews Walter goes through, it's easy to see that he is not insane, he gives the answers he knows Mal, and everyone else wants to hear but that is not the way he really sees the world. The events throughout his life made him twisted and that's how he is now. What do you guys think? Also if anyone read the New York Police Department report psychiatric summaries at the end of six, about Rorschach, I thought they were really interesting?

Rorschach's True Identity Revealed

Throughout the book so far (Chapters 1-5), it has been made fairly obvious that the man holding “the end is nigh” sign must have some significance in the book since he keeps appearing over and over again. When Rorschach was revealed to be that guy, it took me by a huge surprise. I never expected him to be Rorschach but after his true identity was revealed, it seemed pretty obvious that they were the same person. For example, when Rorschach goes to visit Moloch, he tells him to leave him a note in the trashcan opposite the Gunga Diner if he thinks of something. A few pages after that, we see Rorschach sitting in the diner watching the trashcan. Later in the chapter, we see “the end is nigh” sign by the trashcan with the guy digging through it. I think there is an extreme difference between the two characters, even though they are the same person. Throughout the novel we see Rorschach as a pretty dark character with a bleak view of the future, but not to the extent of the guy holding the sign. He seems to be in a constant state of paranoia when he’s not behind the Rorschach mask, but when he puts it on, his attitude completely changes. Now that we know Rorschach’s true identity, what impact do you think it will have on the story?

Could Rorschach be 'Jigsaw' of the 1960's?

We all know that Rorschach is extremely dark, and a sketchy guy. His views on the world can be viewed as 'twisted' and were formed by his horrific experiences growing up, as well as the kidnapping case. Similarly, Jigsaw, from the Saw movies, was known for his incrediblly dark outlook on humanity, and demonstrated his views through torture of random citizens. Though Rorschach is more interested in justice for the guilty, than the innocent, I was reminded a lot of Jigsaw while reading book 5 in Watchmen. Things Rorschach said while talking to Malcolm Long reminded me a great deal of Jigsaw's outlook. "This Rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not Fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It's us. Only us." (Book 5, Page 26, Panel 5.) Rorschach is explaining to Long that the problem is us, and only us. Likewise, Jigsaw's views on humanity is that too many people take life for granted. Therefore he 'punishes' them for it as if it was some sort of game. Jigsaw doesn't just kill the victim, but leaves the victim in an almost impossible scenario out of the punishment, and is most likely not accomplished. Rorschach did something similar to the man who kidnapped the six year old girl. He put the man in handcuffs, gave him his own saw, and lit the house on fire with kerosene. As if he 'gave' him a way out, but was almost impossible to get out. Though Jigsaw's purposes was strictly for torturing the innocent, and Rorschach's torture was for justice, the method was similar. Do you think Rorschach and Jigsaw are at all similar?