“This world, the real world, to him, it’s like walking through mist, and all the people are like shadows…” (Chapter 3, Page 9, Panel 2).
Laurie’s explanation that to Jon, people are like shadows, foreshadows the images of silhouettes that appear many times throughout the novel. The silhouettes are similar to those found in Hiroshima after the atomic bombing in 1945, except the ones in Watchmen are spray-painted around New York City by groups of boys. Seeing people as shadows shows Jon’s detachment from humanity, just like the detachment the bombers had from the Japanese when they released the atomic bomb. Moore uses Laurie’s description of Jon to indirectly characterize him and by doing so foreshadows some of Jon’s actions later in the novel.
Image credit: http://maasmedia.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/hiroshima_shadow.jpg
Moore uses Laurie’s description of Jon to indirectly characterize him [AS ...] and by doing so foreshadows some of Jon’s actions [such as...] later in the novel.
ReplyDeleteI'm in agreement with the commentary -- it is the completion of the analysis that needs to go one step further