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.
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I do not believe that his black and white idea of the world comes solely from his abusive childhood, but instead like the comedian he just uses this to justify his actions and continue on with life. Although I do believe that his childhood, and the Kitty Genovese case contribute to his messed up view of the world, because these are terrible this thats happened in his world. I believe that he does not know what else to believe other then some people are good and some are bad there is no in between, even though some of his bad guys have similar characteristics that he sees in the people he thinks are good.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Maddie. In addition, I think that after being Rorschach for so long and doing his best to rid the city of evils, his view of the world has become even more black and white. After years of this it only makes sense that he believes that people can be either good or bad. Otherwise he may start to question what he's been doing for years, and that probably wouldn't be good for his sanity (or what's left of it). I think the black-or-white, good-or-bad view of the world Rorschach clearly has is necessary for him to do what he does and to do so with a clear conscience.
DeleteThrough his investigations and his childhood, Rorschach sees a lot of messed up people and things. He has a hard time of justifying to himself why these things happen to him and other innocent people. Rorschach than turns to this "black and white" view of good and evil to justify the actions of these evil people. He than uses this view of the world to justify his own brutal actions.
ReplyDeleteGoing along with what Anthony said, he deals with a lot of dark things and it seems like it is hard for him to change his black and white view on some one or something. Because he is used to seeing the darkest things that mankind can come up with, it seems like it would be very difficult to see him change his mind about the morality of mankind.
ReplyDeleteIn an earlier post, I said that Rorschach's behavior can not only be classified as a black and white view of the world, but as a form of ambiguity for the audience. As the story continues however, I see myself straying away from this definition. Rorschach's actions seem more defined as to their purpose as we learn more about his back story. The reader sees less and less ambiguity with the more we know about Rorschach.
ReplyDeleteRorcshach/Kovacs view on the world was, as Sean said, previously ambiguous to the audience. This chapter explains a lot about Rorschach's actions, and it was largely due to his understanding of how awful human beings are to eachother and how that turned him into the vigilante Rorschach, who is so black or white, right or wrong, on any offense. The reader understands it a little better.
ReplyDeleteRorschachs character to me is the most intriguing. The Watchmen is a fictitious world created by Alan Moore and Rorschach is the baby of this world. Watchmen highlights everything wrong with humanity and Rorschach is the character within the story that kind of embodies that. Rorschach strives for an ideal that most superheroes are held to, but he himself cannot save his own humanity when combating the evils of his world.
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