Watchmen Chapter 12 By: Abilash & Deanna

Summary

This chapter starts by showing Dr. Manhattan and Laurie touring the devastation of New York City caused by Ozymandias' teleported alien. When Laurie can't take it anymore Dr. Manhattan teleports them to the South Pole to follow a trail of tachyons that he senses will lead them to the source of the devastation. Meanwhile Ozymandias is explaining in detail to Rorschach and Night Owl that he was the one who caused the disaster. Ozymandias explains that in order to save humanity from self-destruction he created an alien monster by cloning the brain of a powerful psychic, and had it genetically engineered to be much bigger and more powerful. He programmed horrifying images of aliens into the brain, so that the metal transmission given off after its death would force all the people who survived the initial attack to unit in fear. After seeing all the news stations covering this disaster, Ozymandias revels in 'victory'. He then convinces the others that exposing him as the cause of the disaster would push humanity back into its path of self-destruction. Everyone except Rorschach agrees to keep it a secret which causes Dr. Manhattan to kill him. After that Laurie and Dan create new identities and visit Laurie's mom. She tells her that she knows who her real father is, but she understands why she did it and she isn’t mad. Rorschach's journal is also possibly picked up to be read by the newspaper he sent it to.

Character Analysis

He is a well-rounded person, he is the smartest person in the world, very athletic, and also a successful business man. He lied about how smart he was throughout his childhood, getting only averages grades so that his teacher didn’t think he was cheating. He inherited his family’s fortune at the age of 17 after his parents suddenly died in a car accident. He gave it all away to charity to prove he could become successful on his own. He travelled through the Mediterranean, following in his idols – Alexander the Great’s- footsteps. Once he returned to the United States he became a successful businessman. He is shown to be a ruthless and master strategist, and in this chapter you see this side of him and find out that he is cause of half of New York being dead.

Page Analysis

The page that stuck out the most for us would be page 6. Since up till now, they hadn’t fully shown what the monster actually looked like. And Dave Gibbons did a fantastic job of really making the monster look disgusting. As well as there’s also a lot of hidden symbols within the panel. Like the “War?” newspapers, referring to possible wars that may be coming even after the alien attack. As well as on the side of the News building there is another War sign of a GWAR sign that’s missing the G. Another Ironic symbol is the Tales of the Black Freighter book flying in the wind, and we can see the back cover of it. And it says “The Veidt Method”, “I will give you bodies beyond your wildest imaginings”. What’s meant to be a body building sort of ad is into a quite literal meaning of bodies everywhere. As well as the OR ALL DIE on the building underneath the monster. And of course the 5 Minutes till midnight, smiley button on the ground with the blood splatter. Another thing we noticed was that the colours were all different shades of purple mixed in with other colours, not only just in this panel but the whole issue goes on like this. As well as if you look at some of the other pages in this chapter you’ll see that purple is a repeated colour. We think it may be symbolizing Ozymandias as a prominent character in this chapter as purple is a colour he’s often associated with, and is also the colour he usually dresses in. So, Dave Gibbon’s attention to detail and great illustrations, with all the different messages that’s been put in, make this a significant and very interesting stand out page in the book.

Themes

Fear

Fear has always been a big part of the watchmen. There’s fear everywhere for the citizens of Manhattan, the fear of crime, fear of getting robbed or raped. Fear of even getting shot. All these different things that’s putting fear into the citizens mind all surrounded by this great fear of an inevitable apocalypse. Then finally in chapter 12 Armageddon arrives for Manhattan, and all the fear they had leading up to this finally came true. After the tragedy in Manhattan the whole world learns of the alien attack that killed the entire city, and brought up new fear for everyone else about a possible follow up attack. But, not only do we see the people in fear, but some of the superheroes also experience fear throughout the issue. This is why this comic is so realistic because they feel the same feelings and emotions the people are feeling too. So, one of the first superheroes we see fear from right away is Laurie Jupiter. She had earlier gone to mars and after extensive convincing, finally got Dr. Manhattan to agree to come back to earth to protect America. But by the time she returns, her fears of the apocalypse she tried to stop suddenly become reality. The next character we see that expresses fear is Nite Owl, when Veidt is telling Rorschach and Nite Owl, he gets shocked and fearful of the idea. So, he tries forcing himself to not believe veidt, and just denying anything veidt says about the plan. This was not really something new for Dan to act like. Throughout the comic we see various scenarios of where Dan gets fearful and nervous, from the time Rorschach pays him a visit to him being skeptical about patrolling the streets again. Another character who was fearful was Ozymandias; he was scared that Dr. Manhattan would stop him from going through with his plan and killing him. And is why he created that machine that scrambles all the body’s particles and atoms, and tried to kill Dr. Manhattan with it. Now, ozymandias loved fear. It’s what he wanted to achieve with his elaborate plan, a fearful planet that will unite just with the simple sense of fear.

Unity & Love

Another theme that was found in this issue was unity and love. Leading up to this issue and the tragedy, people were starting to show signs of compassion, helping each other out, trying to be friendlier. Even old friends/mates began to reconnect like Rorschach and Nite owl and Dr. Manhattan and Laurie. But, as soon as the attack happened everyone became that much closer. The whole world began to end the wars and hate they had against each other in order to support each other from the common enemy. And the people really began to appreciate their lives more and began to really love one another. A good example of this would be Laurie. After the attack she was so thankful for her being alive, and realized how much she really had in life. She continued her relationship with Dan, and they retired from being superheroes and began to live their lives with each other. And Laurie also came around to forgive her mother, when at first she was so furious at her for not telling her who her real father was making her feel as if she got played her whole life. But, once she recovered her compassion and love she really appreciated her mom for everything she’s done for her. Even with the insane plan of Adrian veidt’s it’s exactly what he wanted the world to be like. Regardless of the negatives that came with the plan it did in fact work and created a loving united world.

Symbols

Clock (At Midnight)

The clock set at midnight is an obvious one. Basically meaning that the apocalypse that’s been counting down over the last couple of chapters has finally happened.

Floating Ticket (G-3265)

When you first look at it, it just seems like an ordinary movie ticket. But, after further research we came to realize that the ticket number 3265 actually stood for a date.  March 2^nd, 1965. It was the day Operation Rolling Thunder commenced, a military operation in which the US dropped countless amounts of bombs and gas all over North Korea. For which the US justifies as an attempt to save North Korea from the communists by weakening their military, with the use of more than double the amount of bombs used by all countries in WWII combined. Similarly relating to Ozymandias plan of using a nuclear explosion on Manhattan to destroy the whole city, at an attempt of unifying the world. Two different intentions but same methods. This ticket may also be referring to something that may be approaching, possibly another war.

Kristallnacht / Krystalnacht

Another interesting war related reference is the board outside the Madison Square Garden that says Krystalnacht. Or also known as the “Night of Broken Glass” which many believe was the start of the Nazi’s brutality and capture of innocent Jews. On that day the property of the Jews including shops, houses, books, clothes, and more were all destroyed and burned by the NAZI’s, NAZI followers, and also even fellow Germans. This whole tragedy okayed by Hitler beforehand. This event like Operation Rolling Thunder both relate to Ozymandias’ plan of making the world a better place by making some sacrifices. But, in all cases the overall outcome was and will be not leading to success. It may temporarily, but not for the long run.

Hiroshima Lovers & Dan and Laurie

The shadow imprinted on the wall that we’ve seen over and over again comes into this issue as well. But, now we can relate it to something else. The shadow of the Hiroshima lover’s looks very similar to the shadow Dan & Laurie make by the pool. Perhaps relating back to the make love not war theme that’s been coming up a lot and it can also symbolize the last surviving good superheroes. Since the rest are either dead, left the galaxy or turned evil. It leaves Dan & Laurie the only ones to make it out alive and be able to live their lives. Together as a couple like the Hiroshima’s.

Clock (5 Minutes Till Midnight) – Button with Blood & Dr. Manhattan’s Arms

Another very interesting symbol is the 5 minutes to midnight clock. Now, it was quite usual in the previous chapters for it to be there. But, in the 12^th issue it’s quite strange since it’s already supposed to be 12 o’ clock. At first we were confused at the importance of his awkward posture but after looking into it you can tell he makes clock, that’s five minutes to midnight. So, it was still confusing as to why its 5 minutes till midnight again. But, then Dr. Manhattan’s quote from page 27 pretty much sums it up. So, when Veidt asks Dr. Manhattan if he did the right thing, and how it all worked out in the end. Then Dr. Manhattan replies, “In the end?”, “Nothing Ends Adrian. Nothing Ever Ends.”So we can tell from this that all the effort that Veidt put into to this elaborate plan was pointless since it didn’t really didn’t change much but just postpone the inevitable, of the world going into nuclear war.

Real Life Relation

One real life relation to this would be a 9/11 conspiracy. After 9/11 people started to be suspicious about George Bush the president at the time. After the speech he gave to the nation, it sprouted much controversy as to if he was in fact really behind of this tragedy or knew something about it a head of time. There are several controversies as to what actually happened but there’s one in particular that either George Bush had planned it or knew knowledge of the attack a head of time and chose to do nothing. Why? To gain exactly what Ozymandias wanted to attain of the world. Many believe he planned it to bring the country together as a result of fear. But, his main intentions were a bit different from Adrian Veidt’s. His intentions were supposedly to use the fear to not only unite them, but also use the fear to their advantage. As we know governments love big tragedies, as they use the fear surrounding it to do whatever they please as long as they say it’s for the supposed safety or the well being of the country. At that time Bush used the attack as motive to attack Afghanistan, Iraq, and other Middle Eastern countries for what he says is retaliation and preventing further attacks. But, his real motive was to get his hands on the oil in those countries. Similarly to know how they’re using the Boston Bombings to invade the online privacy of innocent citizens. So, there are several leaders in real life who use fear or a common enemy to their advantage to do whatever they please.

Link To Our Chapter 12 Seminar (Prezi) 

http://prezi.com/w0plpvda_h7w/watchmen-chapter-12-seminar-by-deanna-abilash/?kw=view-w0plpvda_h7w&rc=ref-15809632

Watchmen Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Summary
The chapter first starts out with President Nixon and Vice-president Ford arriving on what seems to be a military base. They’re then taken to another complex by helicopter which they head underground. It can also be seen that Nixon has something handcuffed to his hand, which would be presumable nuclear codes. Nixon is briefed on the growing situation in the world and decides to stay at defcon two and wait cautiously.

The chapter then moves towards Rorschach and Night Owl(Daniel Dreiberg) where they are in cognito due to them being wanted. They head to Rorschach’s place to pick up his spare uniform and other belongings. They then encounter Ms.Sharp which Rorschach confronts about her lying to the press about him making sexual advances towards her. But eventually decides to leave her alone.

Then we cut to Adrien Veidt who arrives at one of his retreats in Antarctica. He talks to his associates about some delivery and they inform him that it has been successful. He then watches multiple monitors and claims they would be an inevitable war.

Rorschach and Night Owl then start talking about their investigation and connecting points when Night Owl gets offended by Rorschach calling him lazy and starts to rant at him. Ultimately Rorschach apologizes and call Daniel a good friend. They then decide to head to Happy Harry’s gain some information.

Then we cut back to tales of the black freighter, where the man finally arrives inland. He then finds out that his town, Davidstown, has been overrun and everyone has been slaughtered including his family. He then sees a man and women on horses which he speculates if they collaborated with the pirates being that they are alive. The two then discover the raft. He then proceeds to kill the man with a rock and then strangles the women. He then puts the dead woman on a horse and gets on the other horse and starts riding to confront the pirates.

We head back to Rorschach and Night Owl who arrive at the bar. Rorschach then gives his full attention to this one man and goes back to his old antics. He then gains information that the hit was orchestrated by pyramid deliveries. Daniel then notices a fidgety man and finds out that Hollis Mason was murdered which both saddens and infuriates Daniel. Rorschach and Night Owl then leave the bar with information they aquired.

The two of them then head towards Veidt’s office to talk to him about who tried to assassinate him. In the next scene we come back to the ship that is about to set sail to film a secret movie. But then suddenly it explodes. Rorschach and Night Owl then arrive at Veidts office finding out that Veidt was not there. Night Owl then hacks into the computer and finds out that Veidt was the one behind everything. They then head towards Karnak, Veidts retreat. Due to bad winds in Antarctica archie crashes and both Rorschach and Night Owl decide to ride hover bikes the rest of the way, all the while Adrian Veidt watches them with his surveillance system.

Who was involved?

The main two individuals who were involved were Rorschach and Night Owl. The Chapter was mainly focusing on these two former partners getting back together and trying to solve this investigation, and as you can see in this chapter them working together is extremely efficient. The other person this chapter gives attention to is Ozymandias(Adrian Veidt). Throughout the chapter his role seems to be investigating like Rorschach and Night Owl, but at the end he seems to have his hand in the cookie jar.

Future Events

This chapter creates a lot of speculation for those who read about what next is going to happen. The first thing in this chapter is the President is going in a underground bunker based on increased escalation from the Soviets. This just leads someone to believe that a war is going to happen and is inevitable. Even Night Owl when he is with Rorschach shows extreme concern about a possible world war three which could happen in a week. The next main thing that leads people to predict possible future outcomes from this chapter is a possible confrontation between Rorschach and Night Owl towards Adrien Veidt, especially when he is watching them with surveillance cameras when they’re heading towards him.

Character Analysis

1. The character that I chose is Adrian Veidt, his super hero name is Ozymandiaz. 

2. He was not exposed too much so far in the book like other characters, but this chapter is basically about Adrian’s plans for the future and teamwork of Rorschach and Nite Owl.

3. Adrian Veidt’s costume is metallic molded body armor, because his inspiration is Alexander the great. He also wears a purple cape and a headpiece around the back of his head like a warrior. In Egypt, he realized that Alexander the Great was a pale imitation of Ramesses II, then Ramesses became Veidt's new hero.

4. He is known as the smartest man on earth. When he was a child, his parents told him to pass with ordinary marks to hide his super intelligence from the rest of the world.

5. As the smartest man, he was also the best strategist. He debuted in early 1958 by exposing a drug ring in New York City using his smart strategies.

6. Amazing athlete and martial artist.

7. Adrian has the best memory and capacity to absorb information real quick. When he reaches Antarctica, he orders to turn on all the channels together and sits in front of all the TV’s at a time to quickly get updated. His photographic memory helps him to remember all the information simultaneously. 

8. Though he was shown as a protagonist throughout the book, soon he will be confronted by Nite Owl and Rorschach as they check his office documents.

9. Though Adrian gave away the inheritance of his parents to charity, but the greediness for more money and total control makes him a changed man.

10. He got bored with the regular cats of this world, so he genetically engineered Bubastis, a bigger female genetically-engineered red and black-striped lynx created as an experiment. This was his sole companion in karnik.

Page Analysis

- Uses parallel action

- Uses a lower camera angle view to highlight the concept

- First image shows current time, and the second image shows Black freighters story.

- The setting of current time is the newspaper stand, and the setting in the Black freighter is when the main character plots to commit the two murders.

- Both of the actions use different colors to demonstrate different things.

- Both actions represent a chaotic environment

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Key Themes

Anger- In this chapter this theme is mainly focused on Night Owl. The first instance of this when he shows real emotion is when he finds out that Hollis Mason was murdered and also when showing frustration towards Rorschach.

Fear-This theme is relevant thorough the entire book, but it intensifies through this chapter. there is built up fear of a possible nuclear war. I believe we first realize how serious this is is when the U.S president goes underground for his own protection. With the citizens, there is a understanding  of how the situation is escalating and a growing fear of the destruction if the planet. Even the masked adventurers especially Night Owl show extreme concern about a possible war.

Revenge- This theme is mainly towards the main character of tales of the black freighter  This could be seen when the man and the women from his town because he simply speculates that they had some involvement in the slaughter of Davidstown  His journey doesn't end there but moves forward to simply have his revenge on the pirates. Also this theme could also be seen with Rorschach. When Ms. Sharp said he made sexual advances towards her he felt that he had to avenge his reputation, but again decides to leave her alone.   

Symbols

Rorschach's Mask

In this chapter I believe  that Rorschach's mask is an important symbol. His mask symbolizes who he is. Even though Walter Kovac's and Rorschach's identities are identical, I believe that Walter Kovac believes he can't be Rorschach without the mask, and without it he would be seen as someone else.

  

Main character from tales of the black freighter

Another symbol we believed was in this chapter was the main character from tales of the black freighter  I believe whatever is happening in this mini comic, it represents what is happening in the chapter. I believe in this chapter that he represent a growing sense of escalation. Especially when he rides to confront the pirates you feel like the climax of the book is coming soon.

Chapter I

A clear summary of the chapter itself:

What Happened?:


 The first chapter starts off with Rorschach Journal which takes place in October 12, 1985. It begins by revealing blood all over a street in New York City with a smiley face button, which gives the readers an idea about something violent that occurred. As readers continue to flip through the pages, the incident unravels itself by having two detectives investigating on the crime scene. During their investigation, the two detectives come to a conclusion that the body of the victim known as Edward Blake,was thrown out of his apartment window. This was proven in page 3, when one of the detectives assumed the victim tripped out of the window, and the other detective says “ Forget it, that’s strong glass, man. You trip against it, even a big guy like that, they don’t break. I think you have to be thrown.” As the detectives were in investigation, Allan Moore and David Gibbons decided to show a flashback of the murder in every other panel to give an image in the reader’s mind.

 Later on the night, when the two detectives depart from Blake’s apartment, Rorschach, the chapter’s main character, gets introduced as an aggressive and non-heroic detective. Rorschach curiosity leads him to learn that Edward Blake was a comedian, and an ex- adventurer based on his costume  and goes on a hunt to find out more about Blake’s death. During this process, Rorschach visits several new characters in different locations to look for clues. For example, he visited Dannie’s apartment, where they meet awkwardly with surprise. This is shown as Dannie enters his apartment, and sees Rorschach unexpectedly eating his food. “ Got hungry waiting. Help myself to some beans. Hope you don’t mind,” Says Rorschach. Dannie just shockingly said Rorschach name in response. Unfortunately, Rorschach leaves with a disappointment after getting no answers, although having his own theory about possibly having a mask killer. We later see two minutemen members having dinner and having conversations about the old times. While they were together, one of the members placed a happy smiley button on the sky deck counter which was very similar to the one that was found beside Blake’s dead body.


Who was involved?
The first chapter of this comic book introduces several new characters besides Rorschach as mentioned earlier. Those include two Nite Owls, Hollis Mason and Daniel Deiberg, who are two investigators having a Saturday night beer drinking session and a conversation about their good old days at Mason’s house. Daniel goes home and finds out that someone broke into his apartment. As he enters his kitchen, looking surprised, he sees Rorschach eating a can of beans. On this specific scene, it allowed the readers to know that they both knew each other. Furthermore, when both Rorschach and Daniel headed to the workshop, they were also known to be former partners with each other, during their conversation at Dannie’s workshop.
During that night, when Rorschach visited a bar for clues about Blake’s death, another character known as Happy Harry gets introduced. Happy Harry, the owner of the bar, was extremely intimidated after seeing him, but we later discover that they were both friendly with each other. Based on this, we could assume that Rorschach is seen as a dangerous fellow as his own frien
ds fear him.
Although not finding any clues on previous visits, Rorschach still has hope and decides to visit Adrian Veidt ( Ozymandias) an ex-adventurer, who is also considered as the smartest man in the world. This is proven in p.17. When asked about Blake’s murder, Adrian does not show any sign of caring and was not able to help Rorschach solve his mysteries in anyway.

The next scene, Rorschach finds his way into the Rockafeller Military Research Center behind the security guard’s back to visit Dr. Manhattan and Laurie Juspeczyk. Laurie did not enjoy Rorschach's company because he was wanted by the police and also hated Blake, because he almost raped Laurie’s mother in the past. when the comedian’s name was brought up. This made Laurie very angry and Dr. Manhattan did not like that, so he commanded Rorschach to leave and made it happen by teleporting him out. In addition, we learn that Dr. Manhattan did not show any empathy towards Blake’s death when asked about it. Those are two new characters introduced in this story.

We also learn that two of the characters that Rorschach confronted about Blake’s death, Danny and Laurie got together for dinner. They discussed the past and reveal that they were both members of a set known as “minutemen”, when Laurie says, “ Y’Know, when I think back…why did we do it? Why did we dress up like that? “ on p.25.
We believe that all these characters listed above and all of the events that occurred on the first chapter, will play important roles in this story, as we continue to read.



FUTURE EVENTS

We believe that the major characters will play an essential role in the future, to help out Rorschach  Also, Rorschach may be dealing with more incidents that will lead to new clues about the comedian’s death on the next chapters. However, since this is the first chapter of the story, its main focus was really just to introduce the characters and how they behave. At this moment, it wouldn’t be as accurate to guess what events will happen, but it is certain that the person responsible for Blake’s death will be revealed, and will be severely punished by Rorschach. We may also learn more about “minutemen”, which we assume it is a set where Laurie and Dannie were part of, since they had a brief discussion about it. Currently, Rorschach is still clueless, but we have faith in him, that he will not give up on his investigation. In addition, we may also learn what the smiley face button symbolizes in the near future.

Character Analaysis

Who are they and how do they get involved in the plot? The key character that we chose to focus our character analysis on is Rorschach. He is presented as one of the current detectives who work without the government’s consent, due to a new law which forced many to quit, including Rorschach’s former partner. According to page 6, he gets introduced to the plot as a curious detective, who is looking to find clues related to who’s responsible for his friend Blake’s death. Rorschach's real name was not mentioned at all
during the first chapter. Although he is the protagonist of the story, readers cannot immediately assume that he’s heroic, and the friendly type. Rorschach is a man that could get extremely angry, but on the bright side, he treats everyone the way they treat him. This attribute is extremely similar to another well known hero, named the punisher. They are both known to punish who ever that deserves it. "Rorschach's Journal: October 12th, 1985: Dog carcass in alley this morning. Tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen it's true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout 'Save us!'...and I'll look down and whisper 'no.” This story is heavily focused on multiple perspectives, but it is Rorschach's voice who starts off the novel, and introduces the world in which the readers are about to enter.


Powers, abilities, or key characteristics Rorschach is very different and unique compared to most superheroes, as he does not possess any superpowers. However, he does carry a high level of strength as proven in the bar scene, how he confronted a man that insulted him, by breaking his fingers. This easily proves that Rorschach is well known to not control his anger if anyone goes against him. He’s very mysterious and low-profile as none of his personal information was brought up during the first chapter. In the motion clip, Rorschach is seen to talk in a low-toned voice, even when he’s angry. During a few scenes including the first page, Rorschach seems to keep track of his thoughts on what occurred in the city of New York in journal.
Despite his anger, Rorschach still does show some empathy towards his friend’s death, as he still looks to seek for revenge, even if other characters refused to worry about it. Like most typical detectives in the past, Rorschach is seen to dress in a classy way, wearing a half trenchcoat, thick scarf, and a pair of pinstripe pants. Walking with his hands in his pockets, make Rorschach's character even more mysterious, especially after an altercation. Lastly, Rorschach's most captivating physical characteristic, is his mask. To briefly describe his mask, it is a plain white cloth, with a pattern of inkblot, constantly changing. Depending on what happens around him, Rorschach mask’s inkblot pattern will differ in response. This is presented when Rorschach gets excited, the pattern of his inkblot will change at a quick pace, reflecting his emotion. Although his face is not shown when wearing his mask, his vision still is as good as a typical human. Rorschach is also seen as a psychopath in others’ perspective. This was well shown when Rorschach attempted to warn Veidt about a possible mask-killer, Veidt just ignores his warning and look at him like he’s insane. On p.19, “I came here to warn you about the mask-killer, “ says Rorschach  Veidt then replies by saying, “ Sure. Have a nice day”. On this scene, it was clear that Rorschach was not taken seriously.
Motivation for getting involved?
Rorschac’s motivation for getting involved in the plot is plain and simple. He was worried about a possible killer in town, after hearing about an ex-adventurer getting killed. He was heavily concerned about his death, as he was his old buddy, and wants to look out for the other ex-superheroes and seek for revenge, as he’s looking for the killer.

Do we love Rorschach?
We love Rorschach because he is a very mysterious character. He is very dedicated to his job because he is the only “detective” to continue with the investigation while the other two detectives wanted to drop it. He stands out from all the other characters to us because he portrays a vicious behaviour  but he is a also a respected man. We love the way he thinks because he gets his job done very quick and slick. He interviewed approximately 5 characters in 1 night. He also has a mini diary which he keeps track of his information, thoughts, feelings and any sort of clues, which we found interesting. Although he is very gloomy, he still shows care for his buddy Blake. When Rorschach informs the bartender that Blake is dead, he mentions that Blake was a friend of his in page 15, sixth panel.

Stand out scene

The scene that stood out the most for us was the scene that took place in Happy Harry’s Bar&Grill on pages 14-16. The reason it stood out was because this is the scene where we find out who Rorschach really is and how he handles his business. Before this scene, you only see Rorschach going on adventures to find out who the murderer was by talking to the listed characters and how he documents his information and thoughts (his journal). These scenes only shows you how Rorschach thinks and how his attitude and mindset is.

Rorschach was calm when he walked into the bar. He was having a decent conversation with the bartender, until someone has insulted him about his odor. That made Rorschach angry, so he walks to the insulter, takes his finger and snaps it back. As he is doing this, he states which finger he broke to everyone that is in the bar. Nobody did anything about it, they just stared and begged Rorschach to let him go. While he was breaking his finger, Rorschach also asked the men in the bar who the killer was, but nobody said a word, so Rorschach decided to break his index finger without any sort of hesitation.

This scene shows us that Rorschach is serious and he doesn’t like to play games. When he wants something, he goes out his of way to get it. This is the scene where we find out what kind of character Rorschach is and how he does his job. It gives the reader an idea of what ability he has and what he can do later on in the book, with his abilities.

Key Themes or symbols:

A common theme that was found in this story is hate. Throughout this chapter, the authors explore the various types of hate that one can experience. The first situation in this chapter that reveals hate, was
when Edward was murdered. This crime symbolizes hate, as it played a significant role which led to his death. Another way that hate was presented was when Laurie showed her feelings towards the comedian Blake, and Rorschach  The reason behind her hate towards him, is because he attempted to rape her mother, and spoke about him in a negative way. Her hate towards Rorschach was also confirmed when Rorschach meets her in the military centre. “What are you doing here Rorschach? I hear you’re wanted by the police,” says Laurie to him in a non pleasant way. The public also demonstrates hate during the first chapter, as they are seen to insult Rorschach. A specific scene that indicates this, was when a man insulted Rorschach about his odour.


Another theme that was presented throughout chapter 1 is loyalty, and how people deal with it. A great example was when Rorschach shows loyalty to his buddy and his occupation, as he wouldn’t give up on seeking for the man responsible for Blake’s death. This would not only be seen as revenge but he’s also willing to complete his task as a superhero. In our culture today, people still show hate towards each other, as murders and shooting occur every day on a daily basis. Loyalty could be presented in several ways today in our culture, but an exceptional example, would be Mr  Wilkinson showing loyalty towards his occupation, which deals with marking assignments and teaching the skills we need to know, which he’s doing a fantastic job in.

The key symbol that was in the first chapter was the smiley face. This kept re-occurring in the beginning and in the end. This can possibly symbolize that something is about to happen or something just happened. After the murder of Blake, the smiley face was found in the scene with a strip a blood on it which represents a bad image of what happened. However, during Laurie’s and Danny’s dinner, the smiley face button was in mint condition symbolizing that they were in good hands

.http://prezi.com/skizff2ccosq/untitled-prezi/

Chapter II

Chapter Summary

At the beginning of the chapter, Laurie visits her mother and former member of the Minutemen- Sally Jupiter in California while Jon attends Blake’s funeral. When Sally finds out who’s funeral Jon is attending to, she remembers the time when Blake attempted to rape her at a Minutemen photoshoot. 

Then, at the funeral, Adrian Veidt remembers the first meeting of the masked adventurers- the Crimebusters. He also recalls how Blake was less than enthusiastic and resistant. At the end of the meeting, Blake says “it don’t matter squat because inside thirty years the nukes are going to be flyin’ like maybugs” as he lights a display board on fire. 

Next, Dr. Manhattan remembers spending the last day of the Vietnamese war with Blake. At this time, Blake shoots a pregnant Vietnamese woman carrying his baby after they get into an argument. Dr. Manhattan decided not to use his abilities to prevent the incident, and Blake almost blames him for not stopping him.

Then, Dan Dreiberg remembers holding back a protest with Blake and him saying that nobody trusts the government, the police, and even them. They also witness a protester spray painting “Who Watches The Watchmen?” on a wall.

Back at the funeral, Rorschach follows former villain- Moloch- home and interrogates him on Blake’s death. According to Moloch, Blake broke into his house, drunk and crying and talking about an island that Moloch and Dr. Manhattan were on that was full of writers, scientists, and artists. 

Character Involvement

The main characters that we see in this chapter Edward Blake, Rorschach, and Moloch.

From the flashbacks from some of the minor characters in the chapter, we learn about Blake’s odd beliefs about society, relationships, war, and enforcement.

Rorschach spends the chapter investigating on Blake’s death. He seems determined to find out who killed him and bring justice to him.

Moloch is also a key character in this chapter. He is able to provide Rorschach with some information about Blake which helps move the plot along.

Foreshadowing

The first example is on pg. 2 panel 4. This panel shows a picture of a man holding a sign that says “The End is Nigh”. This is significant, especially paired with Blake’s quote about a nuclear war. This hints at the possibility of an apocalypse occurring later in the book. 

Another example of foreshadowing that we see is on pg. 10, panels 2 and 3. In this panel, Blake is holding a newspaper and the front cover says “Dr. Manhattan an imperialistic weapon”, meaning that Dr. Manhattan’s powers give America have an unfair advantage over other countries. This, along with Blake’s hints about Dr. Manhattan being on an island with their enemy-Moloch-tells us that Dr. Manhattan may not be using his powers for good purposes.

Character Analysis: The Comedian

      Chapter two focuses around the comedian and a lot is revealed about him and his personality during this chapter. The comedian, also known as Edward Morgan Blake was born in 1924 and died on October 11 1985.He was one of the original minutemen but was also the youngest.
        In this chapter we learned more about his personality. We learn that he is very abrupt and uses humor to cover his emotion. He is also very controlling with women and often shows them little to no respect. We learned more about this trait when Edward Blake tried to rape Sally Jupiter, this leaves her daughter Laurie, hating Edward Blake, but Sally Jupiter her mother says that she has forgiven him. On page 7, box 2, he says  ``Sure, NO. Spelled Y,E,,,`` This shows that he manipulates words and turns the humorous to get what he wants.
Another example of this is when he was fighting in the Vietnam war and he got a young woman there pregnant. When she confronts him about the baby, he gets agitated and tells her how it has to be. ``Listen we have nothing` to talk about. I`m leavin! Saigon Number ten, New York number one, okay?”  - Page 14 box 2.

So far in the book we have only seen that the comedian is very strong, but he does not appear to have any supernatural powers that the reader has been made aware of yet.
In this chapter the reader also learned that he fought in Vietnam for the Americans to keep communism out of Vietnam. In this way we thought he resembled a bad captain America because captain America fought in American wars like Vietnam as well, and there are costume similarities. Like the stripes on captain America and the red, blue, and white colours with a prominent star. Except we thought the comedian is a more realistic portrayal of a soldier.

We think that the comedian uses humor as his way with dealing with issues in life. He describes life as a joke that he just goes along with. I think that he just kind of uses this as an excuse to do what he wants. An example of this is when on page 11 box 2 The comedian says “You people are a joke, you hear Molochs back in town you think “Oh boy! Lets gang up and bust him!”. When he visits Moloch, we see the more vulnerable side of him.

Page Analysis

For our page analysis, we chose page 27. We thought the page had great visual impact, ties up loose ends from the chapter, and tells us a little more about The Comedian. The page shows various panels of Blake being punched, put, crying in Moloch’s house, and finally, being thrown out of the window. During these panels, Rorschach talks about Blake’s life and how we treated everything like a joke because he knew it wasn’t worth the effort. Rorschach ends the page explaining the “joke” he heard.

Key themes and symbols
One of the most recurring symbols in the book and the chapter is the five minutes ‘till midnight.  This can be seen on clocks, and even the famous smiley face button that belonged to the comedian makes the time ‘five to twelve ‘ if you look at it like a clock. This ‘five to twelve  them refers to the doomsday time. It’s almost like saying we are five minutes away from doomsday.

Here are just some random interesting observations we made while reading the book  that may make more sense later on or are just interesting.

-Laurie’s earrings are the Doctor Manhattan symbol when she is talking with her mother in California.

-Page 11 and 26 both have a burning map, the same drawing of a burning map.
And Sally Jupiter is reading a book called Nostalgia when Laurie visits

A common theme in this chapter was that the weather matched the story. While the funeral for Edward Blake was happening in New York, the weather was depressing and dark, however the weather in California was sunny which reflects Sally reminiscing about old times and a mother visiting in California.

Finally, death has been a common theme throughout the book, the first scene in chapter one was the death of Eddie Blake or ‘the comedian’. In this chapter, the first scene was his funeral. In the first two chapters death has been recurring. Death is also recurring when Rorschach visits Moloch, Moloch is dying of cancer. Which is a ‘normal’ death for someone who used to be a ‘super’ villain.

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Chapter III

Chapter Summary

In chapter 3 of Watchmen, Jon Osterman AKA Dr. Manhattan is having relationship problems with his girlfriend Laurie. We see this when he has too many things to do so he splits himself up into doubles and when Laurie finds this out she becomes very frustrated with him. She feels like Jon isn't paying enough attention to her. Laurie ends up confiding in Dan and breaking down in front of him and proceeds to tell him about her problems with Jon.

That day, Dr. Manhattan had a television interview and someone comments, “your skin tone is far too light for television” in which he turns a darker shade of blue and replies “is that dark enough?” In the interview, Dr. Manhattan was asked if he knew about many of his previous associates being diagnosed with cancer, including Janey Slater and Wally Weaver. When Dr. Manhattan starts getting accused for giving these people cancer, he becomes very frustrated and upset and this ultimately causes him to teleport to Arizona, and then leave Earth for Mars - where he feels more at peace and ends up spending a lot of his time here thinking about the past.  

This is a scene from The Tales of the Black Freighter where the main
character started to bury his shipmates. 

Summary of the The Tales of the Black Freighter 

The main character wakes up on an isolated island surrounded by  the dead bodies of people that he knew and starts to really worry about his family’s survival, which he says he buried his hope for them when he buried the other bodies. He also worries that the pirate ship, the Black Freighter, that killed his shipmates is going towards the port town where his family is located. 

Who was involved? 

This chapter is focused a lot on Dr. Manhattan. We see more of his personal life in this chapter and more of his relationship with Laurie. We find out that there is a lot of stress on their relationship and that Laurie is getting more fed up with Jon and that Jon can not control that he really is no longer human. Also, we see Laurie and Dan begin to build their relationship when Laurie goes to Dan to confide in about some of her and Jon’s issues.  Rorschach also appears in the chapter in Dan’s apartment to try to talk to Dan more about his mask killer theory. 

How does this tie in to what we already know?

Dr. Manhattan can not relate to Laurie on an
emotional level because he is not fully human,
which allows the reader to view their
failing relationship. 

We already knew before this chapter that Dr. Manhattan is not fully human, but this chapter really shows that he can’t control his powers though he is superhuman, even around people he’s close to, like Laurie. We see that problems between them both have a lot to do with his powers and that is why their relationship isn't working out.

 “The comedian murdered, Dr. Manhattan exiled...
two of us gone all within a week.
Who next? Veidt? Juspeczyk? Me? You?”
from page 24

As well Rorschach still has his theory about a mask killer that he might be right about “The comedian murdered, Dr. Manhattan exiled... two of us gone all within a week. Who next? Veidt? Juspeczyk? Me? You?” This quote shows that Rorschach still believes that someone is out to get masked heroes  Even though no one else seems to share his belief, he is still convinced and trying to keep the other heroes safe by trying to convince them too.

How does the chapter set things up for the future chapter.

This is a scene from the movie
Watchmen  involving Dan and Laurie

Laurie doesn't know know that Dr. Manhattan has left earth, so we will see that she will have to deal with things with out him. In the future chapters, Dr. Manhattan not being on earth will cause problems for the whole country, because he was the United States’ major weapon in the war. This will worry the country because they could be bombed at any second and they don’t have Dr. Manhattan to protect them. In chapter 3 we saw a new bond being built between Laurie and Dan. Laurie is building a stronger relationship with Dan because he understands Laurie and knows that Dr. Manhattan isn't easy to get along with.

Character Analysis: Dr. Manhattan 

Background:

Jon Osterman at 16 

Dr. Manhattan was born Jon Osterman in 1929. His father was a watchmaker and he was planning to continue in his footsteps. During the Second World War, when the U.S. dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he was sixteen years old, and his father became so interested that he urged his son into becoming a nuclear physicist. This decision was a turning point in his life as it puts him on the path he is on right now and it impacted every decision he made. It helps to foreshadow about Osterman’s perception of time, emotions, and reactions.

 Later on,

Dr. Manhattan fully formed

he goes down that field of study and graduates with a PhD in atomic physics. A terrible accident happens and Jon is torn to pieces by the generator and slowly his body returns, system by system and he becomes full formed as a hairless, naked, blue man with many powers. Now he is a man that has transcended human limits or has become “god” and works with the U.S government. 

Main focus, Involvement, and Motivation:

One of the main characters is Dr. Manhattan as the reader gets to understand his character better and his value to the government gets clearer in this chapter as the story takes places at the height of the Cold War. He gets involved with the chapter as there is a scene where he is being intimate with his girlfriend, Laurie, the second Silk Spectre, wh
en she opens her eyes and sees he’s become two people. A huge argument followed after with Laurie leaving angrily.

Dr. Manhattan exiled in Mars

 In terms of motivation, it’s quite clear that Dr. Manhattan’s work is very important to him as he works while being intimate with his girlfriend, and because he can. Soon after though, after Laurie storms and a televised interview gone completely wrong, its evident that his motivation to work disappears as he becomes frustrated and leaves everything behind to go to Arizona and then Mars.

Powers, Abilities, and Key Characteristics:

Dr. Manhattan is considered to be “god” and this is for many good reasons. He is extremely powerful, invulnerable to any harm, has knowledge and control over atoms and subatomic particles. He does not need food, water, air and can be called immortal. He can also change his body in many ways, like its density, colouration, and density e.t.c and can travel extremely large distances, an example would be when he went to Mars in a blink of an eye.  

 Some characteristics that he has are; the distance he keeps with others, the lack of empathy and emotions towards people, and his obvious struggle to maintain his humanity and relationships. Dr. Manhattan can not relate to other humans and because of that it’s noticeable that he keeps a large distance between himself and other people, this is shown in his interview; as the interviewer makes a joke, he speaks formally and seems withdrawn and it is clear he isn’t enthusiastic about being interviewed. There is also a huge lack of empathy and emotions towards people because he is essentially “god” and therefore can not understand human folly and emotions. 

Because of this dilemma, its understandable that Dr. Manhattan is struggling to keep his humanity and relationships because he is experiencing a failing relationship with his girlfriend Laurie, and wants to make her happy but it is very difficult when he does not understand human emotions or needs anymore. Its obvious he does care for her but has a different way of showing it. Human problems do not seem sufficient to him because he can understand beyond human capability. These powers are his greatest blessing and it seems like the greatest curse.

Thoughts on Dr. Manhattan:

Dr. Manhattan is one of the more complex characters in this comic, with his struggles to remain human and amazing powers we like his character very much. His struggles to remain human makes him more human because it shows that even while having so many amazing powers; one can never be satisfied and will always have issues to deal with. We feel that it says a lot about daily life because his character can be taken as a metaphor as having everything is not enough to make one as happy as possible.

"Jon Ostermen ." Watchmen Wiki . Web. Web. 9 Apr. 2013. <http://watchmen.wikia.com/wiki/Jon_Osterman

Page Analysis

From page 4 – 5, this scene is the scene we chose to analyse extensively because this page caught my eye the first time I read through the chapter. This page is quite eye catching because the background colours such as the walls and floors are dark and dull, making Dr. Manhattan’s blue skin stand out. Because we see so much of him here, its quite clear the impact he has as when he’s talking to Laurie, she’s wearing a complementary red robe to again help the blue to stand out. This panel also stands out to me because it really moves the plot along; here the reader can understand more about Dr. Manhattan then the average super hero. While Laurie and Dr. Manhattan were in bed, he made a clone of himself to complete his work as well, this demonstrates the powers that he has and with what consideration he uses them with. He does not find anything wrong with doing two things at once, but Laurie obviously has a problem with it. This is because Dr. Manhattan can’t understand how upset Laurie is feeling about him not giving her all his attention.

 To the reader, Laurie’s reaction is obvious, and the contrasting calmness of Dr. Manhattan. This panel really does well to show Dr. Manhattan’s character because the reader gets to see how Dr. Manhattan is during intimate moments to show that Dr. Manhattan does not experiences human emotions which tie into his struggle to remain as human-like as possible for Laurie. This is an example of where his powers are his greatest curse.

The other page analysis I wanted to do was from page 20 – 21 simply because the artwork is breathtaking. The dull yellow of the sand matched up with starry sky creates a nostalgic feeling to the scene; also Dr. Manhattan’s blue skin is complementary with the dull yellow as well. The illustrator creates moods and feelings by using the colouring, in this chapter especially, to emphasize Dr. Manhattan’s presence; the colourist has used completementry colours which highlight the blue. 

All the colours in this chapter have been used to make Dr. Manhattan stand out. In this scene on page 21, when Dr. Manhattan looks at Mars from the night sky and vanishes leaving behind wisps of smoke, it also demonstrates how strong his powers are and how willing he is to leave everything behind. This scene also relates to the feeling of when a person is so overwhelmed that they want to leave everything behind and go somewhere far away to get away from all the problems, Dr. Manhattan does just that by going to Mars. 

Dr. Manhattan teleporting to Mars from Arizona.
From page 21

Key Symbols and Themes:

Key Symbols:

The fallout shelter symbol is a recurring symbol in the chapter, and is the title page for chapter 3. The story is based in a time where there was The Cold War so everyone lived in fear and everyone just wanted to feel safe in their city even though there is so much going on. “In this world, you shouldn’t rely on help from anybody. In the end, a man stands alone.” This is a quote said by the man at the newsstand and this quote relates to Watchmen because as the story progresses we are seeing that everyone is alone and even the heroes can’t protect the people anymore.

The lightening bolt on the garbage can that was shown early in the chapter on page 2 was eye- catching because lightening bolts are usually associated with super heroes and their powers, and to see that sign on a garbage can at this time in the chapter shows how little value the superheros in the story have. It shows how they have gone to the trash, so to speak, and how much the public and the government respect the people who always strived to keep the peace in the city and country.



The third reoccurring symbol was the "Who Watches the Watchmen" quote. This is quite important because it reoccurs throughout the entire book and is a constant reminder to the reader to consider who watches the superheros or the people who were put in charge and how authority should be viewed with caution.

Themes:

ISOLATION: This idea is quite present in this chapter as its represented in the black freighter as the main character wakes up on an isolated island surrounded by dead bodies. He is isolated because he is the last survivor of this horrific attack by the pirates of the Black Freighter. Dr.Manhattan is shown being isolated emotionally after Laurie leaves him and after the interview when the reporter accuse him of giving cancer to his associates he leaves and ends up on Mars. On Mars he is the only living creature there where he contemplates and this is the precursor for the next chapter. Rorscach in a way also because he is the only one so far that has a theory that there may be a bigger plot in order to exterminate the super heroes and the people around him don't seem to believe him and claim him as paranoid and delusional.

FEAR: Dr.Manhattan may fear that he could have given cancer to Janey Slater and Wally Weaver. Laurie is fearful of losing her relationship with Jon, and people in the chapter are becoming more fearful now that more is happening because the Comedian is dead and now Dr. Manhattan is exiled. There is a presence that there might be something bigger working towards the goal of a superhero-free future.

Chapter 3 Prezi Seminar Presentation

Fateha and Olivia