Sunday, April 5, 2015
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?
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I imagine the story will change a lot from here, at least Rorschach's portion of it. Now we know who Rorschach is, but in addition to that, he's no longer roaming the streets. The only way we've seen Rorschach is as a masked man trying to serve up justice in his own way. I'm interested to see what will happen with his character now that he's Walter Kovacs and no longer Rorschach, at least not for now.
ReplyDeleteFor me, I think it will change my view on Rorschach. For some reason, I never thought that we would actually see Rorschachs face so when he was revealed, it took me by surprise. I never really felt as though I had to see Rorschachs face in order to understand his character. Currently, I am having a hard time putting the two faces together however in the next chapters I think more will come together. I am also interested in looking back into the earlier chapters in order to pay closer attention to the Rorschach without a mask to see if Allan Moore gave us more clues.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the story will change drastically, but I think Rorschach's effect on the story will change since we're now seeing him as an unmasked Walter Kovacs. When we are viewing the story from Walter's point of view, we get a look inside his mind where it's clear how bleak his view of humanity is. I really enjoyed reading this chapter because I think Rorschach is the most complex character in Watchmen, and I don't mind if the story's changes from here on as long as it involves Rorschach or Walter.
ReplyDeleteKnowing the identity of Rorschach is not going to change how I read the story but rather how I view Rorschach as a character. I've always thought of Rorschach as this angry character that has no real regard for the law when it comes to enforcing it, but now I see him as more of a depressing character than anything. Rorschach doesn't just see humanity as those who break the law and those that don't. He sees humanity as doomed because of those who break the law. He doesn't think that there's any way to save humanity. He's just conceded to the inevitable.
ReplyDeleteBefore finding out about Rorschach's past, I had been very astonished and almost angered at his dark and depressing view of the world and society's problems. I was never able to relate to a character who defeated evil in such a serious and unnecessarily grim way, and took pleasure in doing so. I was never able to pick up on his pain nor his disproportional discomfort with crime in comparison to the other superheroes in this story. After reading this chapter, I felt very sympathetic towards Rorschach and actually began to understand his black and white view on life. Of all the characters there is a peculiar comfort in knowing that Rorschach has such a constant stance on good and evil.
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