V for Vendetta

       Within the story V for Vendetta by Alan Moore & David Lloyd, the originally-democratic Britain is overtaken by a totalitarian regime in which unlimited power is granted to the only existing fascist party. In order to instigate a revolution to destroy this unjust government, a man who goes by the name of V performs acts of terrorism to discredit the party and encourage the citizens to rebel. Although V has the right intentions - to free the people, he resorts to terrorism as his tool to achieve liberty, which appears to be a controversial manner of thinking. His actions bring about the topic of ethics and the question of "what means truly justify an end?". Although V is eventually successful in his goal towards inciting a rebellion and dismantling the totalitarian government, he ends up killing and sacrificing many lives along the way. Not only that, but he even physically and mentally tortures the woman he cares about so that he could supposedly free her from her bondage to fear. In the end, I have to ask if V had truly chosen the best methods to achieve his purpose, or if he could have utilized a more ethical and less destructive approach.

        Even though V for Vendetta is a comic book, I still believe that it has great educational values and presents a strong description of the characters' emotions due to its inclusion of illustrations. For instance, through chapters 10 and 11 of Book 2, the readers actually get to physically witness the terrible abuse that the female protagonist, Evey, endures during her time in prison where she is interrogated daily about her relationship with V. They can see the true extent of her suffering, the humiliation she bears, and the transformation she undergoes without really depending on words to tell them what is happening. Not only that, but within chapter 12 of Book 2, the readers can understand Evey's shock and confusion at discovering how her time in prison was simply V's creation by just looking at the pictures. Truthfully, I was so astonished by these turn of events that I had to reread the section in order to fully comprehend what had happened. 

        Overall, I felt that this story was a very engaging work of art that conveys many valuable messages; it is definitely a worthwhile piece to teach in classes.