Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Everything’s Connected

“See, everything’s connected.” (Chapter 3, Page 2, Panel 4)news_stand

Bernard, the newsvendor, makes one of the most obvious, yet most profound statements of the novel.  Bernard sees and hears everything that goes on in New York City, the United States, and the rest of the world through his job as a newsvendor.  This allows him to reflect and comment on the society, including the connectivity of everyone.  Most of the characters in Watchmen have some type of connection to Bernard’s newsstand, whether it is obvious or not.  The connections to the newsstand brings all of the characters together without their awareness. Moore uses Bernard’s character and his newsstand to show the connections between the characters because Bernard is the most human of all the characters in Watchmen.  Bernard sees life the way it is and he doesn’t try to make it out to be better than it really is, while the other characters have corrupt views of life.  Moore uses Bernard’s reflections to keep the readers in tune with the truths of the novel.

Image credit:  http://www.fivevine.com/?p=11

1 comment:

  1. Check out the middle of your commentary -- can you push toward specific instances of connection rather than the broad generalization that they all connect?

    I like how you connect Bernard's characterization to Moore's purpose for the novel.

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