Watchmen

"Watchmen", a graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, is primarily set in New York City in 1985 during the Cold War. During this time, a few retired vigilantes that were once in a group known as the Watchmen return to the streets fighting criminals. Prior to reading the book, my book club created questions that would help us guide our reading. One of the very important questions was, "What moral decisions do the characters have to make that we may have have to make in our own lives?" Throughout the book, the characters have to make decisions that are ultimately driven by their own perspective. Although their actions may not be similar to ones that we may have chosen, they face the same question of whether or not something is morally correct or incorrect. Two characters that I am able to relate to the the most are Jon Osterman, who later becomes known as Doctor Manhattan, and Walter Kovacs who is called Rorschach by his peers.

Doctor Manhattan is the only character in the book that actually has "super-powers." He got these powers in an accident where he got stuck in a test chamber with an intrinsic field generator. Although he should have died, he comes back with the powers of teleportation and precognition (seeing into the future.) When he's invited for an interview on television, he is accused for giving people cancer. For example, one person asks, "Then how about this one- Did you know that Ms. Janey Slater linked romantically with you in the sixties, is currently suffering from lung cancer? Doctors have given her six months to live. Notice any connection?" Upset and irritated with the media, Dr. Manhattan teleports everyone out of the studio and then leaves to mars. The doctor's decision is one we often make in our own lives, whether it is best to "flee or fight?" In this case the doctor chose to flee to mars rather than "fighting" and sticking up for himself. Although I think the biggest cause for his leaving was that he felt "out of place" and couldn't connect with humanity, there is another subliminal message that the other was trying to send. I think another reason that Dr. Manhattan left was because he felt that the greater good of the people was more important than himself. After all, because people did not consider him a hero and more of a villain, and because tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union were building, he thought it would be better for him to leave. This is another decision that we have to make in our own lives. Whether the greater good of humanity is more important our own well being. Rorschach is another important character in the book that has an interesting personal philosophy. For example, after the death of the comedian which he believes is not only a murder but a conspiracy, Rorschach vigorously pursues solving the crime. His methods for gaining information are unsound and immoral but he never seems to give up. This decision by Rorschach is another that we often have to make. This decision is whether to keep pursuing in something, or knowing when it's best to stop. In this case Rorschach continued to pursue in the investigation of the death of the comedian, rather than accepting that it was an ordinary murder. All in all, these two character's make decisions that we make in our own lives.

Literature plays an extremely important role in where our moral decisions come from. Reading literature helps us understand society and shape our personal philosophy which ultimately lead us to make the very important decisions in our life that we do.