Empathizing with a Terrorist

The first response of an American citizen reading V for Vendetta by Alan Moore may not really be “hmm…their fascist regime appears immeasurably the same as our own regime.” Why is this so? Is it as a result of the American government directive to the public to turn away from such a kind of thought? After all, America is the self declared “largest democracy on the face of Earth”. The regime in V for Vendetta can be viewed as more than a mere criticism of the government of Britain during that time. It can also be viewed as a counterpart to the contemporary government of the United States.  The sameness between the American war on the terrorism and the fight of fascist government against V’s Anarchism are indeed important. All the same, we might be forced to seek for an answer as to why the reader has conflicting views towards the terrorists being fought by the United States and empathize with V. May be, Moore and Lloyd have done such a great job of establishing a regime that is obvious to hate and therefore the reader has a conviction that V is fighting for reasonable means.

The psychological theory by Sigmund Freud that government establishments systematically censor embarrassing information to the state officials and the state while they present information that flatters the state is an explanation to the reason why Americans have a feeling of their own (Gibbs 5). For that reason, the American government has established a system that discloses the information that only sweet-talks the state leading to a strongly built faith by the public in the government completely. A person should remain aware that these comparisons are not supposed to be valued the same. The government of America and the fascist regime are controlled through very diverse ideologies (Talamante, 106-31).

V for Vendetta is in a dystopic Britain setting with a government through a fascist regime who refers to it as the Norsefire.  The overly-controlling power linked with the Norsefire is shown in the initial scene as the voice of Fate declares that the weather will be all right up to 12:07 A.M. when a shower will start, lasting up to 1:30 A.M…The temperature will range between thirteen and fourteen degrees centigrade all through the night (9). The extensively detailed prediction does not sound natural thus leading the audience to an impression that the regime has a wicked amount of authority that includes having power over the weather. Immediately, the reader realizes that this government has both extensive powers over Britain and corrupt. In order to source for extra cash, young Evey makes a decision to be a prostitute. In her first move, she makes a wrong target. She finds herself one on one with a Fingerman, a cop-like authority stature. Fingerman tells her concerning the laws on prostitution and that is a class-H offence. Apparently, Fingerman wants to show that he has authority to decide on whatever thing happens to her. Fingerman told her that it is their privilege and that they will do anything they want and then kill her (11). Fortunately for Evey, V rescues her from Fingerman and kills him and his accomplice. From this kindness act, V ends up being the hero in the story and the reader empathizes with him involuntarily. Moore passes across an antipathy sense directed towards the Norsefire by having its power figures do dishonorable deeds.

Different from the initial introduction of V as the hero, Fingerman is indeed the terrorist of the narration.  After rescuing Evey, V leaves Evey to see as he blows off the old House of Parliament. Evey responds by saying that it is against the law and that they will kill V (14). The reason as to why this occasion does not register in the mind of the reader as a terrorist act is because it was not expounded or introduced before hand. It is indeed a shock to Evey and the reader. We are not aware why V takes up the decision of blowing up the house. The lack of clarity and confusion makes it difficult to judge V and identify him as a terrorist. The reader is still pondering over the earlier scene that introduces the wicked regime making an attempt to rape Evey.

Even though V has just killed three men and destroyed the house, there is no bitterness created against him because of what he is raised against. Moreover, Moore shows his criticism on the fascist regime by presenting it as a government of liars. Instead of telling the truth concerning the attack, the regime tells the people of the land that it was planned demolition which was conducted during the night to avoid the congestion of traffic. They even went ahead to describe the fireworks as a freak effect of the same blast (16-17). The deceitfulness of the regime makes the reader to be bitter and disapprove the actions of the government. The irony is that, America is doing the same things. The terrorist attacks of September 11 have caused heightened degrees of privacy together with the corresponding augment of propaganda and deception (Gibbs 6). It is very difficult to show case the things that the government of America has put openly in the public. All the same, it is very evident that the United States government has control and power over the things Americans get to know.

In the recent past, American military forces killed Osama bin Laden. There has been a lot of celebration concerning this achievement by the United States. The government of America has set the notion in Americans to hate the foe to a point that it is socially acceptable and a normal reaction.  The terrorism acts have inflicted on the United States (Talamante, 106-31). They outweigh the government’s actions towards its subjects because groups like al-Qaeda murders many people while V blows up an empty house that is representative of the state.  The actions of V are very symbolic rather than just being considered as harmful. V blows up a house that stands in place for a law and idealism structure. The reader starts to comprehend more of the ideologies of V as he goes further to destroy many more symbolic buildings.

One of the instances is a time when V blows up the Lady Justice statute. The reader comes to an understanding of the reason behind V’s option of anarchy.  V speaks to Lady Justice as if the two are involved in a romantic relationship and tells her that he was not surprised when he found out… “You always did have an eye for a man in uniform”…. (41). V declares that Lady Justice is no longer his justice. At this point, we see V’s preference for anarchy. The man in uniform is a representation of the government whereas ‘justice’ refers to the ability of the governing power to make righteous decisions. V believes that justice has no meaning if there is no freedom. Thus, V’s fight for freedom ultimately ends up in ideologies of anarchy which refers to a state which does not have any government or governing laws.

After Evey has seen the destruction of the Parliament building, V takes her back to his house, the shadow gallery. This further explains the incentive of V for bringing down the government that already exists. Evey is captivated by all the great things in the home of V and she cannot imagine all the books and paintings in V’s home as she says that she was not aware of the existence of such things. In response, V says tells Evey that she could not have been expected to know. He confirms to her that the things have a culture that is exterminated (18). The fascist regime is far much oppressive. It acts through radical ways as it absolutely exterminates culture and murders all people who protested against its ways (Talamante, 106-31). As a young person, Evey was deeply affected. At some point, Evey talks to V concerning Norsefire history and her stand on the same. She says that it was all the groups of fascism who were the right wingers (28).  It happens that Evey’s father was one of the members of the socialist groups from his childhood and was also taken.  Evey’s story shows that V is not only struggling for a personal vendetta but also for the freedom of the nation. V possesses all these books, posters of movies and music in his home since he believes that, the capability of having culture is symbolic of freedom and liberty. V is fighting to get this culture back together with the freedom of speech and the knowledge that the regime has infringed on them.

In order to attain this, V opts to use a violent approach. He is specifically used to torture and this is at a time when an individual should start asking whether the fight by V is indeed justified. The first victim of V’s torture is Lewis Prothero, the voice of Fate. The narrator says that his nightmare is merely starting (29). V has gone through a very troubling experience in a relocation camp and he wants to inflict a similar pain that he felt upon Prothero. After Prothero fails to agree to the connection he has with the camps, V shows no remorse. Prothero shows an intense and strange obsession with dolls. Thus, V uses this obsession against him as he makes the dolls the prisoners of his renovation of the camp. Prothero tells V that if he has damaged any of these, they are priceless. Not one of the big collections survived the war. This enrages V and makes him reply by asking Prothero how he could be concerned with plastic and porcelain and fail to show any concern on blood and flesh (33).It is not difficult to realize the resentment and anger in the tone that V conveys. Prothero is upset after V goes ahead to burn all his dolls.

Even though the actions by V were violent, it is very difficult to sympathize with Prothero and other victims of his violence. The reader is still on the side of V. There are also other torture victims other than Prothero.  Generally, V for Vendetta shows a subject that draws a lot of conflict and controversy. It is representative of a very bad regime that has eaten into the fabric of the society where these characters live. Well, V turns out to be very violent in taking vengeance towards these evils. He is mainly committed to restoring the fortunes of some people and the nation at large by carrying out terrorist attacks. Despite this violence and the terrorist attacks, the reader empathizes with V. Therefore, this research paper has viewed V for vendetta from the reader’s easy predisposition to sympathize with a terrorist.